Long may it continue
Anthony Smith • Published 11 Feb 2010 09:00
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Hotshot: Shane Long's form has sparked a Royals revival - but can he keep up his goalscoring exploits?
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SHANE Long has been told he must maintain his superb goalscoring form and that he cannot allow his standards to drop.
The Republic of Ireland striker has netted four times in three games to boost Royals' survival chances and has cracked five in seven altogether.
But the goals weren't flowing so easily when injuries held him back at the start of the season.
The 23-year-old did not open his account until January 13 when he came off the bench to score the winner at Anfield in an historic FA Cup shock victory over Liverpool.
Now Long's bosses are challenging him to keep it going: "In the last few games Shane has set the standard of where he needs to be and how he needs to be playing every game," warned Director of Football Nick Hammond.
"He's been a real physical presence and he's given defences a very, very difficult time.
"He's also added plenty of goals to that and he's a top player in that sort of form.
"But we need to be seeing that week-in-week-out with Shane. He's had his problems with injuries but he's looking extremely sharp."
Long inherited Kevin Doyle's No.9 shirt when his fellow countryman signed for Wolves last summer in a record £6.5 million deal.
He struggled with fitness in the early months before turning over a new leaf in 2010.
The former Cork City star explained: "When the New Year came I said `let's make it good year and turn my season around.'
"I'm feeling good and when the luck is going your way it makes a big difference.
"This is definitely one of my best spells. That first goal is always hard to come by but when it comes it gives you confidence and the chances seem to come more easily.
"So it's nice to get scoring again and hopefully I can add more from here on."
Long netted both goals in Tuesday's 2-1 victory over Plymouth Argyle, holding his nerve to slot home the injury-time penalty to win the basement battle.
And he added: "About three months ago I was playing with a lot of injuries but Brian showed a lot of faith in me in getting me back to full-fitness and starting me in games.
"I'd like to think I've taken my chance well. We have Grzegorz Rasiak and Gunnar Thorvaldsson on the bench snapping at my heels so it's good to have that competition.
"It makes you perform every week and I know if I let up they will be straight in there."
Long is desperate to play in Saturday's FA Cup fifth round home tie against Championship leaders West Brom (3pm ko).
If Royals win they will reach the quarter finals for the first time in 83 years.
"Since I've been here we have never had a good cup run and to keep winning games is a good thing," he stated.
"It's going to be hard because West Brom are a great side but it would be nice to go far in the cup.
"Then after that we have games against Crystal Palace and Scunthorpe who are two teams around us in the table.
"They're games we could easily win to lift ourselves up the table but we look to Saturday first."
ROYALS reserves suffered a 2-0 defeat away to Swindon Town last night.
Mark Marshall and Craig Easton scored for the Robins in the match at Hungerford Town's Bulpit lane.
There were some positives for the Royals as Julian Kelly continued his comeback from a shoulder operation at right-back/
Gunnar Thorvaldsson, Jay Tabb and Alex Pearce also got some much-needed pitch-time under their belts.
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