Published: Thursday, 5th March, 2009 4:49pm

Shane longs for a start

by Anthony Smith

Comments (0) | Print | Email

ROYALS boss Steve Coppell could hand Hillsborough hero Shane Long a rare start in Saturday's clash at Plymouth Argyle (3pm ko).

Coppell was bowled over by the 22-year-old Republic of Ireland striker's display in the 2-1 comeback victory at Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday night.

Long struck a late winner just three minutes after coming off the bench then blocked a shot on Reading's goal-line right at the death as the Owls made a desperate push for an equaliser.

With Kevin Doyle struggling with a knee injury, Noel Hunt out-of-sorts after netting just once in 2009 and Leroy Lita seemingly out of favour, Coppell may think Long is ready to make only his fourth league start this season in the tricky Home Park fixture.

"Yes, Shane is in my thought," revealed Coppell. "He's our biggest impact substitute and he has been for some time.

"He comes on and consistently makes a difference. That is hard to do. You can run around and crash into people and it looks like you're having an affect. But when you actually score goals and save goals then you really are having an affect.

"He's desperate to start. He doesn't want to be tagged as a substitute for any longer. It could well be the right environment for him to come in."

And Coppell confirmed there are fitness concerns over Doyle as well as Jay Tabb, who was substituted at half-time on Tuesday after straining his calf on his full debut.

"Jay and Kevin trained on Thursday but we do have three or four knocks which you expect at this stage of the season, certainly with games so congested," explained Coppell.

"We're going to have to look closely and see who is 100% because the reports we've had suggest Plymouth's pitch isn't the best.

"It's a tough pitch to play on so you need players who are physically 100% fit. You can't go into that game with "gamble players.'"

Reading's victory at Sheffield Wednesday was their first in five games and the majority of their 12 remaining matches are against teams in the bottom half of the table.

But having been turned over by Nottingham Forest at the Madejski Stadium last weekend, Coppell is understandably cautious.

"There is not a lot of daylight between any of the teams at the moment," he argued. "I thought we were the better team against Sheffield Wednesday and Nottingham Forest. But because Forest beat us people interpret the game differently.

"But if you look at it again we were the better team, we just didn't get the breaks in the first-half. We were poor in the second half but I thought we edged it over 90 minutes.

"However, it makes no difference because the teams in the bottom half of the table are the ones coming into great runs of form.

"We've had that recently against teams who are having a little resurgence. Preston and Bristol were both on strong runs when they played us and Forest had a return of players that made them stronger just by co-incidence.

"But at this stage I don't think it makes much difference where the teams you play are in the table. The significance is when two top teams play each other because they can't pick up three points each. The implications of that as the season progresses take on more value."

DAVE Mooney has joined Norwich City on a one-month emergency loan deal.

ROYALS have extended their sponsorship deal with Waitrose for another two years.

For more stories and your full round up of what's happening in Reading you can purchase the e-edition of the Reading Chronicle click here.