'Long as good as Doyle' - Hammond

Anthony Smith • Published 29 May 2010 09:00 0 Comments

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SHANE Long has the talent and ability to be just as good as Kevin Doyle.

That is the firm belief held by Royals director of football Nick Hammond who recruited the pair for a mere £78,000 from Cork City in June 2005.

Long, however, spent the next four years living in the shadow of Doyle who scored 55 goals in 157 league games for Reading leading to a club record £6.5 million move to Wolves last summer.

Now, after a excellent debut season at Molineux where Doyle shared a dressing room with another former Royals, Marcus Hahnemann, there is talk of a possible £12 million switch to Arsenal.

Long, meanwhile, is still trying to match the achievements of his Republic of Ireland colleague Doyle having inherited his No.9 jersey.

And Hammond believes that a burst of nine goals in 2010 proves Long, 23, has the ability to step up to the plate.

"Shane Long is an international player and over the second half of last season he grew immensely in my eyes," explained Hammond.

"We took him from Cork City the same time as Kevin Doyle and when we got him I absolutely believed he would go on to achieve what Kevin has achieved - I still believe that.

"He was a similar kind of players to Kevin and perhaps he had even more pace and power. In many ways they are similar players only Kevin showed that consistency from an early age.

"Now Shane has to try and find that consistency and become the player I know he can be."

Yet Hammond saw enough in Long's performances last season to be positive about the campaign ahead.

"I was delighted with Shane's displays towards from Christmas onwards," he added. "He was a real focal point for us and a physical presence with that pace and power.

"When Shane played the opposition centre-half always had a tough time. He did that against top defenders in the country including Liverpool's and Aston Villa's in the FA Cup.

"He can be a very, very effective player as we saw when he scored the winner at Anfield but he's still learning and growing."

Meanwhile, Reading continue to be linked with Bournemouth striker Brett Pitman, though they deny they are ready to rekindle their interest in Peterborough striker Craig Mackail-Smith after a move to sign him on emergency loan in January was rejected.

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