Long is not ruling himself out yet

EURO 2012:SHANE LONG has not ruled himself out of the Republic of Ireland's Euro 2012 play-off against Estonia on November 11th despite suffering what appeared to be a serious knee injury after a rash tackle from Aston Villa's Alan Hutton in Saturday's Premier League clash at Villa Park.

The West Brom forward is a doubt but remains hopeful of being fit for the two games, ahead of a scan on the injury today. The second leg is sheduled for November 15th.

The Tipperary man said yesterday: “It could have been a lot worse. I was lucky my foot came out of the ground, if I was standing on it I’m sure he would have snapped my leg in two.”

He went on: “They (West Brom’s medical staff) don’t think it’s my medial (ligament) but it could be another ligament around the back of my knee.

“I’ll know more after the scan on Monday; the first 24 hours are crucial so I’ll be doing all I can to keep it wrapped up and hope that that makes a difference. I don’t want to miss that Estonia game.”

Speaking about the incident, Long expressed his surprise that Hutton had escaped punishment for the 11th-minute lunge that effectively ended Long’s contribution to the match.

“He didn’t even get a yellow. If the ref had seen it I’m sure he might have had a different reaction. I just hope they can do something about it now.”

The former Reading front man has three goals to his name this season, netting against Manchester United, Chelsea and Sunderland, but hasn’t figured prominently in the Republic’s progress to the play-offs and admitted he found this frustrating but recognised that manager Giovanni Trapattoni had a game plan and a game plan that was working.

Trapattoni is already without the suspended Kevin Doyle for the first play-off and will now be sweating over the fitness of Long and his captain Robbie Keane.

In his post-match interview on Saturday, West Brom manager Roy Hodgson was highly critical of the Hutton tackle. “It was a wicked challenge,” Hodgson said. “I’m angered still by the challenge so, before any of you start talking to me about red cards, be very careful.

“If ever I’ve seen a challenge that merited a red card, it was Hutton on Long. It is a scan job but Long is lucky because he could have had two broken legs. We are a small squad and to lose players for long periods of time is going to affect us.”