Shane a very Long shot for Estonia

West Brom have all but ruled out the possibility of Shane Long playing a part in Ireland’s play-off games against Estonia later this month.

Thanks to a vicious tackle from Aston Villa’s prat-in-chief Alan Hutton last month, Long is currently nursing a chipped bone in his knee, an injury that came with an initial recovery period of six weeks.

There were a few raised eyebrows when Long was named in the Ireland squad by Giovanni Trapattoni last week, but West Brom assistant manager Michael Appleton had to go and quash all of our optimism by virtually ruling out the prospect of Long playing any part in the home or away leg.

"Shane has not broken his leg or anything like that," said Appleton.

"But it is one of those injuries you have to be really cautious with. Ultimately, he is doing everything the physios are asking him to do.

"He's working hard on the bikes. But, at the moment, he has not done any impact stuff. He is doing a lot of cardiovascular work to keep his heart-rate up while protecting the leg.

"I would be very surprised if he is available for the Ireland games. He would have to make a massive recovery in the next week or so.

"From Shane's point of view, I imagine he will be desperate to play - but he's quite a sensible lad. He realises he has a chip in his bone which needs to heal before he can play again."

The absence of Long has been offset somewhat by the likely return of Robbie Keane from an adductor injury, while the form of Jonathan Walters is another boost for the Boys in Green. The decision to omit the in-form Leon Best remains a baffling decision, something we've become accustomed to with our manager over the years.

Although Long probably won’t feature in either of the crucial games against Estonia, he will continue to be an integral part of the Baggies side for the rest of the season and Appleton was fulsome in his praise of a man who has taken to his second spell in the top flight like to a duck to water.

"Shane works his socks off," Appleton added.

"He has a tremendous work-rate and is almost a catalyst for the team. Shane starts everything off and everybody reacts to that.

"He would be a big miss in probably 70 per cent of Premier League teams. There were a hell of a lot of clubs who wanted him in the summer. Fair play to this club - we matched the fee Reading wanted and we're delighted we got him.

"Shane has shown in the short space of time he has been at the club that he is more than worth the money we paid. He is a big player for us now and the sooner we get him playing again, the better."