Shane Long could be handed his first start earlier than expected after Paul Ince detailed the extent of Lucas Joao’s injury.
The Angolan sustained an injury after falling awkwardly during the Royals’ final pre-season fixture against Brighton.
Ince confirmed Joao could be out for up to three weeks after the Royals’ season opener against Blackpool.
Long made a cameo in the final moments of the defeat and, speaking ahead of the season, anticipated healthy competition for places was always going to be on the cards.
He said: “I know there’s going to be competition for places, we’ve got good players in the squad.
“We’ve got Lucas Joao up front, who’s a good striker, so I’m not expecting to walk into the team.
“I know I’m going to have to prove my place and earn it. Once I do get into that starting eleven, it’s going to be hard to take that position off of me.”
Yakou Meite started up front at Bloomfield Road after enjoying a fruitful pre-season, netting on four occasions.
However, the Ivorian has historically proved most effective when deployed on the left wing or through the middle with Joao.
This could create an opening for Long, who believes he still has the qualities that made him a menace to many a Premier League defender.
“When the move came along, I didn’t want to come in and be a bit-part player,” he explained.
“[The manager] reassured me that he knows me as a player, he’s seen me through the years and knows what I can bring.
“Thankfully at my age I still haven’t lost my pace, so I can still catch players in behind and still play the same sort of game but I’ve added to it with my hold-up play and experience as well.
“It’s not going to be an easy thing to get into the side and Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday-Tuesday might be a bit of a stretch for me but we’ll see how it goes.”
With his experience comes a level-headedness that will be crucial if Reading are to make a success of this season.
The 35-year-old believes he can play an important role in the Royals’ dressing room.
“I think one of my good assets for the team now is that experience and bringing it into the dressing room,” he said.
“There’s a lot of younger lads in there and it’s easy for heads to drop when you lose games and easy to get carried away when you win, so just to help lads on a level playing field.”
Long’s return to Reading after 11 years has been well-documented, but the forward is keen to hit the ground running this season.
The Irishman is “quietly confident” the team can do well and hopes to “surprise people” this year.
He said: “There’s a lot of pressure, we’re probably one of the favourites to be towards the bottom of the league this year but we love being underdogs, the club’s always loved being underdogs.
“Even in that first year when I came over, we were favourites to go down and we ended up winning with 106 points so [the] same again this season would be nice.”
