Opinion: A Lucas Joao and Shane Long partnership could turn Reading FC into surprise package | OneFootball

After a shock 3-0 victory to ruin Blackburn Rovers’ 100% record on Wednesday night, Reading appear to be approaching this season with renewed optimism and currently sit in eighth place.

It has been a difficult few years for the Royals, who have finished in the bottom half for 4 of the past 5 league seasons.

Things didn’t seem too promising going into this year either, predicted by many to be near the lower reaches of the table having lost a top-quality midfield trio of John Swift, Andy Rinomhota and Josh Laurent and amidst considerable financial difficulty.

Two returns of different kinds, however, have inspired some much-needed optimism. Shane Long, now 35, is back at the club at which he posted the best goalscoring season of his career in 2010-11, but the Republic of Ireland international appears to be much more than a veteran presence in the dressing room.

Winning and scoring a penalty at Cardiff was a great sign, and despite failing to score against Blackburn his general play was incredibly impressive, working hard to run the channels, push the opposition back line and running to make space for Tom Ince and goalscorer Junior Hoilett to drift into. As usual, Long also displayed his unusual penchant for winning aerial duels despite standing at only 5 foot 9.

The other return of great significance is Lucas Joao’s comeback from injury. Only 4 minutes into his substitute appearance, Joao put the icing on a superb performance against the league leaders with a smart finish to the near post from in between 3 Blackburn defenders.

On Wednesday night Joao was Long’s replacement in the 70th minute, but the potential of the two on the pitch working in tandem once Joao is back at full fitness must surely be a tantalising prospect for Reading fans.

Both strikers are capable of winning flick-ons, and Long’s willingness to create space with movement as well as his solid passing game could really unlock the Portuguese-born forward and push him on to even better returns than his 10 and 19 goals in the previous two seasons.

There are two quite obvious caveats to this positive potential for Reading: one being the difficulty of maintaining fitness of the injury-prone Joao as well as Long, who will turn 36 in January.

The other important aspect to consider is ensuring that the rest of the Reading squad can make performances such as Wednesday night more consistent. At the weekend the Royals were beaten resoundingly by newly promoted Rotherham with Joe Lumley making a series of unforgivable errors in goal.

If the team can string together some consistency and – crucially – some clean sheets for Lumley who’s endured a torrid past 12 months, there’s a strong chance that Joao and Long might be able to produce the magic together up top.