Reading striker Shane Long hopes to ruin Roy Keane's afternoon with a goal and then ask him for an autograph. The Republic of Ireland international is expecting to be bombarded with requests from his Tipperary friends for a souvenir of the Sunderland boss' visit to the Madejski Stadium tomorrow.

But while Long was determined not to give Keane and Co anything on the pitch he was hopeful the former Manchester United man would be approachable off it.

He said: "I'm sure I will have a few messages from my pals asking if I can get his signature or something. Afterwards, if I see him around, I would love to shake his hand but first I want to score a goal and hopefully take three points off him."

The afternoon will have a decidedly Irish flavour as both sides have plenty of Republic of Ireland internationals to call upon. Reading boss Steve Coppell regards Kevin Doyle and Stephen Hunt as first choices while Keane usually has six fellow countrymen in his squad.

And Long revealed that whenever they met up for international duty the conversation inevitably turned to the Sunderland gaffer and his fearsome reputation.

He said: "I know Paul McShane, Darryl Murphy and Anthony Stokes and Roy O'Donovan was at Cork when I was there. The main question I ask them is 'can he still do it?' and they all say he can. He joins in training sometimes and takes the mick.

"They are probably afraid to tackle him though. He is still young enough to do a job on the pitch but hopefully he won't feel he has to against us."

But Keane was not the only former Manchester United man who can still impress his players on the training ground as Coppell occasionally showed why he won 42 England caps a couple of decades ago.

Long said: "He always wears these Doc Marten boots. The ball would come to him, he would do a few touches and you would think 'ah, he's still got it'. It was interesting to see."

Sunderland, who are one place above the drop zone, have yet to win away this season while Reading's more healthy position of 13th has been achieved almost entirely through points picked up at home.

Reading have nonetheless gone three games unbeaten and Long was keen to keep the run going ahead of trips to West Ham and then Tottenham before 2008 begins with a home fixture with Portsmouth.

He said: "Last season was amazing. We started off aiming for survival so to finish eighth like we did was a bit surreal. But this season didn't go to plan at the start but we are getting back into the rhythm and slowly moving up the table to where we want to be.

"Our home form has been good so we are definitely looking to keep that going."  PA