SHANE LONG SAYS he bears no ill-feeling towards Alan Hutton, despite the Aston Villa defender injuring him with a tackle (see video below) that West Brom manager Roy Hodgson described as “vicious”.
Long has returned to action quicker than expected and scored the winner for his club against Bolton on Saturday.
However, while Hutton’s tackle meant he missed Ireland’s recent triumph, he refused to blame the Scottish defender for his misfortune, telling reporters:
“I didn’t receive any apology over the tackle [from Hutton]. They obviously thought he’d done nothing wrong. There’s nothing for him to apologise for.“I’m sure he never meant to crack a bone in my leg. We move on. I’m just glad to be back. It’s only been four weeks so it could have been a lot worse. I knew it was going to be a bad enough injury at the time because I hadn’t felt a pain like that before.”
Long added that he was “devastated” to miss his country’s recent exploits and acknowledged that he would need to maintain his current form in order to make the final squad next summer.
The striker continued his impressive early-season form on Saturday, bringing his overall tally to four goals in ten appearances.
