Long predicts dejected Hunt to bounce back after Czech out

STEPHEN HUNT may not be too popular with Greek referees or Czech supporters but the Reading midfielder can still count on the backing of Shane Long, his team-mate at both club and international level, following his sending off in Prague.

The second-half dismissal of Hunt, who had come on for the injured John O’Shea to inject some badly-needed urgency to a Republic side that trailed 1-0, was a blow from which Steve Staunton’s side was unable to recover and, Long admits, effectively ends their hopes of reaching the Euro 2008 finals.

Referee Kyros Vassaras, the man who sent off Andy O’Brien at Lansdowne Road two years earlier, viewed Hunt’s hour-mark lunge at Jan Polak as an offence meriting a straight red card, and the Republic now find themselves trailing the Czechs by six points in Group D, a barrier Long knows is likely to prove insurmountable.

But the Reading striker, who came on for Aiden McGeady as soon as Hunt departed, insisted no blame should be apportioned to Hunt.

“On the bench we were just expecting a yellow card.” he said.

“The referee was under pressure by the way the crowd reacted but when he pulled out a red, no-one could believe it.

“It was a big game for Stephen and he loves playing for his country. He is definitely upset but he knows he didn’t deserve it. He performed well on the pitch and the luck went against him.

“When he came on he changed the game. The Irish team looked a lot fresher and we were dominating for the 25 minutes he was on the pitch.”

Of the tackle, Long said: “He won the ball too. It was a case of the other lad pulling out of the challenge. He went down fairly quickly but when the red card came out he was up straight away. I don’t think there was any malice in the challenge at all.”

Hunt’s presence at the Axa Stadium was always going to be noticed simply because Petr Cech, the man whose skull he fractured in a Premier League game last October, was in the home goal. The Irish therefore had to cope with a hostile atmosphere as well as opponents who had kicked off with a three-point cushion in a group expected to be won by Germany.

But Long insisted: “We had a hold on the game and even when we went down to 10 men we still looked dangerous. It was just unlucky the way it went on the night. For once it wasn’t about the luck of the Irish.

“We have to go out with our heads held high and try to win the next three games. I suppose we could still pull off a miracle. It was down to Wednesday night really. If we had won there would have been all to play for.”

There was one crumb of comfort for the 20-year-old from Tipperary, who had scored twice in last month’s 4-0 friendly win in Denmark, as the cast he wears to protect the thumb he broke at Bolton proved durable.

“I got a few bangs on it and it felt fine,” he said. “It’s lightweight and I don’t really notice I have it on.”