Hunt stays focused as Royals almost up

Ireland international Noel Hunt can smell the scent of the Premier League football with Reading but isn’t getting carried away just yet.

The Championship leaders will even clinch promotion tonight if they beat Nottingham Forest and West Ham fail to win at Bristol City. A draw for Hunt’s side would be enough if the Hammers lose.

For Hunt, to see the top-flight on the horizon after close on a decade slogging it out represents manna from heaven.

“I just want to keep on going till it is mathematically safe. We have a big game against Forest and another one against Crystal Palace on Saturday,” said the three-times capped Waterford native.

“We won’t believe we have won anything till we win something. There is no point in thinking we are going to win it until it is actually done.

“We knew that if we were anywhere near the top at Christmas we would click into form. Everybody has played their part and I’m delighted. We have had three or four injuries last week and those that came did really well.

“That is what the team is all about. We work together and we work as a team and that is what has got us where we are today.”

Eight goals in the campaign so far from the younger brother of Stephen have proven central to the ascent of Brian McDermott’s side. By his own admission, the prospects of taking that form into the European Championships with Ireland are slim, as he’s playing catch-up.

“I’d like to think I have a small chance [of going to the Euros] but credit to the boys who have been there all the time.

“They’ve been playing and they’ve been the ones who have done it. If there was an injury I would like to think that I would be thought about. I’ve just got to focus on helping Reading get promoted first.”

Meanwhile, beleaguered SPL club Rangers have offered Cork-born goalkeeper Alan Smith a new two-year contract.

The former Springfield Ramblers stopper, 18, created history in 2010 by becoming the club’s first-ever Irish-born recruit to have represented Ireland at any level.

Smith is currently fourth in the goalkeeper pecking order but manager Ally McCoist rates the Irish U19 international highly and sees him as a major part of the club’s future.