‘Blood and guts’ - Former Bristol City caretaker manager praises Robins loan star

Carlisle United manager Paul Simpson has revealed on-loan Bristol City defender Duncan Idahen has already lived up to the billing given to him by one Robins coach.

The 20-year-old centre-back completed a half-season loan move to Brunton Park on Thursday afternoon and will hope to impress Robins manager Nigel Pearson during his time in Cumbria.

Idahen was handed a first-team debut by Pearson last season when he came off the bench in a 3-1 win at Derby County in April and followed that with an another substitute appearance in a 2-0 defeat against Huddersfield Town two weeks later.

However, he has not been named in a matchday squad for any of the Robins five competitive fixtures so far this season and will now hope to gain regular first-team experience during his time at Carlisle.

Former Robins caretaker manager Simpson has revealed he received an insight in what to expect from his loan signing during a conversation with City academy coach Pat Mountain and revealed Idahen has matched the feedback he received during his first training session on Thursday.

Speaking to the News & Star, the Cumbrians boss said: “Everybody wants to be a silky footballer but you have to be able to do the blood and guts.

“One of the guys I spoke to, Pat Mountain – one of the goalkeeping coaches at Bristol City – said, ‘Dunc is like a magnet to the ball when he’s defending’.

“He said he’s just somebody who heads it, clears it. When we did some work on defending in our final third, he is that – he gets into good areas to defend it, and gets good, strong contact on it.

“It’s a massive part of the game that is actually becoming a bit of a dying art, that you’ve got somebody who enjoys doing that side of it.”