Bristol City’s £25m star puts Wolves and Bournemouth on alert after dazzling display

Bristol City recorded their largest victory to date in the 2023/24 pre-season as they thumped Newport County 8-0 at the High Performance Centre.

Alex Scott - linked with Wolves and Bournemouth - was at the heart of the victory after getting two goals and a number of assists, earning a penalty after a run in which the Exiles couldn’t take the ball from his feet.

Early on, City went ahead, and it was Bell with his fourth goal of pre-season. He had two bites of the cherry as Nahki Wells found him, and after his low shot was blocked first time, he scored on the rebound with a clinical finish.

The hosts doubled their advantage as they punished a defensive mistake from Scot Bennett and their trialist. Wells picked the ball up near the half-way and was able to curl a shot past Joe Day.

Wells had the ball in the back of the net again but he was adjudged to have been offside after finishing off a good attacking move that involved Alex Scott and Harry Cornick.

As Newport built up their confidence a bit, their hopes were quickly dashed with the dynamic duo of Bell and Wells linking up. Andy King sprayed the ball out to Bell, and he found Wells from just a few yards out to further increase their advantage.

A few minutes out from the half-time whistle, City made it 4-0 from an unlikely source. Scott moved the ball well to King, and he picked up Vyner at the backstick, who was on hand to score with an easy finish.

The hosts didn’t let up and soon added a fifth a few moments in to the second period. Scott’s cross looked to have taken a slight deflection off of Wells, who had a claim for a hat-trick.

Shortly after the fifth, Scott went on a mazy run and earned a hat-trick. He gave the ball to Wells, who definitely got the match ball by slotting his penalty low past Day, who guessed the right way.

The £25m rated Scott got himself on the scoresheet after his frustration against Swindon Town in midweek. He created space for himself in the box and his shot inside the box was too much to handle for the Newport goalkeeper.

In search of an eighth, a brilliant back-heel from Bell after being found by Williams, put Cornick in a good position but the defender put himself on the line to deny the January signing.

Newport pushed for a consolation goal and Sam Bowen delivered in a good free-kick but Matt Bondswell couldn’t get a final touch to trouble Wiles-Richards.

Bristol City added an eighth in the last kick of the match as Pring’s cross found Scott and he was on hand to stroke home to top of his best performance yet in pre-season.