Nigel Pearson delivers Kane Wilson update after Bristol City claim Bournemouth win

The Robins were good value for their money as they beat AFC Bournemouth 1-0 at the Vitality Stadium in their final pre-season fixture
Bristol City manager Nigel Pearson.Bristol City manager Nigel Pearson.
Bristol City manager Nigel Pearson.

Nigel Pearson clarified Kane Wilson’s status after the wing-back missed Bristol City’s 1-0 win over AFC Bournemouth.

Chris Martin’s 49th minute penalty was the only goal of the game as the Robins defeated a side division above them with the Cherries preparing for their Premier League campaign.

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Wilson however didn’t travel with the squad and instead Mark Sykes played as a right-sided wing-back, moving from the ten role he had played against Forest Green Rovers.

Any fears of the 22-year-old missing the start of the season were rest assured by his manager however who took a pre-caution.

Wilson had already played in friendlies against Cheltenham, Portsmouth, Plymouth Argyle and Exeter City.

Pearson said: “He’s fine, he’s okay. He just got a bit of a knock in training yesterday. He’s got enough minutes in pre-season so it was good to get Sykes out there today. Yeh he’ll be fine for next weekend. “

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Pearson named a starting XI that may not be too far off from what their line-up may look like against Hull City on the opening day of the Championship season.

It wasn’t until the hour mark that major changes were made after Timm Klose and Han-Noah Massengo were brought on at the break.

Despite even further alterations to the side including a number of young players like Dylan Hadji and Raphael Araoye, they were able to keep a pleasing clean sheet against higher league opposition.

In the six matches they played, including a double-header against Forest Green and Exeter on the same day, City have come out with four wins and two draws.

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In his post-match press conference, Pearson said: “I think the first half in particular was excellent, our passing, ball speed and rhythm in particular was very good, organisation-wise we were excellent too so I was very pleased with what we needed to get out of today.

“We’ve been very careful in trying to give our players the same amount of minutes throughout pre-season on the pitch so it has worked out pretty well for us.

“They mean a lot in terms of getting into good habits, performance-wise. Of course I’d rather win games than lose them of course but it really matters from next week onwards. I’ve been very pleased with the application of the players and their desires to improve on where we finished last season.”

Alex Scott made his first start of the pre-season schedule after he returned late back to the High Performance Centre after playing for England’s Under-19’s.

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In the absence of Antoine Semenyo, Andi Weimann was pushed further forward and Scott was deployed as a central attacking midfielder.

The 18-year-old put in a solid performance and had two opportunities to open his account, causing problems for a defence with international defenders.

“As long as he’s fit. I’d just like to see him play. It’s nice to have different options. I don’t feel the need to pigeon-hole people and say where they definitely need to play but we’ve got more options now in terms of versataility within the squad.

“Already Mark Sykes has shown what he can bring in different positions. Andi Weimann has done that over a sustained period. Scott has got so much ability he can play where he need him to play. It just gives us different dimensions to how we can set up.”

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