‘Undoubted ability’ - How Bristol City’s Owura Edwards has fared for Ross County

Bristol City’s season has concluded but for some of their players, and for some players their futures are up in the air.

Several Robins players are out-of-contract this summer and a decision is to be expected shortly when the retained list is published. It’s not the previous mass exodus’ we’ve seen in recent years but there’s still some decisions to be made.

Jay Dasilva, Tomas Kalas and Andy King are the experienced three whose deals expire but it is expected King is to stay on with the club. He’s a player-coach and Nigel Pearson stated early his intention to keep him on, previously claiming he could one day manage the club. As for Dasilva and Kalas, offers are on the table from City, but there are other clubs interested.

Some City players however haven’t been able to impress Nigel Pearson first hand and have spent time out on loan. Owura Edwards is one of those, and he’s spent the 2022/23 campaign in the Scottish Premiership with Ross County.

Edwards has made four senior appearances for City since joining in the summer of 2019. Three of his appearances came under Dean Holden whilst under Pearson he was limited to a 25-minute cameo against Brentford in 2021.

He’s since had loans at Exeter City, Colchester United and Ross County, and at 22-years-old this is a key time in his career. To give us an insight on Edwards, we speak to Peter Mackay who runs Staggies View and contributes to the Scottish Football Network.

How would you sum up Owura Edwards’ loan?

Owura’s loan has been pretty up and down at Ross County. He has certainly shown some flashes of undoubted ability, but he has also had some questionable moments where he hasn’t covered himself in glory.

He’s not started a match since January, why is that the case?

The club have gone through a poor run since January and we have struggled, as we have often been at the bottom of the table.

What’s the syle of play at Ross County, and how has Edwards has fitted in to that?

We changed shape into a 5-3-2 meaning Owura didn’t naturally fit into the system. He has sometimes featured at right wing-back from the bench and looks fairly dangerous - but his defensive work rate and positioning have sometimes let him down.

Owura was much more prominent in the team before the world cup where we were trying to make a formation with natural wingers work. He has been the best winger in our squad out of a poor bunch. His pace and directness were often useful for us and lead to some goals. However, it did seem there was a slight confidence issue there as he would do well in getting into the right areas and beating his man, but would often fluff his lines and spoil the end product.

Do you think Ross County would take him if he was available on a free or on loan again?

It’s difficult because it all depends on which league we end up in. If Owura gets a chance to show his form in the final three games, he needs to be impressive. County fans may still be holding a grudge over the red cards he has received this season for petulant behavior. County supports had incredibly high hopes for him and we have definitely been impressed by his play on occasion. In his chance to play in the season’s final games, Owura could play a big part in trying to keep us up.