Who are Lucias Vine and Joel Manning? The two youngsters on trial at Bristol City

Bristol City had two players on trial in their Under-23’s draw with Watford at the High Performance Centre on Tuesday afternoon.

The Robins went to the top of the Professional Development League table, overtaking Ipswich Town, despite Tiago Cukur’s late equaliser after Saikou Janneh had opened the scoring through a penalty.

Janneh, is on loan at League One outfit Shrewsbury Town and is being managed by former City boss Steve Cotterill, who was in attendance.

There are no rules in place to prohibit Janneh from playing for Alex Bell’s side and he earned his penalty after Lucias Vine was fouled.

Supporters are aware of the likes of Janneh and George Tanner, who was stepping up his return to senior football, but who are the two new names on the team sheet?

Who is Lucias Vine?

Vine isn’t a name that many City fans will have been aware of until this afternoon.

The 18-year-old is from Aldershot Town and was trialling at City, in the hopes of earning a professional deal.

Vine is not a first-team player at the National League club but has found himself on the bench of the Shots on a number of occasions.

He can play as either an attacking midfielder or as a striker, like he did at the HPC in the draw.

For the last two months, the young forward has been on loan with Hartley Wintney of the Southern League Premier Division, the seventh tier of English football.

He was playing as recent ago as Saturda, featuring in Hartley's 2-1 defeat to Walton Casuals, playing mainly as a winger in the loss.

For Aldershot’s U19’s and U23’s sides, he has scored 25 goals in 25 appearances and got seven assists, highlighting his ability at age grade level.

Vine isn’t a common surname in football and those who will remember the 2000’s Championship may remember. Lucias is the son of former Luton Town and Queens Park Rangers forward Rowan.

Rowan played for a long list of clubs including Birmingham City, Portsmouth and Brentford, and will have come up against City a few times.

Who is Joel Manning?

One player who we didn’t see enter the pitch at Failand was Joel Manning, but he was announced by the club.

Jose Casa-Grande started in his place and played the entirety of the match, which meant Manning wasn’t able to show what he can do.

City’s under-23’s have needed some cover following the temporary departure of Harvey Wiles-Richards, who is on loan at Gloucester City.

Manning had been playing as recently as this season for Cheltenham Town, featuring for their Player Pathway Programme team, which consists of scholars in an educational setting.

A glance of his social media feeds has seen him engage with posts from Bristol City about Daniel Bentley, who could be his inspiration, as well as first-team boss Nigel Pearson.

Manning has already been involved in the City academy, below the ages of academy football, as well as having trials at rivals Bristol Rovers and Premier League outfit Southampton.

There is an obvious pathway for young players to break in to the first-team, having seen the likes of Alex Scott, Ayman Benarous and Cameron Pring all feature this season.

Bristol City have already got one new player secured for next season after they agreed a deal for Guernsey midfielder Ben Acey, the same club as Scott.

The 17-year-old came on trial in February and played for both the under-18's and under-23's, doing enough to earn a professional deal.

He has remained with the Island club and has made more than 20 appearances for the senior team this season, as he hopes to follow in the foot steps of his friend.