City Boss Praise For Youngsters

Last updated : 08 May 2016 By CNS Staff

Coventry City manager Tony Mowbray has praised his youngsters following the 2-0 win against Oldham Athletic.

“Aaron had a head knock in training yesterday when we were working on set plays and he was feeling a little bit dizzy,” explained the manager. “I think he’s got a slight concussion so the decision was taken not to play him.

“Cian knew he was playing when I did – about an hour and five minutes before kick-off which is perhaps a good thing because he didn’t lose any sleep, and I’m delighted for him.

“He was very assured, very confident, hit some lovely passes. I can’t remember many times when I was concerned about his position or he was getting bullied off the ball.

“He looked very composed, as if he’d been playing there all his life, and it was great for Dion to get 45 minutes as well.

“Gael Bigirimana was fantastic today – his energy levels, his ability to cover the ground and his tenacity. We know he can play eith the ball at his feet, that’s easy for him – for me it’s about his ability to run, tackle people, use his body.

“The pitch was bobbly and bumpy on a really hot end-of-season day so we asked them to concentrate, be patient and move the ball about which I think took the legs out of them and in the end we scored the goals.

“It was nice for Adam and nice for the whole club to have a young boy score 20 goals in a season. I know he’s not our player and he’s developing for his parent club but it’s the culmination of all that hard work this season.

"You can see he’s running on less gas than at the start of the season, not so many dynamic runs – he does it more sporadically but he scored his goal, an important goal.

“Murphy’s been like a man possessed in training this week. It was him or Jodi Jones going on when Stephen Hunt was feeling his hamstring – I would have liked to put Jodi on because I think this could have been a good game for him but Jacob is more of a direct ball-carrier.

“George Thomas is a willing runner but he has to threaten the goal more. There was one time when he tried to slip Arma in but when he’s got the ball in the 18-yard box he’s got to whack it because he’s got to score goals. If he does that it will be easier to pick him.”

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