Blackburn win a ‘pleasing performance’, says Wilkinson | OneFootball

City’s Elite Development Squad Lead Coach Ben Wilkinson says he was impressed by his team’s attitude and put on a ‘pleasing performance’ in our 3-1 win over Blackburn Rovers.

The triumph saw City return to winning ways in the Premier League 2 to help us retain the league summit before our attention turns to the UEFA Youth League.

Goals from Matty Henderson-Hall, Emilio Lawrence and Matty Warhurst saw us pick up our 11th league win of the season in what has been an impressive 2024/25 campaign thus far.

And Saturday’s result was just another example of Wilkinson’s side showing the right attitude and implementing the hard work from the training pitches.

MATCH REPORT | BLACKBURN 1-6 CITY - PL2

“I thought we played really well,” began Wilkinson.

“I thought the attitude to the game was very, very good in terms of what we were trying to do with the ball and without the ball.

“It’s an away game that can be tricky, it’s a smaller pitch than what we’re used to so overall it was a pleasing performance.

“We spoke in the week about what the game was likely to look like and therefore what type of performance we needed.

“And I think we did that well and I thought the boys were really good in terms of trying to deliver on the things we spoke about in the week.

“And we got our reward for it. The game panned out how we expected so that was pleasing.”

The match also saw the return of centre-back Jahmai Simpson-Pusey who suffered a slight injury setback.

And his return came at a good time with City looking to take as strong a side as possible to FC Midtjylland for our UEFA Youth League Round of 32 clash next week.

His return alongside Max Alleyne, in Wilkinson’s opinion, makes them one of the most impressive defensive pairings in the league.

“We’re disappointed not to keep a clean sheet,” said Wilkinson.

“We spoke about that before the game, that we haven't had one for a while. But we have an incredible amount of trust in Max [Alleyne] and Jahmai [Simpson-Pusey].

“I think you'll go a long way to find two better centre-backs in the league than them two and as a coach I feel very confident that when you have those in the team that you're going to get what you know you need with and without the ball.

“So yeah, it was really nice having Jahmai back in the team and I think we're a better team when we have him.”