Bristol City boss wants to protect youngsters like Scott
BRISTOL CITY manager Nigel Pearson praised his young players – including debutant Alex Scott – after Sunday’s loss to Luton Town, but added a note of caution as to the impact his side’s negative run will have on them.
Guernsey’s Scott came on as a 71st-minute substitution at Ashton Gate in a game where the hosts led 2-0 at half-time but ended up losing 3-2, extending their winless streak in the Championship to eight games.
‘I don’t want this to be a damaging experience for them, but we have to stick with them at the moment,’ said Pearson.
‘I’m worried what this will do to the youngsters who [we] are relying [on] constantly to perform for us.
‘There are concerns what this will do to them but what I will say is I will do everything to protect those players because they don’t get an awful lot of help on the field.
‘We rely on young players where it is a big ask for them to perform at this level while under pressure. I applaud how they’ve embraced the challenge. It’s good for us that we are exposing young players in the sense that we are creating players who are technically gifted enough to be in and around the first team, but in an ideal world you choose the moments to include them.
‘We have got a lot of players at the minute who are suffering out in the field and the group’s mentality is not strong enough to deal with that problem.’
