Hughes ‘very hopeful’ over Zouma deal
SKY BLUES BOSS IMPRESSED WITH PONTICELLI FITNESS
COVENTRY City fans will have been delighted to see Jordan Ponticelli get on the scoresheet on Tuesday night, firing in his first senior goal on his debut first team showing.
It was only a friendly, of course, but the teenager’s precise far post finish against French Ligue 2 side Valenciennes could just be the moment that buys the lad a little more game time, particularly coming hot on the heels of Saturday’s goal against Tamworth.
There has been a growing clamour for the prolific Under-18s star who bagged 27 goals last term to be handed his chance, many believing he should have been thrown in towards the end of last season.
Mark Robins was careful to stress that he wasn’t quite ready but the manager has been impressed with the way the striker has worked on his fitness over the summer, clearly determined to come back in the best shape possible to give himself a fighting chance of catching the eye.
When asked about him at the recent fans’ forum, Robins said: “I think Jordan Ponticelli is a really promising player, he has only been here 12
months.
“He looks fit and strong and he has clearly taken our pre pre-season manual seriously and he’s in good nick.
“We know he is a goal scorer. How close he is to the first team depends on him. I like the Under-18s and I think they all have a chance.”
Pre-season is the perfect opportunity for young lads to shine, to lay down a little marker and plant a few seeds in the gaffer’s mind. They’re often handed game time – sometimes to make up the numbers and sometimes because they’ve earned it.
Darragh Leahy is a prime example; last season thrown in at the deep end due to Tony Mowbray’s slow close season recruitment which resulted in the talented young Irish international playing the majority of the pre-season friendlies.
Twelve months on and the defender is back in the senior squad, more on merit this time, hoping to go one better and finally make the breakthrough.
Wanted man George Thomas has been the nearly man on a number of pre-season tours, given stacks of summer game time only to slip down the pecking order once the transfer window business is complete.
Just two season’s ago he was knocking on the door until Adam Armstrong dropped in on the eve of the new season and suddenly found himself warming the bench.
Ponticelli, who is a Strachan Football Foundation graduate, recently expressed his disappointment at not getting a chance last season in an interview – comments that were, perhaps, ill-advised given that they could have been construed as criticising the manager’s judgement.
He’s a confident and ambitious lad, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but the best thing for Jordan is to go about his business quietly and diligently and, as he did last night, let his football do the talking. And if he keeps sticking the ball in the back of the net he’ll give himself every chance of getting the full competitive debut he’s working hard to achieve, and so many supporters are desperate to see.