Rising star Tammy ready to lead
TAMMY ABRAHAM is capable of taking the Championship by storm, judging by his thrilling debut as a Bristol City substitute.
Signed on a season-long loan from Chelsea just 24 hours before the game, the England Under-19 striker headed an 81st-minute equaliser to turn a contest Wigan looked like winning in the first half.
Alex Gilbey had shot the visitors in front on 32 minutes, but City stormed back after the break and another substitute, Bobby Reid, hit a deserved 90thminute winner.
Home supporters went home raving about the exciting Abraham and City head coach Lee Johnson was left purring over the youngster’s contribution.
He said: “We put an awful lot of time and work into signing Tammy, meeting his parents and convincing Chelsea of our philosophy. It required patience to get the deal through, but we felt he was worth waiting for. He is a top talent and we now have two centre forwards capable of getting a lot of goals this season.
“We didn’t want a big-timer coming into our group and mucking things up, but Tammy is very humble.
“There were a lot of other clubs interested, some from the Premier League and some from abroad, so we have to persuade him that he has made the right decision by looking after him.
“In the end it was the perfect day for us. But it is only the first game and no one will be shouting from the rooftops just yet.
“We had to go a bit gung-ho second half and had so many attackers on the pitch, but the players responded magnificently for us.”
Wigan had edged it before the break and it was no surprise when the impressive Gilbey ran onto Yanic Wildschut’s low cross to confidently beat Richard O’Donnell with a first-time rightfooted shot from 12 yards.
The visitors had threatened on several previous occasions, but in the second half they completely lost their way and allowed City to dominate possession.
Abraham, 18, nodded in from close range after Gary O’Neil’s left wing corner had been directed towards goal.
And Reid snatched the winner when deliberately deflecting O’Neil’s shot from outside the box, to send the ball beyond the reach of goalkeeper Adam Bogdan.
The lively Jonathan Kodjia struck a post with a low shot in injury-time and Wigan boss Gary Caldwell had no complaints about the outcome.
He said: “At half-time I was happy because we had played very well and deserved to be in front. But in the second half it was a case of when they were going to score. They had the lion’s share of possession and pinned us back.
“You want to get off to a good start and that second half display was very disappointing.
“Our wing-backs didn’t keep their full-backs from getting forward and our centre-backs didn’t deal with their strikers.
“If we had continued in the same way as in the first half I couldn’t see us losing. There were a lot of positives to take from the first 45 minutes.
“But our squad looks light and we need to strengthen with some new faces who can add some quality at Championship level.
“The players we have need some help. We showed for 45 minutes that if we stick to our game plan we can do well, but we have to maintain our form for 90.”