Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Conway is ‘learning every day’ at Robins
TOMMY Conway had just celebrated his ninth birthday when Nahki Wells scored his first goal in the Football League in his debut season with Bradford.
Since then, the experienced front man has won two promotions with the Bantams and Huddersfield, and played in League One, the Championship and the Premier League across five different clubs with 121 goals to boot.
It took nine years for their worlds to collide when Wells agreed a deal to join the Robins during the January 2020 transfer window. By this point, Conway was already part of the furniture in the academy having joined City at the age of seven.
Throughout pre-season, Robins boss Nigel Pearson was keen to play Conway alongside Wells, with the duo sharing the pitch in matches against Portsmouth, Exeter and Bournemouth. Conway impressed with three goals in five appearances, two of which came against Exeter and the first against Cheltenham.
Wednesday night’s victory over Coventry, in which Conway scored twice, was another clear piece of evidence that City have a gem on their hands. Wells has to take credit for the second strike, having dispossessed his man before finding his strike partner who did the rest.
It is a partnership that Pearson is eager to utilise, with the duo playing alongside each other on occasions for the Under-23s last season. The duo provide pace in attack, are able to run the channels and have dynamic movement.
For Conway, it is a partnership that has not just been built with an understanding on the pitch, but also a friendship off it.
He said: “I think we grew close last year when we were on the bench together. We played a number of Under-23 games and we got to know each other on a personal level too as well as playing on the pitch.
“We’ve built that partnership up and obviously playing in pre-season we’ve helped each other score goals and we enjoy each other’s company on the pitch. We work off each other well and we’re always talking off the pitch, so I don’t think there’s anyone better for me to learn from, both on the pitch and off it.”
With Chris Martin’s experience, Andi Weimann’s goals and Antoine Semenyo’s ability, Conway has his bases covered when it comes to learning from his team-mates.
“Learning every day from them, there’s nothing better for me,” he added. “They’ve got the experience, they’ve played in the Championship and they’ve scored so many goals.”
City visit Wigan today still trying to pick up their first points of the Sky Bet Championship campaign.