Davis Take A Bow Young Man

Steve Bruce has rightly picked out youngster Keinan Davis for praise following his full debut against Norwich City earlier today.

The 19 year old made his first start for the club at Villa Park after eight substitute appearances following his introduction to first team life and although he didn’t find the net (that’ll no doubt come), he went off in the 86th minute to a standing ovation having found chances for himself in the game, provided an assist and given the Norwich defence plenty to think about.

Many thought he’d be one to watch following his arrival from Biggleswade Town and his performances for our Under 23 side and whilst too much shouldn’t be expected too soon, he’s certainly done his stock no harm with that mature performance.

Speaking to the Birmingham Mail as manager Steve Bruce met with the press to discuss the game, Davis was clearly going to be a topic of conversation.

‘He was magnificent on Monday in the reserves. My hand was forced really, Scott Hogan wasn’t fit enough to start and Gabby Agbonlahor had a bit of a twinge in his back so I thought I`m going to play the two young boys.’

Bruce went on to say.

‘I nearly played three, O`Hare was very close to a start too. If they`re good enough, they`ll certainly play.’

Well they’ve proven themselves good enough, and we’ll all have our own thoughts here, so I’ll just offer – pick the next starting eleven on merit and maybe we’ll be on the right track, as that performance was much improved and those out of the squad probably haven’t done enough to justify their inclusions so far, let alone after this game.

Bruce went on to hint that O’Hare may get his next chance in the EFL Cup clash against Wigan Athletic next midweek.

‘You know when you throw a kid in you know what you`re going to get. The crowd were magnificent with them and that`s really why I did it. I`ve done it before when I was down the road at Blues I remember putting in Darren Carter, when I was at Sunderland I did it with Jordan Henderson. There`s a lot of youngsters playing today. At the end I think was three 19-year-olds involved. James Bree is only a boy, so in that respect I`m delighted.’