McLeish exited by Redmond potential

27 August 2010 08:50
irmingham boss Alex McLeish confessed to being excited by Nathan Redmond after his cameo in the 3-2 Carling Cup win over Rochdale.[LNB] Redmond became the second youngest player ever to appear for the club last night - after club legend Trevor Francis - when he came off the bench with 12 minutes remaining.[LNB]At 16 years and 173 days old the winger can certainly be classified as a raw talent but in his short time on the pitch he showed enough to suggest that he has a bright future ahead.[LNB]On at least two occasions he darted in from the left flank to hammer 25-yard shots just wide and looked a threat every time he was involved.[LNB]McLeish said: "Nathan looked great. It wasn't a big crowd but the fans who were here really warmed to him instantly.[LNB]"He's very bright and quick, he got shots away on goal and he excited me.[LNB]"It looks like he has a bright future. He is electric and showed his versatility by coming in off the line and getting shots away.[LNB]"He was a handful for Rochdale. We had him in the squad and felt it was a good game for us to blood him.[LNB]"I wanted to bring him on if we were doing well in the game and even though we had just conceded a second goal I decided to risk him and it paid off."[LNB]Goals from James McFadden, Matt Derbyshire and David Murphy gave Blues the win in the end despite Rochdale captain Gary Jones scoring a brace.

Source: Team_Talk