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Muamba Makes Impressive Debut

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Season long loan signing Fabrice Muamba make an impressive start to his Birmingham career in the friendly against Boston yesterday.

A largely reserve team came out comfortable 3-1 winners and Muamba was highly impressive in the victory.

Reserve team boss Keith Bertschin said:

‘Fabrice did very, very well against Boston.

‘It took him about 15 minutes to get adjusted, but in fairness to the lad he probably doesn’t know the names of the players he’s playing with yet.

‘But he gets around the pitch, he’s very, very competitive and he sticks his foot in on the tackle.

‘He’s only 18, but coming from Arsenal he’s got a good pedigree.

‘Without putting the boy under too much pressure I think he’s looks to be a very exciting prospect.

‘He’s not as clever as Viera on the ball yet, but you can see where the comparisons come from.

‘He gets the ball and moves it really well and is very competitive.

‘He chases after the ball and gets in amongst people.

‘Without getting too excited on first evidence I think he has the capability to play in the first team on a regular basis even at 18.

‘For our league he probably needs a month’s hard fitness work and training, because he likes to play such an energetic game.

‘If he really hits top song the Blues fans will love him with the way he covers the ground and rattles into people.’

Commenting after the match, Bertschin was pleased with how the team responded following the disappointing 1-0 loss to Tamworth earlier.

‘It was an excellent result and a good test for us against a full strength Boston team.

‘We played some decent stuff before taking a 1-0 lead just before half time with a really good goal.

‘Neil Kilkenny threaded the ball through to DJ Campbell, who steadied himself and threaded it under the keeper.

‘It was some great play and passing movement.

‘Then another series of passes saw Stephen Clemence set free and he did the most delicate of lobs to put us 2-0 up.

‘To be fair to Boston they put us under a little bit of pressure after that and Julian Joachim pulled one back for them.

‘But then Ollie Allen got on the end of one of Julian Gray’s crosses and wrapped the game up.

‘It was really good team performance and the spirit, commitment and camaraderie was excellent.

‘On an individual basis Stephen Clemence was probably our best player – and was top draw.

‘Peter Till did terrifically at right back and DJ Campbell was excellent.

‘The little bit of experience we had helped us a great deal and on the night there wasn’t a bad player amongst them.’

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