The new fan favourite Bristol City have in armoury against Oxford United after injury return
Yu Hirakawa is back fit and firing for Bristol City after he came off the bench to make his injury comeback against Blackburn Rovers and the winger could be in contention for a place in the starting squad against Oxford United this weekend, according the Liam Manning.
The summer loan signing registered his second competitive Robins outing after an ankle injury picked while featuring for Japan in July during the Olympic Games in France kept him sidelined for almost all of the opening month of the Championship campaign.
After making his debut against Derby County before the international break, his half hour cameo at Ewood Park didn't disappoint. He was one of a few positives in a frustrating afternoon as the Robins fell to a 3-0 defeat to John Eustace’s high-flyers.
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Hirakawa replaced Mark Sykes on 59 minutes with the Robins 2-0 down at the time but shone on the right-wing as he created a number of chances and made several positive runs in front of the 839 travelling fans.
He appears to have become an instant fan favourite too after name was cheered when he came off the bench as City fans got another glimpse of what’s to come from the winger following his arrival on loan from Japanese J1 League outfit Machida Zelvia.
After his bright display on the weekend following his injury lay off, Manning has revealed Hirakawa will be fighting for a place in the starting side to face Oxford United at Ashton Gate on Saturday.
The Robins boss told Bristol Live: “Yu unfortunately has taken a bit of time to get up to speed but I think we saw some really positive things from him and he’s one that will come into contention next week.
“The fans can already see how exciting he is. He wants to play forward, run forward, he gets at people, he’s got quality and has a real good feel for the ball at the end of it. He’s going to be one that’ll be very exciting for the club and the fans are already signing his name.”
Another bright spark to come off the bench against Ewood Park was Sinclair Armstrong. Although City were unable to claw back the deficit, the striker made a real impact early in the second half as he caused defenders Danny Batth and Dom Hyam plenty of concerns.
Despite scoring against Latvia Under-21s while on international duty for the Republic of Ireland Under-21s, the frontman started on the bench against Blackburn in place of Fally Mayulu, who registered his first league start since his £2.5m summer switch from Rapid Vienna.
While Manning was impressed by Hirakawa’s impact from the bench, Armstrong also caught the eye of the Robins boss.
“They both made a very good impact, Yu (Hirakawa) and Sincs (Sinclair Armstrong).”
“Sinc is so powerful and quick naturally and that’s something we needed especially in the second balls or regains to stick things in behind and chase. He can turn a 70/30 in their favour and then quite quickly into something he can cause problems with.”
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