Bowen: RSC will improve

The Assisstant has spoken out in defence of Santa Cruz after his St. Andrew's horror show:

"Just when you think you have come through it and are 100 per cent, the weekend reminded us that this was his first league start in maybe five or six months of football.

"Plus he took a blow to his ankle which blew up like a balloon. He wanted to play on, but we could see the knock was holding him back.

"He will come on, and the more football he plays and the more training he gets, the more you will see the player we know that he is."

I'm sure he's right. If anyone knows the quality RSC has within himself then it's Bowen and Mark Hughes. And, frankly, if he wasn't up to it they would not have bought him. Nevertheless - and I really don't like criticising players too hard - his performance on Sunday was woeful. He managed to combine the mobility of Bernardo Corradi and Antoine Sibierski with the touch and awareness of Bradley Wright-Phillips or the second coming of Paul Dickov. No kidding.