Blackburn Rovers manager Tony Mowbray says there is plenty more to come from Leeds United loanee Ian Poveda this season.
The 21-year-old scored his first goal of the campaign in their 3-1 win against Sheffield United as he showed great composure to ensure the points would be staying at Ewood Park.
He has struggled for game time since making the move to Rovers but was able to reward Mowbray’s faith in him at the weekend by scoring the goal that sealed an important victory.
Reda Khadra, who is on loan from Brighton, was also on the scoresheet and he has had to bide his time similarly to Poveda.
Mowbray admitted his pleasure at seeing the pair of youngsters find the back of the net and expects more of the same over the coming weeks and months.
“It’s good to have these options. [Ben] Brereton, [Tyrhys] Dolan, [Sam] Gallagher has been our front three but they have now shown that they can definitely make an impact,” the Blackburn boss told the Lancashire Telegraph.
“They have been acclimatising, I would suggest, and I’m delighted for them they could impact on the game.
“They both are great kids and I was delighted to see them both score.”
It was the intensity that Marcelo Bielsa demands of his players that led to Mowbray taking a chance on bringing Poveda to the club on a temporary basis.
However, he claimed that it still took the young winger longer than he expected to be ready for first-team action after hoping he would immediately be available to do an adequate job.
“Poveda plays on his left side and is a wonderful talent,” said Mowbray.
“He came from Leeds who have a huge work rate and that was why we took him, we could see the talent.
“We thought the work rate of playing for Bielsa would see him slot into our team really well but he has taken some time to acclimatise to the job.
“I thought he did it really well, looked a threat, and great to see him get a goal.”
The key for Poveda now is to kick on and make the starting berth at Blackburn his own.
Reports that emerged at the time of his departure suggested that Bielsa had lost patience with the England youth international so his future is unlikely to involve regular game time at Leeds.
However, if he is able to prove himself in the North West during the course of the season then he might force his name back into the conversation at Elland Road, especially considering there are only three wingers in the first team at present.
