![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_GettyImages-2229777531.jpg\")
Gerhard Struber won his first home game as Bristol City boss(Image: Photo by Dan Mullan\/Getty Images)<\/p>\nEphraim Yeboah and Elijah Morrison both started Bristol City’s Carabao Cup win over MK Dons at Ashton GateGerhard Struber won his first home game as Bristol City boss(Image: Photo by Dan Mullan\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Gerhard Struber has offered his verdict on Ephraim Yeboah and Elijah Morrison\u2019s first senior Bristol City<\/a> starts, with the Robins boss hopeful that the experience of featuring in the Reds’ Carabao Cup win over MK Dons will help both youngsters\u2019 development.<\/p>\n The Robins booked their place in the second round of the competition with a comfortable 2-0 win<\/a> over League Two opposition on Tuesday evening. A goal apiece from Jason Knight and Yu Hirakawa, either side of the break, was enough to maintain the Reds\u2019 unbeaten start to the season and secure a first home win for the new head coach.<\/p>\n While the majority of City\u2019s starting line-up and bench was made up of senior players, Struber opted to hand academy graduates Yeboah and Morrison their first competitive starts. Both players have featured for the first team in the past, Yeboah under Nigel Pearson<\/a> primarily and Morrison under Liam Manning<\/a>, but have been unable to keep a regular place in the squad.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Bristol City 2-0 MK Dons live: Hirakawa doubles Robins’ lead after Knight’s first-half opener<\/a>READ MORE: Bristol City player ratings vs MK Dons: Knight and Hirakawa see Struber’s Reds into second round<\/a><\/p>\n Although the Austrian was pleased to have given both players competitive minutes and happy with their displays, he admitted there were things that he felt they needed to improve so that they\u2019re ready to make an impact in the Championship.<\/p>\n \u201cFirst of all, I\u2019m very happy that they got 45 minutes in a real competition,\u201d the head coach told Bristol Live<\/a> in his post-match press conference. \u201cWe could see some good moments but also some where they have to improve.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course, they get feedback in training sessions, but we can go with the feedback from this game, and it will help us to bring them a little bit more in the direction in training to help them to grow.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m happy, but of course, we could see that they have some improvements for them when they would come in the Championship for game time.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was my plan before we go into this game,\u201d Struber continued when asked if the decision to withdraw both players at the break was premeditated. \u201cWe hold some players in the rhythm of game time. It was also important for Emil [Riis], and important for some other players.<\/p>\n \u201cAlso, for [Max] Birdy, it was cool today that he jumped in and played some minutes, and he\u2019s also ready right now.”<\/p>\n Although MK Dons were unable to create much in the way of chances throughout the contest, they made things difficult for the Robins throughout.<\/p>\n Join Bristol City Live’s Whatsapp community for all the biggest Bristol City stories sent straight to your phone<\/strong><\/p>\n Bristol City Live<\/a> is now on WhatsApp and we want you to join our community.<\/p>\n Through the app, we\u2019ll send the Bristol City news, live match coverage, team news, transfers, fixtures, analysis and more straight to your phone.<\/p>\n To join our community you need to already have WhatsApp. All you need to do is click this link and select \u2018Join Community\u2019.<\/a><\/p>\n No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Bristol Live<\/a> team.<\/p>\n We also treat community members to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. If you don\u2019t like our community, you can check out at any time you like.<\/p>\n To leave our community, click on the name at the top of your screen and choose \u2018Exit group\u2019.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.<\/a><\/p>\n Click here to join our WhatsApp community.<\/a><\/p>\n Both Morrison and Mark Sykes found plenty of space<\/a> down their respective channels in the first half, but the away side were alert to get their bodies in the way of crosses and shut down any shooting opportunities that arrived. The only goal of the opening period came when Knight headed home a Scott Twine corner early on.<\/p>\n After the break, however, the Reds\u2019 pressure told. Following the introduction of Hirakawa, who curled home the Reds’ second from the edge of the box on the hour mark, and Riis, City started to really turn the screw, much to the delight of Struber.<\/p>\n \u201cFirst of all, we are happy we\u2019re in the next round,\u201d he explained. \u201cThis was the goal today.<\/p>\n \u201cWe could see that we had a little bit of topics in the first half: that we create the domination and the control that we want. It was not always so clear that we were in the position [where we] could break them down clearly. It was not always so easy.<\/p>\n \u201cSecond half, there was much more power in the game, more control, and more chances. It was clear that you can realise it was a Championship opponent against a League Two team, and I think this is something that we improved in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n READ MORE: Scott Twine sets out goals for new season after firing Struber’s Bristol City to winning start<\/a>READ MORE: Gerhard Struber sets Radek Vitek challenge after Man United loanee shines on Bristol City debut<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ephraim Yeboah and Elijah Morrison both started Bristol City’s Carabao Cup win over MK Dons at Ashton GateGerhard…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":340264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,2686,748,393,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-340263","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bristol","9":"tag-bristol-city-fc","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115019620265153475","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0_WhatsApp-Phone.jpg\")
Bristol City Live on Whatsapp<\/p>\n