I did pop down to Carrington today but a bit later than usual to watch a friendly arranged against Wrexham reserves which was largely about getting some match time for Johnson and RSC. The first team had just gone in after a very gentle work out basically just warm up stuff.
The City team v Wrexham was very young and went 1 up through Robbie Mak moving onto a pass from RSC and scoring very well.
RSC didn't really get much service but at least it was 45 minutes ( well 42 as he left the field for a few minutes half way through). He missed 1 chance and his fitness looked ok. As for Johnson , well he was heavily involved in central midfield and to large extent made it look very easy. No mad charging around but he was just the focal point switching the ball around and playing some lovely weighted passes. The occasional break forward but the key to it was his comfort in receiving the ball and finding a pass.I wouldn't want to get too excited but I thought it was Gareth Barry like.
They both just did the 45 minutes and we were 2.1 down at that time. A couple of goals conceded showing a frailty in the center of defence. It became 3.1 and not looking good but then Robbie Mak got free down the right side and got through some iffy challenges to lay it back for Jack Redshaw to finish. Then just as I was leaving Robbie Mak did the s ame again and this time couldn't find the pass but instead cut back in and finished with his left foot to make it 3.3.