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| Jarrod Bowen Set To Kick Off For Hereford At Tamworth In April 2014 |
The Hull Daily Mail has published an article about Jarrod Bowen who moved to Hull from Hereford United in 2014.
Many of the comments in the article are by Tony Pennock who kept goal for Hereford during part of the 1994/95 season before moving to Yeovil.
"Jarrod Bowen has a bright future ahead of him."
Those were the words of then Hull City Academy manager Tony Pennock in July 2014 and he's been proved correct with his prophecy.
The 19-year-old has now appeared in the League Cup, the FA Cup and the Premier League and is set to start his first game in the top flight on Monday night when City travel to Middlesbrough for their live league game.
So far, Bowen has passed every test presented to him and while Monday night will be a massive test for him, everyone at City expects him to come through with his head held high.
He has already proved he's not fazed by big games. Playing
for Hereford United as a 17-year-old, Bowen scored what turned out to
be the winning goal against Alfreton that looked to keep the Bulls in
the National League. But financial issues saw Hereford relegated despite
Bowen's heroics.
Nurtured carefully by Pennock, City have made sure Bowen's progression has been done properly. It hasn't been rushed nor has it been delayed. Speaking in the summer of 2014, Pennock knew Bowen would make it to the first team without adding undue pressure on the Leominster-born teenager who joined City on a three year deal.
"Jarrod showed glimpses of what he's capable of when he took to Conference football well," Pennock said. "I always kept in touch with Peter Beadle the youth team coach at Hereford who was my manager at Newport County. We weren't the only ones interested in Jarrod, there were a number of clubs with category One academies.
"When he came up to meet with Steve Bruce, and had a look around, we managed to persuade him to join us. He's a boy who is 100 per cent committed and he's excited by this challenge. I'm sure he'll do well here."
Nurtured carefully by Pennock, City have made sure Bowen's progression has been done properly. It hasn't been rushed nor has it been delayed. Speaking in the summer of 2014, Pennock knew Bowen would make it to the first team without adding undue pressure on the Leominster-born teenager who joined City on a three year deal.
"Jarrod showed glimpses of what he's capable of when he took to Conference football well," Pennock said. "I always kept in touch with Peter Beadle the youth team coach at Hereford who was my manager at Newport County. We weren't the only ones interested in Jarrod, there were a number of clubs with category One academies.
"When he came up to meet with Steve Bruce, and had a look around, we managed to persuade him to join us. He's a boy who is 100 per cent committed and he's excited by this challenge. I'm sure he'll do well here."
Since joining the Tigers, he has scored goals on a regular basis for Pennock in the Development team. In pre-season, as City's squad was shrunk because of
several departures who weren't replaced until the final days of the
transfer window, Bowen was heavily involved in friendlies playing 331
minutes and showing his ability to be in the right place at the right
time to score a couple of goals alerting clubs to his talent.
City moved quick to keep him at the club by offering him a new improved two-year contract during which time he hopes to add more memorable moments to his City career.
"I want to repay the faith the club has shown in me," Bowen said. "At the start of the year, I probably wouldn't have expected all this. I want to keep progressing. It took a couple of days for my Premier League debut at Watford to really sink in at the time because of the adrenaline at the time. I'm going to have to be patient and wait for my chance and take it."
His chance to start a Premier League game for the first time may come on Monday night and it's up to him to take it.
City moved quick to keep him at the club by offering him a new improved two-year contract during which time he hopes to add more memorable moments to his City career.
"I want to repay the faith the club has shown in me," Bowen said. "At the start of the year, I probably wouldn't have expected all this. I want to keep progressing. It took a couple of days for my Premier League debut at Watford to really sink in at the time because of the adrenaline at the time. I'm going to have to be patient and wait for my chance and take it."
His chance to start a Premier League game for the first time may come on Monday night and it's up to him to take it.