A 72nd minute replacement at the Academy Stadium, Heskey – the son of former England striker Emile – made an immediate impact against our Lancashire rivals, bagging two goals inside a minute, to add to Will Dickson‘s first half opener.
A member of the City Academy since he was eight, Heskey joined our Under-18s group last summer but then saw his early progress this season stalled by injury.
However, Wilkinson believes his fine showing against Rovers, which followed a similarly impressive impact in last week’s league game at Nottingham Forest where Heskey’s late strike earned us a 2-2 draw, only augurs well looking to the second half of the season.
“I’m really pleased for Jaden,” said the City head coach.
“He works incredibly hard in training and has probably not had as many opportunities as he would have liked this season so far.
“But he was the perfect player for the game.
“Jaden brought physicality, he receives the ball really well in the front line and brings others into play.
“He worked incredibly hard and got into the box with two good finishes.
“That will be great for his confidence and in the last few games he has been great for us.”
For his part, Heskey said he was delighted to have helped City book our ticket through to the fourth round where we will play host to Brighton.
And he said he and his Under-18 colleagues were determined to try and make this a season to remember in the FA Youth Cup.
“I’m buzzing, it was good to come on and get the goals to help close the game,” reflected Heskey, who turns 17 on Saturday.
“Blackburn are a good team and made it tough, so it was great to get the win.
“We’ve won the FA Youth Cup once in the past few years and it one of the biggest competitions for our age group, so we want to go as far as possible in it.”
The Rovers win was the perfect way to round off a positive first half of the season with our Under-18s now not in action again until January 7.
And Wilkinson believes there is even more to come from his young players looking towards the New Year and beyond.
“It’s a nice way to finish before the break. We’ve been alright so far this season but there is a lot more to come and a lot to look forward,” Wilkinson added.
