Nahki Wells scored twice for Bristol City Under-23s against Cardiff City, just 24 hours after the Bluebirds had made two failed loan attempts to sign the Bermudian striker.
With Nigel Pearson and assistant Curtis Fleming watching from the stands of the Robins High Performance Centre, Wells struck either side of half-time in a 3-3 draw with Cardiff as the visitors came back from 3-0 down.
Wells emerged as a Cardiff transfer target on the Sunday night before deadline day in anticipation of Kieffer Moore’s move to Bournemouth but they were only prepared to make loan offers and City’s position was always that they would only let the 31-year-old leave on a permanent deal.
His selection in the Under-23s side allowed him to build his match fitness after just 14 minutes of Championship football this month.
Wells opened the scoring with a close range header from James Morton’s in-swinging free-kick, cleverly getting ahead of his marker while his second arrived after he first struck the crossbar from Ayman Benarous’ deep cross.
The 31-year-old completed a full 90 minutes at Failand - his first in a game since October 30 - and was one of a number of first-team players in the U23 line-up along with Benarous, Danny Simpson, Tommy Conway and Sam Bell.
He showed, as you’d expect, good touch and awareness, operating as a central striker with Conway and Bell exchanging wings either side and used all his experience in shielding the ball against Cardiff centre-back Ibrahim Bakare, albeit 12 years his junior.
Wells was bright throughout, happy to take the ball into feet with his back to goal and either spin or lay the ball off, as well as looking to play on the shoulder and try to profit from passes into the channels.
The challenge for Wells now is to force his way back into the first-team picture having played just 14 Championship minutes this month with Antoine Semenyo muscling his way ahead of the experienced forward.
Wells hasn’t started a league game since November 2 and his role in the squad, from a tactical standpoint at least, is difficult to decipher, based on how Pearson has tended to line up.
He doesn’t possess the physicality of Chris Martin or Semenyo, nor the positional flexibility of Andi Weimann, who is also enjoying a career-best campaign in front of goal, and the City manager doesn’t seem to fully trust him as a central striker.
Wells grew frustrated last season when he was continually assigned with a left-sided attacking role under Dean Holden and although there’s been no danger of that repeating this term, he’s been squeezed out of a central role.
Pearson did field Wells, Martin and Weimann together in a run of games through October and November, with mixed results, and City have looked far more fluid and dangerous in the final third since Semenyo broke back into the team in early December.
The message to Cardiff, and any other suitors throughout the window, was that Wells was still regarded as an important member of the squad, which could effectively be translated as: you want him? Then go pay for him.
But now in position, at least until the end of the season, he can be a crucial figure for the Robins, should Pearson be able to find a spot for him.
Conway scored City's other goal at the High Performance Centre as they took a 3-0 lead only to concede three in the final 20 minutes, including twice from corners with the wind playing havoc in the second half.
After Ruben Colwill's 70th minute free-kick had their tails up, the Bluebirds made it 3-2 as Cian Ashford's corner flew past Harvey Wiles-Richards and struck the post before the substitute claimed the equaliser in similar style.
In injury time, another Ashford corner caught Wiles-Richards out in the air and drifted high over the goalkeeper's arms before finding the far corner.
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