Bristol City youngster Ben Acey felt the weight of expectation on his shoulders having followed in the footsteps of Alex Scott but is keen to forge his own pathway into the senior set-up.
Like Scott, the 19-year-old midfielder joined the Robins from Guernsey FC in May last year along with young striker Tim Ap Sion. He then signed a new one-year deal in October that will keep him at the club until 2024.
Acey, who has trained with the first-team on occasions, has yet to make the breakthrough but has been a key figure in City's successful Under-21 campaign. Ali Hines' side are currently joint top of the Professional Development League and enjoyed a promising Premier League Cup run which ended with a penalty defeat in the last eight against Nottingham Forest on Monday.
Scott has set the bar incredibly high for players who have come over from Guernsey to join rank in BS3. He has continued to go from strength to strength since his breakthrough last season and is expected to leave the club for the Premier League this summer for a fee believed to be around £25million.
Acey and Scott grew up and played football together on the Channel Islands and while he is delighted to see his close mate seemingly heading to the top, Acey admitted he found himself putting too much pressure on himself to live up to the comparisons.
Speaking to the Guernsey Press, he said: "Back home all anybody had ever seen is what Alex had done so a lot of people were saying stuff to me before I went to Bristol like ‘you can do that as well’ and putting that expectation on me.
"And obviously, you don’t want to be listening to outside opinions, but sometimes when it’s all you hear. Like, I had people coming up to me and speak to me about it and I think it’s hard sometimes to block it all out and sometimes you can let it get to you a little bit.
"So at first I feel like I did measure myself against him a bit, and if something didn’t go well I would be like ‘oh, I’m not good enough at this level’, but that’s obviously not true.
"Since I’ve taken things at my own pace, mentally I’ve found it a lot easier and I’ve been performing a lot better. Everyone has different journeys and travels at different speeds so I’ve just got to stay level-headed and mature about it and hopefully my time comes."
Omar Taylor-Clarke became the latest youngster to make his league debut earlier this month while Marlee Francois has featured from the bench in City's FA Cup run. Nigel Pearson has handed opportunities to 11 academy prospects during his time in charge and Acey is biding his time in the hope he gets his chance in the near future.
He added: "It was a tough start. I think I put too much pressure on myself to perform, and then I picked up a little injury and I kind of reset my mentality a little bit. Then I cemented myself in the U21s, went on this good run in the Premier League Cup, beating the likes of Newcastle, Crystal Palace, Sheffield United, Everton, and I played all of those games.
"So the fact I can play Category 1 Premier League academies and be on the winning team and play really well is good. I just need to keep going and hopefully, a stroke of luck comes and I take the opportunity.
"I’ve got just over a year left on my contract, so I think for the rest of this season it would be nice to get an opportunity to play with the first team, whether that will come or not I don’t know.
"I just want to get my head down, work hard, and just work on all the areas of my game and in the gym, and get a good pre-season behind me while I’m back home and then come back flying for pre-season, and hopefully next year is a big one and I can show what I can do on a bigger stage."
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