‘Second to none’ - How Bristol City striker Seb Palmer-Houlden is faring during SPFL loan move

Bristol City's striking department appears to be in excellent shape heading into the November international break.

Nahki Wells has cemented himself as the first-choice number nine after an impressive start to the season which has seen him score five league goals in just 526 Championship minutes.

Behind the Bermuda international, Liam Manning has both Sinclair Armstrong and Fally Mayulu to call upon. While neither forward has completely hit their stride having made the switch to Ashton Gate this summer, they have shown in flashes what they are capable of.

Fans will of course be keen to see the Robins bolster their attacking ranks when January rolls around, but with Sam Bell on his way back from injury and Wells in fine form, City may well go with what they have for the remainder of the season.

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At the end of the campaign, Seb Palmer-Houlden, 20, will return from his time on loan with Dundee hoping to compete for the number one shirt at Ashton Gate. Having impressed on loan at Newport County last season, many in South Bristol expected the forward to be in and around Manning’s first team set-up this term.

Instead, the 20-year-old made the temporary move to the Scottish Premiership with technical director Brian Tinnion admitting there were doubts about how much football he would play if he remained with the Robins.

"We spoke about Seb a lot; do we keep him in, do we have him around the squad?” Tinnion said. "But then the players that we’re going to bring in, it was then how much game time would Seb get?

"So one more year on loan, with another 30-40 games; Scottish Premiership, playing against Celtic and Rangers - will that be better for Seb, and we thought it would be, so he’s going to go there and have a great experience. (He’s a) great lad, made great strides at Newport last year, really impressive, (and) the feedback from them was very good."

Palmer-Houlden was thrown straight into the fold upon his arrival north of the border, scoring on his Premiership debut against rivals Dundee United. Since then he’s scored six goals in 16 games having been in and out of Tony Docherty’s side.

We caught up with Dundee journalist George Cran, who works for The Courier to find out how Palmer-Houlden is getting on in Scotland.

How would you sum up Seb Palmer-Houlden’s loan so far?

It’s been pretty positive to be fair. He’s quickly become popular in the squad and pretty popular with the fans. I think they appreciate what he’s brought to the squad. He’s maybe not had quite as many starts as he would have liked but he’s made a big impact.

Six goals in 16 games so far and a lot of those have been substitute appearances in the league, so he’s not maybe had as much time as he would like on the pitch. When he has played he’s really added to the team with his really strong running ability which I’m sure Bristol City fans will have seen. He just keeps going and going and I think Dundee fans have really taken to him.

He went on the Dundee fancast a couple of months ago and I think people appreciated that and saw what a good guy he is so he’s embedded really well up here. The results for the team haven’t been great but he’s certainly been a popular man so far.

Is it a surprise to see a young player put himself out there in that manner?

You could say that. Having spoken to him myself, he’s a pretty down-to-earth kind of guy, there’s no airs and graces. He’s just a normal kind of bloke who's really good at football. That’s the way he carries himself, there’s no getting ahead of himself. He knows what he’s about and what he’s trying to achieve and that speaks to moving up here for the loan spell.

From what I gather, when he signed there were a few Bristol City fans wondering why he wouldn’t be in the first team, but he immediately mentioned they were signing other strikers and he wanted to play, he needed to play. He’s taken the chance and I think there’s certainly more to come of him.

Has he just played as a striker or has he featured in other positions?

He’s had to adapt a bit. Dundee have mixed and matched a bit and either played with one striker or a front three. Simon Murray is the main striker, he was the big signing of the summer and the stand-in captain at the moment. He’s purely a number nine so sometimes Seb has had to make do and play either as a wing forward or as a winger which I know is new to him.

The defensive side of the game he’s had to learn. He’s a trier on that front and he really has improved. He’s played up front and across the frontline so six goals in 16 is good but it maybe shows that he’s not been a poacher. Still, it’s a pretty good return for the chances he’s had.

How has he coped with the physical challenge of the Scottish game?

There have been no issues on that front because he’s a big, strong lad and such a strong runner that he can just blast past and Dundee fans have loved that. Scottish football tends to be quite fast and you don’t get much time at all on the ball anywhere on the pitch and he’s taken to that as well.

Would you expect him to stay at Dundee beyond January?

I think Dundee would certainly want to keep him for the rest of the season because he’s really added in terms of his quality but also his attitude around the place has been second to none. They certainly need somebody of that ilk around that can come in when Murray isn’t there or when you play two up front, you play the two of them together.

They’ve got a few strikers but Seb’s been so important across the squad that even if he’s not starting every week, they’ll definitely want to keep him.

Does he have what it takes to force his way into a Championship team next season?

I don’t think he’ll be too far off it because he has the physicality and the attributes to do that. You need to be big and strong in the Championship, he’s got that and he’s shown he can finish as well.

I’m guessing he just needed a bit of experience before they could see him as a real first-team option so I think having a season up here where you’re playing most weeks, at big stadiums, against Rangers and Celtic and stuff like that will have helped.

It’s been a bit of a struggle this season as well particularly. Results haven’t been great or as good as they would have liked and experiencing that and learning how it feels when things aren’t going right will certainly stand him in good stead for next season. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him kick on.

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