Alex Scott: Bristol City midfielder 'never gave up' on professional dream

Alex Scott made his Bristol City debut in April and has been a fixture in the side this season

Bristol City midfielder Alex Scott says his new four-year contract shows what you can achieve if you are determined to succeed in football.

The 18-year-old signed fresh terms on Saturday - his 18th birthday - less than six months after agreeing his first professional deal at Ashton Gate.

The Guernsey-born youngster has started all four of City's Championship games so far this season.

"It shows that you do get rewarded for the hard work you put in," he said.

Scott moved from the Channel Islands to Bristol as a 16-year-old, having previously been rejected by other professional clubs in England.

"Growing up, going away every week, then being told that I'm not tall enough, not strong enough, and then to bounce back and now be playing in the Championship, it shows you can never give up," Scott told BBC Radio Guernsey.

"People form Guernsey and Jersey maybe don't get the opportunities that people do in England, so if you do get them you've got to take it in your stride."

Having lost two of their opening four Championship games, the Robins lie 15th in the early league table.

But the England youth international feels that Nigel Pearson's side are moving in the right direction and are ambitious:

"We signed some good players in the summer, some experienced players and some younger players, and we're all hungry to play in the Premier League.

"We've got the new training ground that's been built here, everything's in place for us.

"We've got great talented young players coming through and we've got to go out there and prove that we can play at the highest level, which is in the Premier League.

"That's the aim for the coming season, and we want to show that we can do it, we're not just a team that wants to be in the Championship, we want to push on for play-offs or automatic promotion."

Inspiring island players

Alex Scott's supporters have finally been able to watch him play after fans were allowed back into stadiums this season

As well as Scott, Guernsey has another England youth player in Brighton's Maya Le Tissier who is a regular in the Seagulls' Women's Super League side.

Scott hopes that he and Le Tissier can help show the next generation of Channel island players that it is possible to achieve the dream of playing at the top levels of English football:

"Me and Maya played with each other when we were younger, we're very close, we speak all the time about each other's games," Scott said.

"You still have to work so hard to get where we are now, but us playing at this level puts Guernsey on the map a little bit, so the younger players coming through have something to look up to and dream about.

"I definitely think it's good for Guernsey and Jersey's young players that enjoy football and maybe don't usually get the opportunity, that there is a pathway there and they've just got to stick at it and keep working hard."