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Willock - How it was to play with Chris

Joe Willock made his under-23s bow as Steve Gatting's side lost 2-1 to Sunderland at Eppleton Collieries on Saturday.

As well as being notable for his first appearance at Premier League 2 level, Willock lined up alongside older brother Chris.

Discussing his debut and linking up with his brother, here's what Joe said to Arsenal Player post-match:

on his first under-23s game…
It was good to get in the line up for the under-23s but it was just disappointing that we didn’t get the three points today. We were unlucky.

on when he found out he would be playing…
Well, I’ve been training with the under-23s regularly for four to six weeks and then the manager told me that I might have a chance to travel here. I trained well pre-match and then he said I was in the squad this morning. It was good to be starting at No 10.

on almost scoring…
I nearly scored! I thought I should’ve finished it. I was a bit disappointed at half-time, but that’s how football goes. Sometimes you miss.

on playing in the same team as Chris…
He encouraged me before the game and told me just to be free and to play how I play for the under-18s. I look at him as a big role model, so it was good.

on it being an inspiration for him to feature more…
Yes, I’m trying to play a few more games for the team but it’s hard sometimes when the first-teamers come back down and come in. So I’m just going to carry on training well and hopefully get another appearance before the end of the season. If not, I’ll carry on playing well for the under-18s.

on the result of the game…
We’re very disappointed. We thought that if we took our chances when we went 1-0 up we could’ve finished the game but we didn’t finish the game off. They came in and they’re a good side, so we gave them too much. We gave them opportunities to score.

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