The Citizens managed a draw against the youngsters of Italian giants Juventus.
While the senior team were beaten by their Italian counterparts, the youth side gave a better account of themselves.
“I think that’s the pleasing thing about it, when we come to these away games against the strong sides in Europe, the idea we can impose our game and be good enough to make the game look and feel like we want is great,” said Wilkinson after the 1-1 stalemate.
“So I think hopefully from a self belief perspective the players will take something from that.
“I think it’s a step in the right direction.
“I think this group, in terms of the way we work, is a difficult one because it sits in the middle of the two teams that we run so we don’t get as much time with them as we would like.
“The two games we lost I think were against the top two in the league so you know that shows the level of opposition we lost to is high.
“And I think there is a lot to look forward to, it’s a talented group of players, it’s a young group so some will play in this for four years which is really positive for the future.
“And the older players in this group are all with the first-team and could come into this team at the right time.
“So I think we learnt a lot from the games we lost and I think we can learn a lot from today that will stand us in good stead for the next game.”