If the home hoodoo is officially over then Bristol City should welcome the visit of Coventry to Ashton Gate on Tuesday. They’re another form team in the Championship and it’ll be a fight for the players in red to relish.
The confidence at BS3 is high, when not on the road, and after battling to one of the most impressive victories of the season so far against Middlesbrough, the determination for even a pinch of consistency will drive fans crazy once more.
If City could do this more often then they would by way of results be higher in the league. But that’s part of the current journey, because they aren’t at a stage yet where high-octane performances can come twice or three times a week.
With some impressive and unexpected tactical choices from Nigel Pearson, a starring duet leading the line and a return for the club captain in goal, City’s dogged display to beat Chris Wilder’s in-form Middlesbrough was a standout showing.
On a day where the atmosphere and celebration was about more than just the on-pitch football and the Ashton Gate Eight were rightfully serenaded in a fitting tribute, here were some of the finer points from the day…
Pearson shows bottle
The unorthodox life of a water bottle isn’t one that anybody alive is going to experience, barring an incredible and somewhat useless scientific breakthrough. Imagine just for one second though, or maybe 90 minutes or so, that you could be a water bottle and you ended up being Pearson’s punch bag during a football match.
It’s been extremely noticeable from the stands that since the manager decided to be more outward facing as the brand image of his team, he has often carried a standard 500ml Tarka Springs plastic water bottle with him on the touchline.
This is common practice amongst the angriest of managers throughout football, prone to kicking, throwing and splashing them up and down the artificial grass verge that they stand on.
Pearson does seem to drink from his bottle more than most. Needing it to lubricate his vocal chords after bellowing instructions towards his team.
Against Middlesbrough there were several small moments of water bottle entertainment on the side line that caught our eye. Firstly was when Antoine Semenyo’s high-flying confidence got a little too overzealous in the first-half.
Admittedly, if anyone was going to be confident enough to try fake passes and twirling their leg behind them to spook a defender into a lapse of awareness, it would be Semenyo. He is not only bringing high-quality, consistent end product, he’s playing with stature and holding himself like a someone that knows they’re more than good enough at this level now.
That’s why it was slightly unhuman of him to make a mistake as glaring, but still funny, as this one. With Jay Dasilva pedalling on the outside of him in the Middlesbrough half and an overload on the left side City had a good chance to increase their one-goal lead.
Semenyo slowed down the move, the crowd hummed quietly in anticipation of the electric spark that was sure to come. He raised his leg to send the defender one way, holding it behind himself, balancing on one leg, and tucking it around his other leg, faking a pass and move. It looks neat, but when he comes to make the pass to Dasilva it’s wayward and straight out of play. Illusion ruined.
Not one for fake passes or much neatness in his playing days, Pearson tossed the water bottle from his hand into the air with a smart pirouette, catching it on the full 360 per cent flip and turned away in disgust.
The bottle lived to face another day. Except that day wouldn’t come because before half-time it was being launched into the turf.
In a similar position by the touchline adjacent to the technical area, Alex Scott was in a great position to send in an arching cross towards his centre-backs. He over hit the cross and sent it far beyond Joe Lumley’s goal, wasting a valuable chance to test the Boro defence.
This time Pearson couldn’t hold in his frustration and smashed the bottle into the floor, likely ruining it in the process, as captured by YouTuber Sportboy - Only Sport and Fun.
Given the supply of bottles we’re sure he had a new one to toy with before long. Unfortunately in a mad rush at the end of the game as is standard with City matches where they so often concede late, we missed Pearson’s to Han-Noah Massengo not keeping the ball in the corner in the 92nd minute.
Tavernier loses it
All the indications going into this match were that it would be a tough game for Bristol City. When you’re languishing in the bottom half then every game is, the Championship doesn’t offer any freebies.
Yet there was the feeling that if the Robins were to claim anything to take from Chris Wilder’s stubborn Middlesbrough team it would be one of the best results of the season. The North Yorkshire side have had a resurgence under the ex-Sheffield United manager and stood top of the form table over the last 10 games before the visit to Ashton Gate.
They were every part the hard-working and solid team that you might expect. They made life hard for City to move the ball out of their own half in possession and had the power and height of a squad assembled by Neil Warnock.
This combination makes it even more impressive that City were able to battle for their victory. It might not have been thoroughly deserved considering the heroic performance from Dan Bentley, but the Robins earnt their three points through grit. Exactly what Pearson wanted.
There were indicators as early as the first-half to show that the visitors weren’t used to having it go against them recently. Marcus Tavernier, brother of former City player James, demonstrated his annoyance at the game breaking down in the first-half.
As the ball was moving in the Boro box, a goal-kick had to be retaken. Instead of passing the ball back to his keeper, Tavernier picked up the ball and hoofed it in bitterness. To the delight of the Dolman Stand the kick went nowhere near his own goal and ballooned out towards the far side of the pitch and into the Lansdown Lower instead.
It only took a few extra seconds out of the first-half, but it showed that City’s resilience and "sheer bloody mindedness to keep the ball out of the net" had had its effect in dispiriting the away side.
Dasilva shows experience
Other than lowly Peterborough, no other Championship team has conceded more goals after the 75th minute than Bristol City. But we don’t have to tell you that because given the drama that tends to happen on a biweekly basis, often at Ashton Gate, these goals have been ones that cost City matches.
It’s now 15 in total - the joint most they concede in any 15-minute period throughout the game. Worryingly the other heavily-occupied goals conceded timing column is the section approaching half-time.
When we look at the seven goals conceded in this 76-90th minute period at home, all of them have come after the 90th minute too. A deeply concerning trend that has gone on to cost City an extra eight points.
Hence the panic of the final three minutes when Matt Crooks headed in Tavernier’s late corner on Saturday. We’d all seen the script before. That made the rousing cheers of "Bristol City" from the home support even more meaningful. It was true desperation to get this big win, on a big day, over the line.
Pearson has been no stranger to highlighting the lack of game management from his players and was exasperated by Massengo’s late decision to not hold the ball in the corner when given the opportunity.
Just when you need a bit of lady luck to go your way, City were given some respite. As a rushed clearance was pinged down the near touchline the ball appeared to be going for a throw in around the halfway line. Not exactly what City want, another late siege opportunity.
With the helping hand of the final remnants from Storm Eunice and a helpful bounce, the ball handrailed down the line and stayed on the pitch. As it got closer and closer to the corner flag the cheers from the crowd got louder. Dael Fry forced to followed the ball all the way, Dasilva found a burst of life to seek the ball before it went out.
The wing-back put his miniscule frame in the way of Fry who towered looming over him and tapped the ball against the shins of the defender to win a City throw.
Before taking the throw he showed some of the experience and knowhow that Pearson has been calling for all season. Toe-punting the ball lightly several times away from him to delay the taking of the throw.
It was another moment that maybe only saved mere seconds, but given the onslaught and pressure that City allow themselves to come under in stoppage time, it diffused an extra spark out of the game.
Bentley saves the day
If it can be called a craze, there’s been a certain resurgence of young children running onto football pitches at full-time (kids these days, eh). It’s nothing new, but the idea behind it is that to kick a young child from the pitch, especially after a victory, is much harder than a hustling teenager or adult.
After the initial celebrations at Ashton Gate on Saturday three small boys managed to make their way across the pitch towards Bentley who had just given his shirt away to the crowd after making his first start since December 18.
The Robins captain was in good spirits having played a key role in his side’s fourth successive home win, he’s also an extremely likeable man. With an overkill of three stewards now baring down on the mini intruders, Bentley played peacemaker.
One of the children looked quite distraught at what was going on but found a saviour in aquamarine blue and ended up huddled underneath Bentley’s goal-stopping wingspan. The keeper did a good job of helping the kids and ensured that they wouldn’t be dealt with harshly by the stewards.
As Bentley later revealed on Twitter, the young fan was after his shirt but having already thrown it into the crowd he was left empty-handed. The skipper though pulled a blinder by going to speak to kitman Scott Murray and furnish the young Robin with what is now surely a prized possession.
Gracious Vyner
Zak Vyner has been under fire this week. Criticised by all but name in an outburst of rage by his manager last week at Swansea, heavily reprimanded by supporters in the week since and then dropped for Saturday’s match.
Given Vyner’s streaky form this season, some genuinely glorious displays of passing followed by some hideous defensive decisions and mental blips, there isn’t much to suggest he won’t be playing again soon.
That said, it takes a strong character to withstand the levels of interrogation and downright abuse that he has received on social media this week and still show face again. But he’s a professional and he did just that.
He wasn’t required at all against Middlesbrough and saw his position given to one of Joe Williams or 19-year old Sam Bell, depending on where you think he was most likely to play. Unorthodox front sweeping centre back/midfielder or wing-back? Really, neither of these roles suit Vyner that well and perhaps that’s another reason why he was absent.
Bell’s role at wing-back was vital to pushing back Neil Taylor in the first-half and Williams had one of his best games as a mixture of centre-back, quarterback and roaming search and destroy midfielder. You can’t see Vyner replacing either of Tomas Kalas or Timm Klose so in this organised, high-energy system that Pearson used, there isn’t a natural spot for Vyner.
That could have been by design. If he isn’t trusted then it could be seen as being better to work a way around missing a genuine full-back, or it could have been that Pearson exploited these two roles and got the personnel spot on. Either way, it worked, and it worked without Vyner.
The depth or so-called lack of within the squad does mean that the 24-year-old will likely be needed sometime in the not so-distant future though. That’s why it was so encouraging to see him still joking around with his teammates in the warmup up and taking an active position on the bench.
When Bell was substituted in the second-half having carried out his positional responsibilities almost flawlessly he received a polite ruffle of his hair from Vyner who looked delighted to see another young talent in the team.
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