If most Bristol City fans had been offered a 1-1 draw against an in-form Swansea City side ahead of Saturday’s game, they would’ve certainly taken it quite happily, especially with the injury and illness-ravaged squad at Nigel Pearson’s disposal.
Yet it still feels irritating that all three points aren’t staying in the West Country as the Robins wasted a couple of good chances. Pearson believed that if his forwards were at their best, they could have had it tied up by half-time.
From the first minute, City looked as though they had benefited from having a midweek off, George Tanner finding space to beat his man and put in a wicked cross, only for those in the box not quite able to turn it goalwards.
However, it can’t be underplayed that the performance on Saturday couldn’t have been more different from that of only a week ago against Reading. Instead, there was some quick attacking football alongside plenty of defensive resilience that felt a world away from that performance.
That doesn’t stop it hurting when you lose a lead late in a game where you’ve managed to restrict the opposition to limited opportunities and there was certainly still a slight sense of disappointment around Ashton Gate from players and fans.
Before we begin to look ahead to Tuesday’s match against Sheffield United, here are the moments missed from BS3 on Saturday.
The “G” wagon at Ashton Gate
Footballer’s cars are rarely dull and there are few at Ashton Gate with more extravagant taste than Tomas Kalas, the Czech international is usually spotted with a Lamborghini or something flash.
Saturday was similar but a slight twist, instead he opted for a steel grey Mercedes-Benz G-Class and had plenty of company on his journey from the High-Performance Centre to BS3.
As the monster of a motor parked up behind the Ateyo Stand, the former Chelsea defender was joined by his defensive partner Timm Klose. Although his usually smiley self, Klose didn’t exactly look full of energy so it’s safe to assume he was one of the Pearson earmarked as suffering with illness.
While the defensive giants clambered out of the front, the much smaller framed Ayman Benarous completed the trio exiting the car from the back seats before joining Kalas and Klose in meeting a few fans and taking a few photos.
One man going the other way was Rob Atkinson, having already been named in the starting XI, he was too ill to play and was trying to get away from Ashton Gate ahead of kick-off. However, the sheer mass of travelling fans around the car park meant he was unable to escape until the match had kicked-off.
Pring’s manic afternoon
Warm-ups are meant to be the easiest bit of action across a game for players, but City were well and truly up against it with illness, late changes and just to top it off Cam Pring fell victim to a dreaded nosebleed and required some hastily-formed plugs so he could take to the field for kick-off.
He had all the sympathies of Joe Williams who left the field at the end of the warm-up chuckling to himself, maybe it was just a case of a first Championship start since April’s 3-2 defeat at Bournemouth causing the blood to rush to his head.
All in all, the 24-year-old impressed on the left of the back three, especially when you consider he didn’t know he would be starting until less than an hour before kick-off. There were some crucial blocks, some crunching tackles and even a few adventurous runs down the flank to complete the performance.
But to top off a performance where Pearson said he played, “really well,” Pring did excellently to recover from a slip to pull down Armstrong Oko-Flex as he began to break down the right.
Not only did the former Cheltenham Town loanee curtail the attack, he also provided some late entertainment for those inside Ashton Gate as he pulled down the wide man’s shorts to leave him sprawled across the turf with his shorts around his ankles.
Coaches rein in O'Leary's positivity
It seems as though Max O’Leary is Bristol City’s No1 for the foreseeable, having started the last five games for the Robins and, bar a mix-up with Kalas against Millwall, he’s been faultless.
One thing the manager has pointed out is the positivity of the keeper when claiming crosses and in his distribution and that was no different against the Swans, with an excellent catch from a long ball into his box in the first-half the pick of the bunch.
But it was noticeable after the break that Pearson and his coaching team were eager for their stopper to take his time and offer the Robins an otherwise limited spell of possession. After O’Leary aimed long for Conway only to see his quick pass end up in the stands, all three members of the coaching staff headed to the technical area to ask the Irish stopper to slow down.
City only had 28 per cent of the ball, by no means unusual against Russell Martin’s possession-based Swansea side and the visitors completed 585 passes so Pearson was very keen for his side not to give away possession cheaply.
Paterson gets a mixed reception
Last year when Jamie Paterson returned to Ashton Gate with Swansea, he had quite a tasty reception from the City fans having joined the Swans on a free transfer the previous summer.
Very much a fan favourite during his five years stay in the West Country, Paterson has continued to endear himself to the Robins fans with some heroics against Severnside rivals Cardiff City since his transfer.
There were the usual reunions with the likes of player liaison Matt Parsons and a couple of his old teammates during the warm-up and as he came off the bench there was a mixture of applause and some light boos as he took to the field as a second-half substitute.
As he wandered down to take a corner in front of Section 82 there was another ripple of applause for the attacking midfielder that he returned. Despite the few boos, there will be few City fans not wishing Paterson well for the rest of the season.
City squad come together in the warm-up
As the City side took to the field to begin their warm-up, they all headed straight towards the South Stand in an unusual style to wish City fan Oskar Pycroft well before he goes into hospital for a major operation.
Some Red’s fans will remember Oskar for being the club’s mascot at Wembley for the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Final in 2015, as well as walking out on the Ashton Gate turf in 2016 having had life-changing surgery.
Dollymarie shared on OTIB that he is set to have surgery this week to allow him to be able to walk again as he is currently in pain, and he won’t be able to attend City matches while recovering.
To help lift his mood and wish him well the entire City team made their way over to Oskar in the South Stand before gifting him with a signed shirt and a card and plenty of City fans have followed suit with messages of good luck on social media.
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