Bristol City’s season is limping to a torrid conclusion and it isn’t with happiness that fans are looking forward.
There’s an ominous cloud that isn’t just hanging over their heads, it’s appeared in front of them, behind them, and surrounds them in an endless spiral of uncertainty, disappointment and embarrassment.
On that note, it wasn’t with sarcastic cries that the crowd chanted “this is embarrassing” in the final few moments of the 1-1 draw with bottom of the table Peterborough. It came with long-lasting resentment and anger. They’ve seen enough for this season; they don’t see a future for the next one.
Whilst this was going on and attention dares to push past the final five games of this campaign, this game was bigger than fans might realise, not in terms of the table as City still sit relatively well placed to avoid relegation, but that alone isn’t enough.
Nigel Pearson is a man struggling to get his team into any sort of form and it’s at times like this, when the snowball of glumness is starting to look big on the horizon once again, that the pressure is turned up.
The boss has become famous for his rants and emotional openness when under pressure and in the final stages of a season, but with nothing to play for but pride, Pearson isn’t reversing his own image but solidifying it with the fans.
The moans and groans of Ashton Gate provided a backdrop of a frustrating and disappointing day, not because the Robins were unlucky, but because it’s a situation that has been seen before and there hasn’t been enough change. In the same sense, there isn’t a promise of change either with a manager reluctant to take responsibility.
The negativity comes after Saturday afternoon’s visitors had lost 16 of their last 20 away matches and taken just five points from 39 on the road. City had their opponents down to 10 men in a game they were outplayed in when against 11 opponents, the red card didn’t change enough.
This was another new low in a season of stooping further and further down. Here are the moments missed from Ashton Gate…
Klose pleads with fans
Not for the first time this season, Bristol City’s stadium echoed not with cheers but jeers and boos as the full-time whistle went. This next chapter in the fans’ loudly voiced displeasure wasn’t in the same toxic vein as it had been this season, but there was a feeling of no going back.
If some fans hadn’t lost patience already, and many had, then the chorus of booing at the end that engulfed the players will have made the message clear. Tempers are boiling at Ashton Gate.
The background music was a din of moaning and groaning with very little in the way of chanting any positivity or support, even for the brief time that the team were ahead in the match. Be it because they knew their Senegalese hero Famara Diedhiou was in attendance, or because it brings memories of a better time, his name was sung in the dying moments as well.
This emotional display of outward displeasure wasn’t just a statement of discontent, it was a message to the manager, players and wider club members that the bedrock of fans aren’t happy.
The whistles and shouts of annoyance didn’t just stop after fulltime, they continued to pierce the air and lingered as the players solemnly paraded themselves around the pitch.
Andi Weimann was the first to pass the supporters and his energy and effort was clapped, his responsive applause seemed like an apology. Even after possibly his most anonymous performance of the season, his tangible and intangible contribution was recognised.
The next players to move in tandem weren’t as lucky. Dan Bentley, Rob Atkinson and Jay Dasilva walked around to the home fans, but we greeted with more hostility and a continuation of “that was embarrassing” ringing around the remaining fans. They’d only stayed for this very purpose, to bid the players on and ensure that their journey home was just as sour.
It is worth saying that this was in large from the Section 82 portion of the crowd, but the chants continued from the Dolman Stand as well, just in a slightly tamer manor.
This was all a clear to signal the players, pushing them away, throwing their arms out in disgust and waving their hands at them. Patience was less than thin, it had been shredded gradually and by five o’clock on Saturday it was non-existent and had been torn apart.
Eventually, Timm Klose took his own solitary place, projecting a dejected and forlorn nature, wandering past the cauldron of anger. Despite only coming into Ashton Gate in January he still felt the force of the fans and was left to plead with them.
Sticking his hands up apologetically, Klose was doing his best as the peacemaker.
He wasn’t part of the toxicity that started to appear during the final home games before the winless run was ended, but this was bad enough. The Swiss international is far from to blame for the result or the form, but the quickfire nature of the swivelling opinions have left a relentless and unforgiving reaction to all the players.
All is not well, and nobody feels at home anymore.
Clarke-Harris celebration
It’s horrible to write, but as Bristol Rovers continue their own promotion charge, City have dwindled out and couldn’t shake off the shackles of an ex-Gas player.
Jonson Clarke-Harris, made captain for the day by Grant McCann, was the inevitable scorer of Posh’s equaliser.
Having been booed earlier in the game as his name was read out and his first touches accompanied by a similar feature, the away skipper had limited impact on the game.
As he pounced to tuck in a scruffy goal with 25 minutes left, the City crowd united in remonstrating their fumes towards Clarke-Harris. Unfortunately, he seemed to get a kick from this and ran off to the corner flag, slowing down to elongate the moment, taking in the expressions of anger and jumping into a knee slide.
The former Rovers striker looked like a fool though, as his desperate teammates retrieved the ball and went back to restart the game, he was alone in celebrating and received a pile on of City abuse as he turned round in shock that nobody was with him.
Who got the last laugh in this one? It’s hard to tell, Clarke-Harris enjoyed his moment but looked all a bit silly, City got to shout at a rival player and watch him embarrass himself in front of them, and neither team got much out of the game to help their dire causes.
Alex Scott's battle
“It’s hard to tell which team is bottom,” honestly called a voice around Ashton Gate midway through the first half as City and Posh struggled to get the game going. The hosts even more worryingly were left toothless and haphazard with some rushed clearances and unorganised hoofs up-field.
The same message could have been used in the second half as City failed to assert their man advantage on the visitors.
Atkinson’s booming header and City’s set-piece dominance paid off briefly though and emphasised the quality difference that the points total indicates is between the sides, despite relative proximity in the table.
Outside of the scoreline there is a similarity between the two playing squads though, the inexperience in the teams and the reliance and trust of youth.
“They’re poor because of quality,” said Pearson, “and we’re poor because sometimes our personality lets us down.
“We play against good sides and we’re good, we play against poor sides and then we match them whether they’re good, bad, or indifferent.”
Both clubs are currently more reliant on their own academies than anything else. City’s senior players are either past it, injured, or called out for mentality issues by their manager. Peterborough are just poorer. A smaller club in a smaller City with less infrastructure.
Yet, there was a damning battle on the pitch that summed the likeness up. In a private battle between Alex Scott and Harrison Burrows, the youngsters provided some desired needle between them that spiced up an otherwise dour first half.
With Scott playing at right wingback and Burrows in an attacking left-back role, neither of them in a preferred area of the field, they were face-to-face for most of the first period.
There was general disgruntlement that Scott was playing in that role anyway, but with Joe Williams’ return and Matty James seemingly undroppable when fit, Scott was moved into a position that has seen some standout performances from him, even so.
As Posh started fast and set up camp inside City’s half, Burrows and Scott were virtually touching noses throughout. The left side of City’s defence, occupied by Robbie Cundy who struggled, was the main opening for attacks.
The first minibattle between the two academy graduates was when the Posh player fell onto Scott and fouled him. The left-footed midfielder by trade wasn’t too happy with the decision and showed his annoyance.
On the next occasion that Scott was able to attack his opposite number he got underneath Burrows’ grill and pushed him, along with the ball, off the pitch when trying to win a corner in front of the Lansdown Stand.
The tension between them was felt as it seemed as though they were both battling to impress the most, knowing the high stock that they have.
The flare continued as Burrows again got into Scott’s defensive circle and was fouled when going past his man in a bustle of shirts. Scott’s frustration at the foul was clear and he protested, pushing into Burrows as they both got up afterwards.
It was a key fight between two promising players that both sides will be desperate to keep a hold of, but ultimately neither of the two will have been happy with the outcome.
Fashionably late
In a statistic to bring some level of cautious optimism, Peterborough hadn’t beaten City in a Championship match since 2012. Interestingly enough Posh manager McCann was also in that team that defeated the Robins on that day 10 years ago.
Former City midfielder Lee Tomlin did the damage with a brace though.
McCann has already faced City this campaign when he was in charge of Hull City, he was almost left isolated on the touchline after Pearson’s late arrival to the dugout.
With the players out on the field, handshakes and pleasantries shared, the Boro boss was left cold with nobody to greet him from the home dugout.
Looking down from the Lansdown upper and Pat Mountain was the first member of the coaching staff to embrace the hosts as he made his way across to the visiting coaching staff. By this point the players were out in their formation and preparing to kick-off, City still with two very empty red cushioned seats left bare.
Before any real worry started to settle in Curtis Fleming popped his head out from the tunnel and calmed things down. Pearson still hadn’t been seen though as he was absent from the pre-match warmups too. That’s a more common occurrence as he allows Alex Ball to take over the coaching on a matchday.
Then, in a timely fashion and just seconds before the game kicks off, Pearson reveals himself as well to link up with his assistant on the bench. With a quick hop to McCann, a tap on the shoulder and a point of acknowledgement to the rest of the staff, Pearson’s late show could start.
It might not have been much, but for someone as meticulously organised and regimented as the City manager, his close proximity to cutting punctuality to the wire was a surprise.
The lost car key
As far as non-football related moments from a match go, this might be one of the furthest we’ve stretched. It did provide a slight moment of foreshadowing from stadium announcer Ian Downs though.
A term phrased by Jose Mourinho in his most charismatic first stint of English football, parking the bus has become a widely used sentence that has been expanded into ‘insert manager’s name being at the wheel.’
In this case, as the loud voice came over the stadium speakers saying, “there have been a pair of keys handed into the club shop if anyone has lost them.”
It was one of those comedic events where the crowd went silent in eery anticipation but had to stifle a laugh as the lesser magnitude became apparent.
Even within that, there was a noticeable rush to check bags and pockets as the rustle of searching could be heard. Supporters dug into their clothes and satchels to make sure it wasn’t them that was left red-faced.
Not to take too much of a leap, but it might have been McCann who lost the keys to his bus because the Peterborough bottom of the table resilience and resolve was broken as Rob Atkinson used his own version of two-London buses coming along to bury his second goal in as many games.
In the end though, if this was a City vehicle, it’s continued descent is in free fall and the handbrake has stopped working. As the crowd turned against the team and management, the atmosphere throughout hadn’t been toxic, but the final moments of anger that spilled over the top might go a distance to taking the keys away from Pearson as his future actions send fans beyond turning back.
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