Nigel Pearson has challenged his Bristol City side not to let last night's defeat derail their Championship form as he harbours ambitions to mount a play-off charge.
The Robins can hold their heads high in their 3-0 defeat against Manchester City which ended a 12-game unbeaten run in all competitions. For 74 minutes, Pearson's side were very much in the tie but the quality of Pep Guardiola's side eventually came to the fore.
City didn't crumble after Phil Foden's opener in the opening 10 minutes and instead stuck to their principles by showing their attacking capabilities, with Alex Scott and Sam Bell causing problems down Man City's right. Pearson was proud of the way his team rallied and created opportunities before Foden grabbed his second on 74 minutes.
Kevin De Bruyne then scored the third goal late on but it was a taster of what can be achieved in BS3 with seven academy players earning pitch time. All attentions now turn to the small matter of a Severnside derby at the weekend with an away trip to strugglers Cardiff.
City haven't lost in the league since the defeat against West Brom on Boxing Day which put Pearson under pressure as City sat two points above the drop zone with three wins in 17 matches. Fast forward to today, and a run of four wins and five draws in nine league matches have catapulted the Robins up the table.
They are now 13 points away from the bottom three and 10 off the play-offs although they do have a game in hand over Luton who occupy sixth spot. "We worked really hard to go 12 unbeaten and we really didn't want to lose tonight (Tuesday)," Pearson said.
"When you lose it's important to play and be flat out and I think we've been true to ourselves. What we have to do now, is we've got a local derby at the weekend which is a really important game for us and we have to as much as anything, take the positives from a game like tonight where we've played against a top, top side.
"We need to make sure that we don't compromise our standards in any game here on in. We've worked really hard since the turn of the year because we were under pressure to find results and people were asking questions of us as a side and obviously me as a manager and I think collectively we've had a positive response too.
"We need to see how good we can be between now and the end of the season. There is potential for us to push for a play-off position but you can't blow hot and cold.
"The Championship is relentless. The threshold for success or lack of a wide margin for error is just not there."
If City are to push for the play-offs, the next three league matches will prove crucial. After a trip to Cardiff, who sit one place adrift of relegation, they then take on Huddersfield and Blackpool - both of whom are stranded in the bottom three.
Pearson added: "You've got to be able to perform week-in-week-out and we've done pretty well recently. We can't let a defeat like tonight impact that.
"Our aim for the rest of the season is to finish as strongly as we can. Whether we can get to the play-offs is another thing.
"We've put some distance between us and the bottom sides but everybody knows how difficult the Championship is."
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