Nigel Pearson warns that more players may come down with the flu after his makeshift Bristol City side battled to a hard-fought 1-1 draw against Swansea.
The City manager was forced to start with a back three of George Tanner, Zak Vyner and Cam Pring with Timm Klose absent and Rob Atkinson pulling out in the warm-up around an hour before kick-off.
Andi Weimann was also left out presumably with the bug but despite a depleted squad, Pearson felt his side could have grabbed all three points if they were more clinical in the first half. Antoine Semenyo missed a glorious chance in the opening few minutes from close range before Nahki Wells saw a strike saved by the keeper's legs.
Tommy Conway needed no invitation to fire City ahead when he brilliantly scored beyond Steven Benda after latching onto Wells' pass. The hosts were relatively comfortable against a side who had won seven in their previous nine with Max O'Leary showing his dominance from crosses.
Semenyo could have doubled City's lead when his tame effort was straight at the keeper but the defence was breached with 14 minutes to play. A corner was cleared into the path of Olivier Ntcham who cannoned in an effort from distance.
Pearson said: “We played well today, and we rue the chances that we missed in the first half in all honesty. They scored a good goal, I thought we defended exceptionally well today, worked hard, they didn’t really have chances that I remember too much, and it was a deflected shot that went in.
"We are disappointed, but we need to convert those chances when they come our way because we could’ve been comfortable at half-time.
“We didn’t take our chances so I suppose if we make mistakes at the back you slate them and when forwards missed chances you don’t treat them the same way. So yeah we created chances but we weren’t at our best today."
Pearson was keen to highlight the positive performance of his inexperienced backline with Tanner making his first start since November 2021 in the league while it was Pring's first league start since April.
"It was a good game for them (the defence) because Swansea pass the ball and we had some pace at the back today.
"All five have really good pace, but to have a back three as mobile as our three today was good. I thought they dealt with everything they needed to. They can be satisfied with their contributions."
Attention will now turn to Tuesday's home game with Sheffield United but Pearson fears the flu could continue to disrupt his team selection.
He said: "The players have been taking medication to limit the effects of flu all week and they’ll have probably another five days of taking it, but how it moves forward I honestly can’t tell you at the moment.
"And we’ll probably have more. When it runs through the club, I can’t tell you who’ll be available for the midweek game, it depends on who has to deal with a bit of illness.
"I mean Alex Scott wasn’t well last night, but I thought he played well today as did Matty James, I thought wow the work rate that they get through is fantastic. The back three were great and we had plenty of chances.”
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