When Nigel Pearson said that, "selection might be an interesting one this weekend" he wasn’t wrong.
As the clock ticked towards 3pm the team was once again the talk of the ground as tactical theorists scratched heads, accompanied by multiple crossed out mental scribbles, trying to decipher what in the name of a formation was going to be used against the wily Chris Wilder’s Middlesbrough.
With Bristol City’s work already cut out against one of the Championship’s most in-form teams, dealing with defensive deficiencies and a host of injuries made it near enough impossible to predict where their latest teenager might play.
Sam Bell was the player in question, making his first start this season having only had a previous two minutes of league action - on the opening day of the season against Blackpool. It was also only his second ever start for his boyhood club.
Just three months ago, Bell was sent out on loan to Grimsby Town but spent just two months there and only made four appearances. Sine then he’s been a more common face that’s spotted around Pearson’s matchday squad and bench.
Bell is an unassuming character that could easily go under the radar so he didn’t jump of the green canvas at Ashton Gate.
His initial movements around the ground would have been normal to him by now though. He’s used to being around a matchday squad having made the bench eight times and travelling alongside the gameday-18 several times more. He’s not exactly a new face to his teammates either.
Heading out for the warm-up on a Storm Eunice-impacted day, Bell wasn’t dressed for the Bristolian weather with shorts and the customary long-sleeved red and white jumper over his top.
He slipped in alongside Ayman Benarous and Tommy Conway, pottering around the warm-up with intricate direction changes whilst exchanging crisp passes with Zak Vyner.
With the big number 33 on his back and his fluffy curtained hair bouncing on his head, he looked to be having a good time in his own introverted way.
Just before heading back into the tunnel before getting changed, Bell showed all the signs of his attacking technical ability as he fired in two sublime finishes in the shooting drill.
First, he moved rapidly off his cone with a sharp back step before stopping the ball dead with his first touch and sliding it with power past Harvey Wiles-Richards. Then he checked his shoulder for an imaginary defender and side footed his low cutback into the goal.
It was only the warm-up but it was indication of clean skill that demonstrates part of his forward armoury. Not that it was needed too much at wing-back.
None of that would have prepared him for the windy cauldron he entered into after a rousing reception for the Ashton Gate Eight had raised the atmosphere in the ground before kick-off though.
As he went in earlier than normal to allow time for the pre-match celebrations, there were still questions over his position in the eventual set-up but trying to workout where Bell was playing was easier than piecing together the rest of the side during the early moments.
Although his starting position was certainly higher up than a regular full-back, it did help to indicate City’s plans of using a back three. Or a back four with a sweeper as Pearson revealed after the game.
Bell helped to maintain width on the right-hand side where Joe Williams could tuck into a deep position alongside Tomas Kalas and Timm Klose to play as a unorthodox quarterback between midfield and defence.
When on the ball, Bell was almost level with his fellow attackers, forming a perfect bowl shape for the defence to play around. He kept this intense, heightened position on the far right and dragged Neil Taylor out of his left wing-back role to create larger room in the half-space for Chis Martin, Antoine Semenyo and Andi Weimann, exactly where the first goal came from.
Before the Robins took the lead, Bell had made an understandably nervy start. Allowing his first pass to stray into the middle of the pitch without much care. From that loss of possession he showed defensive instinct at the back post in his own box to clear up after Anfernee Dijksteel was allowed to roam into the City box unopposed and had his shot dangerously blocked.
As City scrambled around, Williams, Han-Noah Massengo and Alex Scott all jostled positions in a kaleidoscope of shifting parts, Bell acted a consistent fulcrum e to balance the side from wingback
On the ball he still wasn’t as calm as he’s been seen for the under-23s but sprinting around for lost causes to contest challenges and shift the tide of tackles in his favour made a positive impact nonetheless. His reckless boot upfield was matched by a sprightly sprint to stop Taylor clearing with purpose on the edge of his own box in a keyhole into his game.
Perhaps not the cleanest performance, but backed up by faultless effort to regain his reckoning in the match.
When the first opportunity came to run with the ball it was gleefully taken with all the enthusiasm you might expect from a 19-year old but that same energy cost him the composure it took to get past his man on the halfway line.
The speed he showed across a short distance was a frightening sight for the Boro defenders though and when mixed with the sharpness of Semenyo posed a serious threat on the counter-attack.
Bell’s confidence grew from his early game uncertainty as -e dribbled across the pitch before half-time, shuffling between three Middlesbrough opponents to set up a neat attack. His first half wasn’t explosive or too eye-catching, but it was tactically vital in stemming a flow of attacks on the City right side.
In a game of small wins that build progression, his first little victory might have been witnessing Taylor go off to be replaced by Riley McGree. The Welshman hadn’t been able to match Bell for pace and hadn’t troubled him defensively at all. Tasked with more attack minded Marcus Tavernier in front of him posed a scarier proposition when facing his own goal.
Tavernier had been able to force two good saves from Dan Bentley before being moved to wing-back but Bell’s pace helped him to aid his captain when denying the left footer.
That didn’t mean he lost his instinctive desire to be on the front foot as he showed eagerness when pressing up on the right side in front of his manager. He wasn’t overconfident or giddy with his now more important positional awareness, but having the maturity to remain positive was another tick in the box.
Going off minutes after to chants of, "he’s one of our own" will have been a special moment for Bell who’s biggest compliment should be that he didn’t look out of place in senior football, even given his positional shift.
As Bentley revealed post-match, his personal captain's message to the teenager was straightforward but also important: "I said to him before the game. He doesn't have to come on and do anything crazy to impress anybody.
"He doesn't have to be man of the match, he hasn't got to go and beat the entire team and pout the ball in the top corner. He has to be solid, reliable and tidy.
"To be fair to you, if you had asked me as a neutral, was that one of his early appearances, I probably wouldn't have guessed it, and that's a compliment to him."
Bell fulfilled that brief to a tee and had made an initially complicated situation prior to kick-off seem perfectly straightforward by 5pm.
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