The 18th of February 2023 will go down in Bristol City folklore.
Fans will talk about being there on the day that Nahki Wells’ scored our first penalty in 469 days. A penalty that secured a valuable and deserved point at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light, extending our unbeaten run since the start of the year to 11 games.
Of course, I am being a little tongue in cheek but the way that the away fans celebrated at seeing Gavin Ward point to the spot in injury time was something incredible to be a part of.
Many fans had to find alternative ways to get to Sunderland after flights to Newcastle airport were cancelled on Friday. It really was a case of planes, trains, and automobiles, with large numbers of fans having to make late alternative arrangements.
There have been subsequent tales of woe on social media, from fans who suffered from punctures, breakdowns, and relentless traffic but in the end, over 1,200 fans were able to witness Wells firing the ball low and to the keeper’s right.
I will admit to not being one of them. I’m not alone with it but I have a superstition about watching a City penalty being taken.
I turned my back to the action and waited with my bated breath for the whistle and looked at my mate ‘Northern Tom’s’ reaction. The sound, the joy on his face told me all I needed to know and then everyone was grabbing hold of each other to celebrate.
There was something poetic about the fact that it was an injury-time award and that the goal actually had some meaning to it. Once again credit has to go to the manager.
I’ll admit to questioning the wisdom of substituting midfielder Joe Williams in the 87th minute with Jay Dasilva. Williams had worked tirelessly in the middle of the pitch alongside the impressive Matty James, but Pearson saw the value in bringing on Jay and adding a more attacking threat from wide.
It proved a masterstroke when Jay ran onto a clever back heel from Cam Pring before showing great strength to get into the box before he was clumsily hauled down by Sunderland defender Trai Hume and unbelievably, Ward extended his arm and pointed to the holy grail without hesitation.
Honestly, the award was greeted in much the same way as the spot kick that was awarded in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg, away at Manchester City, when Bobby Reid gave us the lead in January 2018. Fans were euphoric.
I saw a brilliant tweet after the game which joked the EFL had issued a statement to say Mr Ward had been sacked as an EFL referee with immediate effect. He was fully aware that Bristol City were not to be given a penalty. He has let us, referees and his family down.
It wasn’t all positive, with Rob Atkinson withdrawn early in the game after what looked like a fairly innocuous challenge. Sadly, after the match, Pearson said that they fear the defender suffered a suspected ACL knee injury, which if proven to be the case will be season-ending. Fingers crossed it isn’t and thoughts are with Rob and we all wish him a speedy recovery.
There were a number of impressive City performances. Max O’Leary was excellent in goal. He could do nothing about Jack Clarke's brilliant strike that gave The Black Cats the lead but he went on to make two crucial saves that kept us in the game.
Tomas Kalas came on far earlier than he would have expected and performed to the standards that we know he is capable of. Midfielders Williams and James were excellent and probably had their best game together and once again Anis Mehmeti caught the eye.
Mehmeti could so easily have given City the lead with a fine effort, which the Sunderland keeper pushed onto the post. This wasn’t a smash-and-grab, City were well worthy of the point.
I actually stayed in the onsite Stadium of Light hotel on Saturday night and spent a lot of the evening talking over the game with Sunderland fans, all of whom to a man, woman and child agreed that we deserved the point and many of them felt we were one of the best sides that they had faced this season. They were hugely impressed with Mehmeti but also with my Man of the Match Matty James.
Traffic nightmares weren’t over for the return trip home. It took nearly seven hours to get back with slow-moving traffic pretty much all the way home. But despite all of that, it was a fabulous weekend and the point made it all worthwhile.
Our 3 Peaps In A Podcast Bonus show ratings were Max O’Leary 8, George Tanner 6, Zak Vyner 6, Tomas Kalas 7, Cameron Pring 6, Alex Scott 6, Matty James 8, Joe Williams 7, Mark Sykes 6, Sam Bell 6 & Anis Mehmeti 7 (subs have to have come onto the field before the 60 th minute). A game average of 6.73, and a season average of 6.35. For Nigel, it’s another 7. A great substitution in replacing Williams with Dasilva and another game unbeaten.
SIGN UP: For our daily Robins newsletter, bringing you the latest from Ashton Gate
READ NEXT
