Bristol City Match Report 18th January 2020 So, one of the few games I am likely to get to this season, living now in South Gloucestershire and an easy jaunt down the M5; an easy park (£8 – how much?) near the ground and an easy walk to the stadium, in which I found myself installed in my seat by 1.45 pm, along with a few hardly Reds fans, a Sky cameraman and his security guard, with both of whom I had a good banter before the game. No sign of Diaby. The website says ‘injured, but the fans round me said, ‘ill,’ so believe what you will. I also noticed that Clarke Oduor seemed to be feeling his left leg during the warm-up and, sure enough, he was replaced by Ben Williams at left back in a late announcement. So the following Reds team, 442, but with the familiar midfield diamond, took to the pitch at 2.55 pm: Collins J Williams Halme Andersen B Williams Dougall Thomas Ritzmaier Mowatt Brown Chaplin This seemed a sensible selection, given the injuries, as it maintained the balance and structure of the team, so everyone should know their role ok. Match Report Not much point in going into too much detail, as you can follow it all on the club website, BBC, or wherever, but one or two incidents bear analysis. The earliest big scare at either end was from a City corner, at which they looked well-drilled, this one ending with Jacob Brown deflecting the ball against our cross-bar and then away to safety. Our best move of the half was also from a corner and it is good to report that, having seen us make so few of these count this season, this really worked as per training ground. No Oduor, so it was Mowatt’s left foot which delivered and his hands which gave the signal, which was, presumably, far post coming up. The ball was well delivered to Halme, way beyond the back post and his header back across goal was met with a spectacular Chaplin scissor-kick, which brought an equally spectacular save from Daniel Bentley in the City goal. Only a striker in prime form and confidence would have attempted this one and only one blessed with a lot of skill would have got it on target, so, unlucky, Conor. I had expected a come-back from a poor City side in the second half, but we battled well in the first fifteen minutes and wrested control of the game back again into dominance. A crucial part of the game and we did really well to stay in control with excellent, crisp passing moves in little triangles, having the City players largely chasing shadows. We were creating chances throughout the second half, so it is a shame we didn’t covert at least one of them. See my comments below about what we need to ensure survival. The players were either unlucky, or rash, depending on your point of view, but Thomas (looked dangerous all game), Mowatt and Ritzmaier all had chances to hit the target, but missed, often narrowly. One (I think from Ritzmaier) came back off the bar, but it all looked set for an entertaining 0-0, as neither side seemed capable of putting the ball in the net. Jay DaSilva had had a good game for City and had obviously worked out our habit of passing forty/fifty yards from our left to find Jacob Brown down our right. He had dropped back to cover this move and had intercepted the passes, mainly from Andersen, aimed at Jacob. (See Mowatt’s goal v Huddersfield and the pass which led to it.) On one of these, he picked up the ball wide on our right and set off on a run down the wing. I am not sure where the cover had gone, but it was a good pass from DaSilva, which found Eliasson towards our left, who showed a lot of composure before placing the ball beyond Collins. We battled back with just three minutes added time and chances continued to come to Mowatt, but it was all a bit frantic and shots were again skied and off target. At the start, I would have been happy with a point against a high-riding City side, but think that a draw was the least we deserved from that impressive, front-foot performance. In truth, it could have gone either way, but we played almost all the football on show and dominated large chunks of the game, constantly winning back possession when lost and blunting any City attempts to get their game going. I was texting a City mate who was at the game and he said it was ‘daylight robbery’ that City had nicked it at the end. Our general play was as good as I have seen from us for some years, in truth – on the front foot; first to the loose balls; quick, one-touch passing moves; players running to make space off the ball – we had City chasing shadows almost all afternoon and the only way they could try to get back into the game was with some rather strong-arm tactics, but, pleased to say, we didn't allow ourselves to get bullied that way. Good sign for the rest of the season.