With the greatest of respects to England’s second city, trips to Birmingham while convenient are often a grind. St Andrew’s is just one of those stadiums, and Blues one of those teams that, although not be the most aesthetically-pleasing of outfits, are always effective and a right old pain to play against.
Last season’s encounter for Bristol City was all this in microcosm, with the Robins initially in the contest only to be battered and bruised into submission and emerge with a 3-0 defeat, unable to counter the Blues' power play. "Rotten" was how Nigel Pearson described that night in November.
City are a much better side 12 months on and, as Pearson insists, one with a greater sense of character, personality and, you’d imagine, confidence but while they are still playing some nice football on the ball, still need to snap this four-game winless run.
