Bristol City captain Dan Bentley has set the record straight following speculation as to why he was left out of the side.
A minority of supporters took to social media to suggest manager Nigel Pearson dropped the goalkeeper in favour of Max O'Leary after breaching disciplinary rules surrounding Covid-19.
Bentley, 28, was benched following the 3-2 defeat with Huddersfield on December 18 and was forced to wait just under two months for his next opportunity when O'Leary was forced off injured against Swansea in February. He has since started the last three matches and remains determined to keep the No1 spot after revealing how he "hated" his time on the substitute bench.
When asked whether the decision to drop was tactical, Bentley was eager to shut down any speculation that it boiled down to his behaviour off the field. In the pre-match Birmingham press conference, he said: "There was no issue - I've seen a few tweets about me breaking rules - all nonsense.
"Nonsense with Covid restrictions and god knows what, honestly the mind boggles - there was no issue with my discipline or anything like that. I can categorically assure you of that."
Pearson had initially revealed the reason for O'Leary's inclusion was "tactical" with the manager determined to tweak the style of play by building out from the back. But Bentley was determined to talk up his qualities playing out from the back and conceded how he was asked to go long towards Chris Martin during the first half of the season.
"It's something I've always been capable of," he added. "In terms of how we've played, we've always missed out our defensive third, playing into Chris (Martin) at times.
"Historically we've decided as a team and collectively that we were going to go longer. That was the message and that was clear for me - that's fine - I'll do what I'm told, I won't question the manager for sure.
"Obviously it (the keeper change) coincided at the time we were going to start playing out, obviously, that is something that I'm capable of. Whether it was tactical or not you'll have to ask the manager - he gave me his reasons but it was all very respectful and positive - if you can call it that.
"I'm sure the gaffer is happy he's got two goalkeepers capable of playing how he wants to play."
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