If there's one thing most of us can agree on, it's that an FA Cup third-round replay is far from ideal.
The reward for progressing? A likely and uninspiring home tie with either West Bromwich Albion or Chesterfield if the National League side can pull off an upset at the Hawthorns.
It's not the draw City wanted but after that opening 45-minute display against Swansea, the Robins were on course to crash out of the cup at the first hurdle. It was a disastrous start when Rob Atkinson gifted the visitors the opener with a howler at the back.
Despite two penalty decisions that should have gone the way of Bristol City with Antoine Semenyo and Atkinson in the first half, the hosts were by far second best. Nigel Pearson admitted he couldn't fault the effort of his players but there's no hiding the fact Swansea were playing them off the park.
It was a tale of two halves in the second period and a switch in formation to a 4-3-3 sparked City into life. They were rewarded 15 minutes from time when Semenyo grabbed his second in two games when his header beat Steven Benda. They'll be question marks from a Swans' perspective about how the stopper allowed the header to hit the back of the net.
From then on, City looked the most lively to grab the winner and both sides were keen to get men forward to prevent an extra 90 minutes of action. However, they had to settle with the draw and now Pearson's side will head to Swansea in the week after next for the FA Cup replay.
The tactical change...
That first 45 minutes were a difficult watch. Whether it was a case of Swansea playing at their best or City underperforming - or an element of both - Russell Martin's side looked streets ahead of City.
They were zipping the ball around at the back and making simple one-twos to play through the midfield which allowed them to bypass Weimann, Alex Scott and Matty James and exploit huge amounts of space in front of the defence. Joe Allen was running the show while City were struggling to pick up Oliver Cooper who was happy to float about and create space for others.
Not only were Swansea giving City a lesson on how to move the ball with pace and purpose, but their pressing prevented George Tanner and Cam Pring from being able to progress up the pitch. Pearson spoke about that issue in the first half, which he said: "They were fearful of going to press the full-back. They got their timings wrong.
"They didn't go early enough and both Pring and Tanner in the first half couldn't release themselves early enough to put pressure on the ball so consequently, as they were getting to their man, the ball was going past them."
City were struggling to string passes together and resorted to lumping it long towards Semenyo and Tommy Conway/Wells in the channel with the end result coming to nothing. The half-time whistle proved the opportunity to change things and in fairness to Pearson, he got his second-half tactics spot on.
Naismith dropped into the midfield as City switched to a 4-3-3 in possession and almost to a 4-5-1 out of it. Semenyo drifted out to the left with Weimann on the right side and it allowed them to close that space in the middle and therefore regain control of the match.
Almost instantly the hosts posed an extra threat going forward with Tanner and Pring able to get up the field and into areas where they could get deliveries into the box. The whole team played with more confidence and the equaliser was more than deserved for a striker who now has two in two.
So that does pose the question, has that second-half performance given Pearson food for thought to have more confidence in his side to play with a back four?
'Yeah, possibly'
Was his response when asked in the post-match press conference. He added: "but I’ve played 4-3-3 plenty of times here before. It’s really about who’s available, you know the reasons we’ve played with a back three for probably a year now.
"You’ve written enough about that, but it was a good response in the second half, I think we needed to change it at half-time just to give ourselves a chance of not conceding as much possession. I always try to play the system that suits the players that we have available. I’ve never been an advocate of forcing a system on players that don’t suit it."
With George Tanner a natural right-back and Cam Pring also having the athleticism to play at left-back, playing four across the defence may suit the squad as it stands. Naismith, who has experience playing in midfield, can sit deeper and be utilised as a deep-lying playmaker along with offering that protection in front of the backline.
That will also allow Alex Scott to push into advanced areas but the one stipulation could come down to the fitness of Conway and Weimann (more on that below). If Wells plays as the central forward, City don't really have wide attacking forwards to fit that system.
Semenyo's proficient to pull out wide but he's more effective in the middle. Then you could like towards Mark Sykes, who enjoyed a really good cameo in his introduction, to play his favoured advanced right-wing role.
It's given Pearson options and while there have been frustrations during recent weeks at the failure to change formation to alter the course of a game, hopefully the second half yesterday will allow City to show more flexibility in the way they line up.
Injury worries
With a squad as thin on the ground as Bristol City's, any injuries to first-team players are going to have a big impact. Unfortunately for Pearson, he'll be sweating on the fitness of both Tommy Conway and Andi Weimann after they were forced off with respective hamstring problems.
Conway came off on 25 minutes when he seemed to innocuously go down under a challenge on the far touchline. He was receiving treatment for a couple of minutes but Nahki Wells was immediately instructed to start warming up for an early introduction.
The young striker looked in discomfort as they hobbled off the pitch and straight down the tunnel to receive treatment. With Weimann, he came off in the final minute of added time with another hamstring problem.
Pearson confirmed they had hamstring issues after the game in his post-match interview but didn't reveal the extent of the severity, saying they will have to be assessed. With two really big games coming up in the league against Birmingham and Blackburn, it will be a big concern for the manager.
Although it's probably too early to speculate on their absence, it could leave City light of options going forward. Semenyo and Nahki Wells are the obvious pairing in attack while Sam Bell could be handed an opportunity if Pearson fails to bring in an attacking midfielder before the weekend.
A word on Big Rob
Let's not beat around the bush. It was an absolute howler by the central defender - not particularly helped by Max O'Leary's pass to his feet. Although he won't be making excuses for that as far as individual errors go, that one was right up there.
Given the difficulties he faced last month when he came out of the squad with the message to work harder and show more enthusiasm, an error of that magnitude could have seen him drop his head and lose his confidence.
But you have to give him credit for the way he responded. Yes, the damage was done but he barely put a foot wrong for the rest of the game.
He rose to the challenge, was happy to carry the ball up the field when the opportunity arose and ensured his tackles were well-timed both in a back three and back four in the second half.
Atkinson showed character to respond from the early mistake and Pearson acknowledged it after the game, when he told BBC Radio Bristol: "It was a poor mistake for the goal but I thought his team-mates rally around him and Rob was able to shrug that off and keep playing so good for him."
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