We’ve riffed on this theme a few times but there’s something so undeniably Bristol City about gifting Millwall their first away win of the season only a few days ago, before earning a first win at West Bromwich Albion in 29 years with a 2-0 win.
The Robins took all three points back to Ashton Gate courtesy of first-half goals from Joe Williams and Nahki Wells which enabled Nigel Pearson’s side to climb back into the top half of the Championship table, before Wednesday night's fixtures in the league.
Pearson is a “realist” and unlike those 1,300 fans in the away end at the Hawthorns, he won’t be getting too excited by one result, he knows that consistency is the key to success in the Championship and that’s not easy to manage.
But to face 13 corners and not allow the Baggies a single shot on target is a huge sign that this team can push into the top half this season. City have been able to deny the opposition well from open play over recent fixtures so if they can solve their issues from corners and free kicks who knows where they may end up.
Without getting too far ahead of ourselves, here are the moments missed from Wednesday night at the Hawthorns.
Double celebrations for the second goal
City found themselves slightly lucky to not go into the break level as Matt Phillips fired a good chance well over the bar before half-time, but they made sure to profit on their luck as Wells headed home to double their lead on the stroke of injury time.
As the Bermudian forward began his knee slide down to the corner flag there was a moment where a couple of his City teammates went to celebrate with Antoine Semenyo who had fired the ball into the area for Wells to convert.
Semenyo would almost certainly claim his effort to be a cross that expertly picked out Wells, but the power with which he drove the ball into the box we think it’s fair to suggest his first intention was to test Alex Palmer in the home side’s net.
Wells was certain that he’d got a touch on the ball even if both his teammates and the travelling fans were unsure. “I knew I made contact; I was more concerned with whether or not I was offside,” he said. “I guess the replays will say just a good nick.”
It was safe to say that Joe Williams was not as convinced with Wells’ finish, joking with his teammate after the game that the striker’s finish was more like an own goal. It was, admittedly, in retaliation to the Bermudian raising Williams' own rather questionable scoring record.
Timm Klose’s magic act
Last week he was in the Halloween spirit as he found his head wrapped up like a mummy, this week the centre-back channelled his inner Dynamo as early in the second half he completely disappeared from the playing field.
This time it wasn’t to shoot down the tunnel in need of a couple of stitches but instead he found himself the other side of the advertising hoardings having got in a tangle with the EFL advertisement next to the goal.
The former Norwich City defender’s entire frame had vanished from our point of view in the press box much to the amusement of the home fans behind Max O’Leary’s goal, who let out one of their biggest cheers of the night.
It’s testament to Klose that having not started a league game until last Wednesday’s match against Preston North End, he’s now managed three starts in only six days and has added a bit of steel to what looked a shaky City defence.
With seven clearances, five ball recoveries and winning four out of his five aerial duels, Klose was at the heart of what was an incredible team defensive display to earn the Robins their first clean sheet away from home this season.
Off the coach and walking in on foot
The traffic around the Hawthorns on Wednesday night was honestly absurd with red brake lights stretching down the M5 and all along the road up to and around the Baggies’ ground.
Such were the delays caused by the number of cars heading to the Midlands, Pearson and his side decided to get off the team coach a few hundred metres before the gate and instead make their way on foot to the players’ entrance.
So far this campaign the Robins have seen their team coach break down outside their hotel in Hull forcing the team to make their way to the MKM Stadium by taxi, while there were logistical issues around hotels when their League Cup tie against Coventry City got switched to Burton Albion last month.
However, unlike the trip to Hull the travel trouble couldn’t be seen to disrupt any of City’s preparation with Pearson’s side flying out of the blocks before putting in one of their best defensive performances of the season.
Bentley tests Conway’s touch
As O’Leary was starting his third consecutive game and keeping his first clean sheet in City colours since March 2021, club captain Dan Bentley doesn’t look like he’ll be back between the City posts anytime soon.
With Stefan Bajic donning the multicoloured strip for the under-21s, Bentley is exclusively involved in the warm-ups on matchdays, and he made sure that Tommy Conway would be able to control anything that came his way.
The pair were the first to take to the field during the half-time interval and after a couple of gentle long passes were exchanged, City’s No1 instead opted to cannon passes into the feet of the young striker who controlled all of them without fault.
It was interesting to hear Pearson mention that O’Leary made, “positive decisions,” at the Hawthorns and that his stopper was “visible” the complete opposite assessment to what was thrown at his defence in their defeat to Birmingham City.
Bench makes an impact
First things first, it’s worth a mention that Cam Pring had travelled with the squad to the Midlands and could be seen, after most of the City supporters had left the stands, completing the post-match runs with the rest of the substitutes.
Joining in with the cool-down was second-half substitute Andi Weimann, his first time on the Robins’ league bench since February 2020, much to the amusement of Wells who couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw the Austrian joining in with the sprints.
There was also a mastery of how to waste time and wind up your opponents from Chris Martin. As City had a string of throw-ins deep in West Brom’s half, Martin picked the ball before walking further and further away from Dasilva waiting to take the throw, before turning and throwing it to Dara O’Shea rather than straight to his teammate.
The standard of the Robins bench isn’t to be sniffed at, with Championship stalwarts such as Martin, Weimann and Tomas Kalas as well as plenty of talent for the future in Conway and George Tanner. All of this while the likes of Kal Naismith, Bajic and Han-Noah Massengo miss out on matchday squads for a variety of reasons.
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