So that’s an Ashton Gate wrap for the season. It’s been a ride. It’s tilted towards collapsing at times but has never gone under - a characteristic that will be needed if Bristol City are to progress along their three-year path in August.
The romping of Hull City at BS3 in the final home game of the 2021/22 campaign was a hopeful glance into the future of where the Robins want to be and what they need their home ground to become.
It would be wrong, on this final game at home, to not reflect on a strange season, but if there was ever going to be a result to penetrate the secretive deflector shields protecting an underwhelming season, then winning 5-0 at home certainly does that.
The result builds on a run of five that City haven’t lost in and capped back-to-back wins for the first time all season and, depending on how you view things, it’s a team that don’t have the mental ability to turn it on and get results when it matters, further proving that scoring a lot of goals can’t always paper of some very big cracks.
Or, you can be in the camp that thinks that maybe a page has been turned. Maybe the Robins are finally going forward with results and performances. That does mean you put a lot of trust in end-of-season results, though.
It’s a risky side of the fence to choose, one that you’ve picked out of hope that it could be a future bed of lush grass and flowers, knowing very quickly that if your loyalties have been misplaced, could become an allotment of Venus flytraps. This side of the fence is a continuation of City’s struggles to win games when next season starts.
The lingering feeling of uncertainty was exciting, especially as Han-Noah Massengo didn’t play a minute of what could have been his final appearance at Ashton Gate, and with a host of players out of contract here in the summer, what City will be next season is unknown.
For now at least there was familiarity. Andi Weimann got himself on the scoresheet, Section 82 wanted the Dolman Stand to bounce, Chris Martin ended the home season just like he started, with a goal, and Joe Williams ratted around for 90 minutes kicking heels as the ball goes past him in all directions. Home is home after all, no matter how unwelcoming it has been at points.
It was a carnival of celebrating a season that was a much of nothing at Ashton Gate, but the party provided a spectacular ending. Here’s the moments missed...
Defensive nosebleed
Okay, who put 50p in the showboat machine? It was only 1-0 at the time and City, as is commonly known, don’t hold onto leads that well. So, when the often stiff and no-nonsense defensive trio of Robbie Cundy, Rob Atkinson and Timm Klose found themselves passing a neat triangle on the edge of the Hull box within 20 minutes, it could only have been an end of season match.
The dominant defenders, who couldn’t be blamed for foraying forward after not having much to do at their own end, were still up field following a corner. The set-piece had been taken over a minute before hand and yet they were still waiting in the box for a chance, such was the early pile on and smell of blood from the vicious Robins.
Atkinson, not uncommonly found at the back post when attacking dead balls, was the first to take possession as he picked up a loose ball on the corner of the Tigers’ box. He looked to emulate Alex Scott with some silky ball rolls between his feet but couldn’t get past anyone.
His next trick was slow, yet effective, backheel attempt that wriggle between two Hull defenders stood behind him. As it made it’s way to Cundy, some might have had a look back at Bentley in goal to make sure he hadn’t powered forward himself.
Cundy looked less frantic on the ball and opened himself out for a pass before spraying it wide towards Scott's area of the pitch. Only, it wasn’t the wing-back, it was Klose. Steaming up the right flank to join his backline teammates, the Swiss strolled onto Cundy’s pass like Martin Freeman going on an adventure in The Hobbit.
He wasn’t so much in nosebleed territory as he was awoken from a frozen time capsule, learning only now that this wasn’t his natural habitat. After a brief second of surprise, Klose nudged the ball from his feet and whipped in a ball like David Beckham.
We’ll leave it there, because he massively overhit the cross and it ruined the effect. If anything summed up City’s first-half flair and positivity though, it was their three defenders exchanging passes with confidence in the opposition box.
It was something Chris Martin joked about in his post-match press conference as the striker remarked: "He got a little bit excited a couple of times as he went on some mazy runs and got a nosebleed. He was the highest man forward somehow."
Hull fans having a ball
Maybe the only people want to be less than away fans on the final day of the season, is away fans on the penultimate game of the season. Nobody can blame them, Hull supporters are thinking about the beach and their holidays but they certainly made a deal out of this trip.
From early on in the afternoon they were rolling around in fancy dress, singing and soaking up the sunshine. It only added to the feeling of a party with nothing tangible to celebrate.
To give them credit though, they made the most of it. Amongst the resolute away travellers were people dressed as bananas, Teletubbies and traffic cones. All the normal costumes you would expect for a game that has nothing to offer in terms of league positions.
It would have been obvious from early on that any hope of a final away day hurrah wasn’t on the cards for Hull. So they decided to enjoy the day anyway.
Just before Chris Martin raced through to put in his second of the day, City’s fourth, the Hull fans brought out a new party trick: the conga.
The Atyeo Stand probably hasn’t seen something like it before, but the brief dance around the away section was cut short as Martin went on to score, disrupting the flow of the fun. That didn’t stop them celebrating though, Martin’s goal was cheered by all of the fans at the ground as Hull looked to enjoy something on the pitch as best they could.
Massengo's a crowd pleaser
Was that the last that Ashton Gate saw Massengo? Not to mention Klose, Zak Vyner, Cundy, Alex Scott, Antoine Semenyo or Callum O’Dowda? It’d be sad to think so because the Frenchman didn’t even get off the bench. Does that mean anything? It’s hard to say.
On current performances he isn’t worthy of a starting spot, that’s certainly fair enough. Especially when you consider that Joe Williams and Matty James have been playing in a very good duo recently and offer more solidity than the occasionally rogue positional play from Massengo. But for him not to get on is an outlier. Only four times this season has he started on the bench and not come on.
In this match he didn’t get the reception that might turn, very possibly, turn his head towards signing the contract that is on the table and has been since Christmas. There weren’t as many chats about his love for alcoholic spirits of the size of his head. There wasn’t the hustle and bustle energy that his very sight brings.
Maybe the damning part of this is that he wasn’t needed as City got comfortably their best result of the season, from the scoreline anyway. Is it a window into the future? A Massengo-less City team? It’s just too soon to know.
However, what we could see from the match was that Massengo looked like he was enjoying himself. Even though it’d have been brilliant to watch him bounce on to the pitch, set his satnav to follow the ball at hyperspeed for the cameo and shift his gear into ultra aggression mode, his smile still radiated at full-time as he applauded his teammates off the field and went to prepare for the ring walk around the ground after the match.
He took up an unassuming position in the middle of the flock of white City shirts, engulfing himself into the centre of all his teammates and their various children, partners and family. Once again you might have expected a reception for him alone to come from the fans but that was quickly moved on from as the pitch invasion took centre stage and derailed the walk.
Massengo was then left to fend for himself amidst the oncoming sea of fans rushing onto the grass. Players dispersed to get back down the tunnel as players attempted to take as few selfies with fans as possible and back behind the barrier of security vests to relative safety.
Massengo was part of the initial burst of fans and was at the front of the biggest collection of supporters. When looking to see if he was enjoying himself, there was a beaming smile. Maybe he was enjoying the attention. Then, when scanning to find other players around him, your eyes set on the little handheld camcorder that was in his hand.
He was recording it all and taking in the moments and buzz around him.
This might have been his parting gift and final memories, or we’re looking into it too deeply again. Either way, Massengo didn’t play, he smiled a bit and recorded it in the process. Take from that what you will.
Standing for Andi
One of the nicer moments of the season, when Andi Weimann finally got his well earnt rest. It was the first minutes of football that he’s not been on the pitch for since February 5, the Austrian hasn’t left the field before the 74th minute all season either.
It was undoubtedly the reception that he deserved after a stellar season. The best of his career by 12 goals and counting. As the number 14 went up on the fourth official's board it wasn’t because there was another player of the season award to pick up, Weimann could relax. He’d get seven minutes to let Tommy Conway chase down lost causes and run himself into the ground.
Weimann’s season isn’t just his own freakishly good statistical outlier, it’s a genuine anomaly amongst Championship goalscoring. Only Tammy Abraham (23) has scored more goals than Weimann’s current 22 and finished 17th or lower in the table, to say Weimann has been the force of nature keeping City above a more perilous season is an understatement.
His current 32 goal contributions is the same as his previous three seasons added together and this campaign alone accounts for nearly a third of his career league goals. It’s been an incredible ride for him.
As well as scoring a hatful of goals, and more, he’s done it in an equal split. Before his brace against Hull it was a perfectly balanced 10 goals both home and away. If he can end the season with another two at Huddersfield then it will go down as one of the best individual seasons that Ashton Gate has seen. Maybe it already is.
There have been few roars to match that of the ovation for Weimann on Saturday, everyone knows he deserves it.
Hughton sees a Black Star in the making
It would have been easy for those in the Lansdown Upper to miss anybody sitting in the stands around them as the goals flew in. City hadn’t won by more than one goal since Derby, so spare the critics as they enjoyed every moment of piling five in and winning by a comfortable margin, for once.
The attention wasn’t on the stands, unless you count peering at the Section 82 antics of shoe throwing and waving, that was also a lot of fun. So, as heads were focused primarily on the pitch, even we missed former Newcastle, Brighton and Nottingham Forest manager Chris Hughton having an end of season glance over the league.
Now, before you get a bit twitchy as transfer season approaches, Hughton was scribbling some notes down and doing what looked like a mission report rather than just picking a game to watch. Don’t panic though, this isn’t a scout sent to steer Alex Scott away from BS3, Hughton is the technical advisor for the Ghanaian FA.
Whatever that distinctly vague job title actually includes isn’t obvious, but, given Hughton left the ground shortly after Semenyo was substituted off, we can make a guess that he was there to watch the forward.
He certainly picked a good game for it. Semenyo backed up his second spurt of goal contributions, adding another goal and two assists, making it two goals and four assists in his last four games. The way he bullied Hull defenders Sean McLoughlin and Alfie Jones had you watching the game through your fingers at times.
The 22-year-old was meant to join up with his new national team in March after being selected for the first time, but an injury in the 2-2 draw at West Brom sidelined him. That came after a period of inspired form where he got six goals and seven assists in 12 matches.
The Black Stars have their African Cup of Nations qualifiers at the end of this month and into June, ahead of preparation for World Cup 2022, a likely reason for Hughton’s eagle eye on Semenyo. We hope he didn’t blink though, because he’d have missed him.
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