Nigel Pearson praised captain Andi Weimann’s patience and work ethic after the Austrian forward superbly scored his first goal since November in Bristol City's comfortable 2-0 victory over Blackpool.
The Robins were unable to turn their first-half dominance into a lead with Blackpool’s Jerry Yates coming the closest to breaking the deadlock, latching onto a long ball from goalkeeper Chris Maxwell, only to skew the ball past the post as he attempted to round Max O’Leary.
But the hosts continued to control proceedings in the second period only for Weimann to open the scoring with his fifth of the season just before the hour mark. He cut inside on his left foot and arrowed an unstoppable strike into the top corner.
Alex Scott then put the game beyond doubt in the final 10 minutes with his first league goal of the season when Harry Cornick's low cross fell kindly into his path.
Weimann hadn’t found the net since the Bonfire Night trip to Middlesbrough, and having been primarily utilised from the bench in recent weeks, Pearson was keen to heap praise on both his impact and patience in the side.
“For Andi, he’s had to have a spell out of the side because other players have been playing so well,” said Pearson after the game. “So, for him to get back in today, play as well as he did, score a really good goal - it was a fabulous finish - it’s a reward for his patience as well.
“He’s a really good team player and I think we know the qualities that he brings in terms of his work ethic and clearly today it’s a great finish.”
Having faced criticism for struggling to break down the low blocks of both Cardiff City and Huddersfield Town in their last two outings, the Bristol City boss was impressed by the composure of his side to not panic after a frustrating first-half.
In the opening 45 minutes, City had 11 chances on goal but just one shot on target. “It was quite a frustrating first half for us in as much as we had lots of the ball," Pearson added. "We got 11 or 12 crosses into the box and about ten shots and only hit the target once.
"They probably had the best chance of the first half which just came from a straight ball that we didn’t deal with and misjudged it.
“It was patient and that’s what we needed to be today because it was another game where we’ve had a lot of possession, so we didn’t get too many chances to play counterattacks, but when we did get those opportunities, I thought we looked dangerous.
“Those types of games test your resolve to just keep doing the right things and we’ve had three games like that in the last week I suppose. We showed a lot of patience to open them up. It doesn’t matter if it’s in the last minute you score the winner and I think we thoroughly deserved the win.
“We’ve had our problems this year in finding solutions sometimes when we’re playing well, but I don’t think anyone could argue we were the better side and deserved to win today. It was quite a comprehensive win today.”
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