After 95 days, an entire World Cup and eight matches at Ashton Gate, Bristol City finally found a home win in impressive style as they beat Birmingham City 4-2, thanks to goals from Antoine Semenyo, Nahki Wells and Mark Sykes’ brace.
That 2-1 win over Preston North End on October 12 felt like getting one over a bogey team and Saturday’s triumph over the Blues wasn’t too dissimilar, with City controlling the game for long periods and demonstrating plenty of attacking flair to find an essential three points.
One win doesn’t resurrect a season, but on the back of three hard working and impressive draws, it’s beginning to feel a bit like City have got some of their mojo back and if nothing else they would’ve entertained the masses with the style of play on Saturday.
Nigel Pearson remained as level-headed as ever, despite what must be a huge sense of relief, as he knows that this will mean very little if it isn’t backed up in the coming weeks, starting with the FA Cup third round replay away to Swansea City on Tuesday night.
But before attentions turn to the cup, here are the moments missed from the six-goal thriller at Ashton Gate.
Nige on the mic
It’s safe to say that Pearson enjoyed what was a rather entertaining afternoon in south Bristol, made even better by what are a rather important three points to ease the pressure on the City boss.
As stadium announcer Ian Downs revealed the official attendance of 21,489, including the 2,503 who had made the journey down the M5, Pearson grabbed the microphone to say, “Thanks for coming”.
His post-match interviews, both with the club and the wider media, had a feeling of a more "textbook Nige" affair with straight-talking answers and even a bit of rebuttal over Semenyo's positioning on the field, that hasn’t been as apparent in the last few weeks.
The line, “I didn’t say it was a must-win game, but it’s a game that we needed to win. It’s a different thing” was also vintage Nige, as he shut down one particular line of questioning.
Yet there was a chance for one more joke in the official club interview as he suggested that he had tasked Scott Murray with the job of creating an English folk playlist for the trip to Swansea as a response to the Swans’ tendency of blaring loud Welsh music down the Ashton Gate tunnel on previous visits.
King coaching Sykes
Sykes has never claimed to be a natural wing-back and certainly expressed his happiness, in his post-match press conference, at being deployed in his more natural right-wing position where he featured primarily for Oxford United.
The first half saw a couple of moments where the ball flashed across the box, with the Irishman not quite finding the space in the area to tap home, yet a conversation with Pearson and Andy King at half-time reminded him of what he needed to do.
“The manager spoke to me, Andy King spoke to me and just said make your runs in the centre of the goal. If you’re running, finish your run inside the net and if I’d kept running with my goals, I’d have finished in the middle of the goal,” explained Sykes.
“It’s good advice, but simple advice and I knew that, but it just takes someone to liven you up sometimes and thankfully I’ve got two.”
With King’s position on the pitch being an unknown quantity for the remainder of the season, it’s worth remembering that the Premier League winner is an experienced head in a young dressing room, both as a teammate and coach, often able to speak to his players on a level that Pearson and the rest of his staff can't.
Troy Deeney making friends
There are those players in football that every opposition fanbase hate playing against and it’s safe to say that Blues’ front man Troy Deeney is in with a shout of being top of that list.
He probably tops the list of players you would least want to be stood over a penalty against you as well and there was very little doubt that he would power the ball into the roof of the net with his 34th minute spot kick.
You’d have been forgiven for assuming it was a late winner as a flare was set off in the Atyeo Stand and Deeney decided to shush the City fans behind the goal in the South Stand, which as you can imagine wasn’t particularly appreciated.
It was the Robins’ supporters who had the last laugh at the end of the day as Sykes’ second-half brace secured all three points. As the celebrations subsided following the Irish international’s first goal in red and white, a chorus of “Deeney, what’s the score?” began around Ashton Gate before a huge cheer welcomed the announcement of his substitution in the 74th minute as he was replaced by Scott Hogan.
The possession curse is no more
“We don’t win games where we have more than 52 per cent possession, that’s a fact,” was the assessment from Pearson after City were defeated 1-0 by Sheffield United in November, despite having the lion’s share of the ball.
Indeed, all seven of their wins this season prior to Saturday were with an average of 44.8 per cent possession, the Robins never exceeding 50 per cent in each of those games.
Well, that curse has finally been lifted as on Saturday the home side had 54 per cent possession finally managing to convert time on the ball into chances, thanks in part to the excellent work of Pring down the left flank.
What is more surprising is the fact both Sykes’ second goal and Wells’ strike came from counter-attacking football and high-pressing football. City have looked light on goals in recent games, but Saturday saw them register five big chances with an expected goals of 2.84.
Perhaps the change to a 4-3-3 on Saturday allowing Sykes and Alex Scott a bit more time and space on the ball meant that the Robins were able to impact proceedings and turn the greater possession into genuine opportunities.
Dolman Block A
The first win at home since October was always going to produce a great atmosphere, but there was a special feeling echoing around Ashton Gate as City blew past Birmingham with relative ease.
That party atmosphere is a lot easier to create when the side score four, yet there was a different sort of noise coming from the Dolman Stand as those who flocked to E34, adjacent to the travelling support, ensured the chanting wasn’t just from Section 82.
From the press box stationed within the top tier of the Lansdown Stand it didn’t feel as though the Birmingham fans were ever the loudest in the ground.
Both Pearson and Sykes pointed out the effect the crowd getting behind them can have and, although there has been little to get the City faithful excited on the pitch in recent weeks, if that atmosphere can produce that sort of performance, long live the new era of Dolman Block A.
It should be noted, however, that for all the celebration of the 'A Block Ultras', the surge of fans in that area due to its new-found popularity, meant some season ticket holders were affected as they couldn't access their normal seats. While there are additional concerns moving forward about overcrowding, and it is clearly something the club will need to manage carefully.
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