Bristol City manager Liam Manning has hailed his side’s 3-1 home win against Southampton as the Robins moved to within four points of the play-offs.
Sam Bell, Rob Dickie and Harry Cornick were all on the scoresheet against the Saints, who had just Adam Armstrong’s 95th-minute penalty to raise any cheer for the visitors.
This was the Robins’ second win in the last three days, following a 2-1 victory against Middlesbrough on Saturday. Their last defeat came in the FA Cup against Nottingham Forest after pushing the Premier League side all the way to penalties.
The south-west side now sit 11th in the Championship, only four points off sixth-placed Norwich City who occupy the final play-off place.
Manning took over from Nigel Pearson in November after the ex-Leicester City boss was dismissed following a poor run of results. He has managed to keep the club within touching distance of those above them, with a place in the Premier League still the long-term aim.
Following such a great team performance, the 38-year-old had this to say via Bristol Post:
“It’s hard to single anybody out, there are so many positive aspects to it and so many things that pleased me, but I’m delighted for Belly (Sam Bell) to get a goal. I’ve been delighted with his performance level and I said it on the weekend, how consistent he’s started to become; how direct he is, how dangerous he is and the goal’s the icing on the cake for him. He deserves tonight, so I’m really pleased for him.
“I just said to him, ‘you deserve it, I’m delighted for you’. As with all the lads, they’re such a good group; terrific characters, so honest, so hard-working, all in on the club and what we’re trying to do. Belly, obviously being homegrown, makes it that little bit extra special.”
“For me, it was the best performance since we’ve been here. In terms of the most complete performance. We’ve had other games where we’ve performed really well but maybe lacked the final cross, the final shot, whereas tonight we brought it all together against a very strong in-form side. That adds to it, in terms of being able to perform to that level against that opposition, it’s obviously extremely pleasing.”
City will be hoping to keep up the pressure on the top six as they host struggling Queens Park Rangers on Saturday.
Writer’s View
This result has been coming, Bristol City have had some great draws and narrow defeats through the start of January into early February.
The FA Cup win against Premier League West Ham United appears to have revitalised the squad and you’d be brave to write them off now as they gain momentum and more importantly results. With games to come against relegation candidates QPR and Sheffield Wednesday, Manning will be warning his troops against complacency.
