Bristol City hosted newly promoted Oxford United at Ashton Gate for their Championship matchday six clash.
The hosts picked up their first win in three matches and their second win of the season as the visitors are still left questioning their poor away form.
Controversially, current City manager Liam Manning moved from Oxford to Bristol last season, leaving the U’s despite being in the mix at the top of the table for promotion. Boyhood Oxford fan Des Buckingham then took over at the Kassam, and despite the managerial change, the yellows were still promoted via the play-offs, beating both Peterborough United and Bolton Wanderers.
Despite having the line share of chances in the first half, the Robins found themselves 1-0 down via a Ruben Rodrigues goal at the break. However, goals from Sinclair Armstrong and a spot-kick from Nahki Wells were enough to complete the comeback, moving the club up to 13th in the Championship table.
Speaking after the game, Manning praised the squad’s character after coming in at the break “frustrated”:
“Lads included probably frustrated to come in a goal behind at halftime, I thought there were lots of positive elements still, we created some terrific opportunities and as you know at Championship level if you switch off for a second you quickly find yourself behind for nothing really.
“We were frustrated at half time but what it showed second half was togetherness and spirit, we really took responsibility and stepped up second half. That’s everybody, I thought the fans were outstanding again today, especially in the second half, and they played a big part in giving the lads that drive, intensity, that purpose and front-footed side of it. I’m delighted for the fans, the players and the staff.
“You always have to believe. That’s the big bit, it’s on the shirt. We have to make sure we do that. We spoke at halftime not so long ago about it when we were behind against Millwall, and you can change it quickly. But you can only do that if you have the right frame of mind to do it. And that was the difference. I think last week the energy wasn’t there.”
Despite recent results including back-to-back 3-0 losses, the 39-year-old claimed:
“My confidence in the group has never wavered, to be honest. For me, Derby was a similar first half, we could’ve been arguably two, three, four ahead at halftime. We weren’t, we were one behind and then second half we chased the result rather than sticking to playing our game, which today you see the contrast of that. Unfortunately, and probably against the run of play we were behind the first half, but like we spoke about after Millwall it’s about staying true to us, staying true to how we play, staying calm, having purpose and energy, getting on the front foot which are qualities we want in the first team.”
After taking a fair amount of stick from the travelling Oxford fans, Manning offered his response to the fans of the club he used to call home:
“I’ll take it as a compliment, I think if you look at the club where we took over to where we left them, I think they hate me because I did well. It is what it is. I don’t want to spend too much time talking about it. There are some terrific people at Oxford United, it’s the nature of football in terms of things happening, and again I’m delighted to be here.”
What won City the game was the penalty that was given when Mark Harris was deemed to have tripped Haydon Roberts in the area. When Manning was asked about whether or not he thought the penalty was the right decision, he responded:
“I thought it was. I haven’t seen it back, my initial reaction was that it was a penalty. Yeah, there was a slight delay, and you never know normally what way they are going to go.”
On the past two performances, Manning spoke about the squad still improving day by day:
“It’s funny, we looked and have obsessed on everything, the actual defensive metrics are actually very good. You look at Coventry, conceded a goal off of one shot on target. I do believe if you work hard every day and if you are consistent with what you do, you’ll get the reward you deserve. We want to do well, we know we have to improve and get better, It is no secret it is hard work. There’s ways of losing football matches and last week isn’t a way we ever want to lose a match. It’s a case of making sure you have no regrets, you step on the pitch and you give it absolutely everything, and when you look at it today I thought the lads did.”
Be the first to comment