Match Report: Battling City work hard for another amazing away win

[Olé]

If you have watched City for any amount of time you will be used to massive excitement being the prelude to complete capitulation.

After a stunning victory on the road at second place Sheffield United, this always looked like a second exertion too many in 4 days.

As bad as Middlesbrough’s form has been, talking to people in the North East tonight, they were expecting City to get bombarded.

Yet we got the polar opposite: a second consecutive imperious away performance putting us right back in the promotion shake up.

The game was full of mistakes, but ultimately it swung end to end - and if any team could move the ball smartly it was Bristol City.

We carved Boro open time and again, their defence offering little resistance - it was at the other end that City earned their stripes.

City dealt with periods of bombardment - Wright and Kalas stopping 2 certain goals - but we also tore through Boro on the break.

In the end, after surviving an end-to-end first half, City, roared on by their irrepressible 200 fans, became comfortable second half.

Yes first half City rode their luck and cleared off the line, but in the second half we were more energetic and hungrier for the result.

The game started scrappily but City showed ingenuity, a brilliant Weimann flick putting Paterson clear to setup Dasilva at a corner.

Boro were sharper on the wings and after City gave it away, O’Leary made a brilliant 19th minute block with Shotton clear through.

Midway point in the half, Boro should have stormed in front, Kalas clearing off the line not once but twice from Howson and Fletcher.

And immediately Brownhill won a central free kick at the other end, and in a carbon copy of Saturday, forced the keeper to tip wide.

On the half hour Weimann’s run won a corner after good work from Wright, and Dasilva found Webster at the corner to power home!

At 1-0 up City should have gone further in front. On 34 Brownhill raced in and spread to Dasilva whose low show was bundled away.

On 39 we steamed forward via the all action Wiemann, who fed Brownhill to run at the defence and force a save with a curling shot.

By now all action Weimann was clearly struggling with injury, yet put clean through by Paterson he’d draw defenders and curl wide.

With minutes left in the half, City produced the move of this season, as Diedhiou and Weimann intercepted Boro and raced upfield.

Again City looked electric on the break and Fam exchanged with Weimann before rolling to Paterson, whose shot was beaten away.

A minute from the half Boro had their second clear cut opportunity, now Wright clearing off Assombalonga’s foot with an open goal!

And seconds later Boro broke again to get Jonny Howson into space on the right, O’Leary standing up to beat away his fierce shot.

 

By comparison to an end to end first half, the second 45 minutes was tame, with chances at a premium and City on top throughout.

City had thrown on Korey Smith for a hobbling Weimann and it signalled an intention to close ranks, to play even more on the break.

Though Boro always threatened to pour forward and level the match, in truth the visitors shut down the second period as a contest.

On 51 the hosts should have equalised: a brilliant free kick move with touch passes tearing into City, Assombalonga hitting the post.

But minutes later Diedhiou held it up to release Webster on a barnstorming run, his shot beaten away, Hunt firing over the rebound.

Inside an hour Boro caught City cold again, racing forward from a scrappy spell, Howson’s raking shot on the run was high and wide.

To City’s benefit, the game grew increasingly scrappy and chances were harder to come by as both sides clattered into one another.

After 70 Pack missed the chance of the half in another stunning break: Dasilva intercepting, Diedhiou holding up, and Pack racing on.

City’s midfielder had been our most wasteful, but he drew midfielders, exchanged with Dasilva - then steered a shot agonisingly wide.

In any case by now City were defending robustly, and the introduction of Lloyd Kelly just added class to the visitors rear guard action.

Into the final ten minutes the away side were literally under assault from corners and shots, but always looked comfortable clearing.

With minutes remaining Boro’s fans lost hope as the hosts became more and more wasteful, a fine move ending in a ball out of play.

Amazingly City finished the game on top in injury time, Diedhiou finding his touch to hold it up and bundle past defenders three times. 

In the 4th of 5 minutes of injury time the warrior-like striker again won it in an advanced position, squaring to Brownhill who fired over.

At the final whistle a minute later, Diedhiou collapsed to the floor yards from the away section, his efforts rewarded with three points.

Winning at second place Sheff Utd had been spectacular and surprising, but at Boro the 3 points had been hard fought and deserved.

City were always on top with their counter attacking football and at the back were far more robust and convincing than nervous Boro.

Pulis, ridiculed by travelling fans throughout (home fans joining in too) uses centre backs everywhere, who were easily outmanoeuvred.

LJ sent him back to the dinosaur age with a smash and grab away win that actually owed more to our quality with and without the ball!

O’Leary 7 Solid throughout but scrapes 7 as his tendency to punch rather than save was a liability at times that could’ve been found out
Wright 8 Close to man of the match, our most tireless defender, first half he roamed everywhere in his half to cut out Boro attacks
Kalas 8 Double clearance first half was sublime, and was clearing up all day long, wanted to win, and the absolute heart of our defence
Webster 8 Sublime performance against old City hero Flint - won everything at the back, raced upfield at will, and crashed in the winner
Hunt 6 Probably not the same attacking contribution he has made in other City wins away - like Saturday - but rarely threatened
Dasilva 9 Getting better and better, didn’t put a foot wrong with and without the ball, was up and down the pitch to good effect all day
Pack 5 Bar easily the best chance of the second half that he did brilliantly on, was oddly a weak link, careless with passing repeatedly  
Brownhill 6 Pushed forward when Korey came on, he provided his usual energy and all action football without much threat on the ball
Paterson 7 Like Pack the odd loose touch in possession was frustrating, but Pato at least showed poise to keep threading passes
Weimann 7 Picked off after Saturday with some stunning counter attacking runs, carving open Boro and teeing up teammates
Diedhiou 8 Rarely had chances but after Saturday more of the same, a foil for everything and commanding hold up in the last half

Smith 6 Yet another surprise inclusion after injury, battled strongly and energy got in some amazing forward positions before injury struck
Kelly 7 Can we ever be in a position to bring on a defender of his quality with time ticking down? So comfortable and classy tidying up
Baker 7 Had little time on the pitch but a few vital headers and clearances. A revelation to have LJ throwing on defenders to win games

[nick jones of hereford]

Thanks for such a comprehensive report. The injuries to Weimann and Smith worrying as they are such influential players. Anyone know if they are serious issues?

[Hampshire Red]

Agree on a very fair and accurate report though tour reflection on Packs rating appears more to do with previous games. His tidy ball retention in small teiangles (rather than long balls) perhaps merited a less harsh score?

Shirts given to away fans is worthy of a mention to help build interest in City fans travelling to watch our team. 

See ya Saturday and watch out this week for any change to Derby K.O.

[Cider red]

Completely disagree on pack I would score a 7/8. There was a superb tackle second half on Fletcher who was running away with pace. Gattuso would have been proud! Good report otherwise 

[Fordy62]

Can’t believe that Webster defending from the number 9 position in the 90th minute didn’t get a mention!

on a side note, while I think everyone quite rightly saw that Fammy has a truly excellent game, did anyone see possibly the worst touch in football history - he surpassed himself - when he miscontrolled and pinged it back 30 yards into the danger area!

[Hampshire Red]

Some on here only see the rare error from Fam. His touch and skill on 99 other occasions was top class last night-and a repeat of Saturday 

[Reddrive]

Great review. Thanks.

[Mr Popodopolous]

14 minutes ago, Hampshire Red said:

Some on here only see the rare error from Fam. His touch and skill on 99 other occasions was top class last night-and a repeat of Saturday 

Agreed- I think he can get some unfair stick. 

He has been great the last 2 games though, long may it continue- if only he could channel those 2 games and this was what we regularly saw because before though we saw goals, other aspects of his game IMO were hit and miss- he could produce moments of brilliance- goal at West Brom, his long range pile driver at Derby when he hit post from outside box, or good all round play i.e.a great crossfield ball at one game early in season...but they were flashes.Plus he didn't perhaps do enough for his size and physique, another source of frustration.

Now though, no complaints at all- he's great, some great contributions in build up these last 2, not least his assist for Weimann Saturday was a very nice ball. Let's hope we are now seeing the real Diedhiou, these 2 games a benchmark?

[wayne allisons tongues]

Went last night, thought desilva should of been only a 7 for most of first half Shotton constantly got in behind him and got in plenty of crosses, same with Hunt other side. May of been formation for Mboro played same and Hunt and Desilva were free quite often.

Pack was immense in cm and kept the ball moving and some of his look one way balls other way passes were superb. Some of his tackles were superb.

Rode our luck quite a bit, thought Saville should of scored early on when we were trying to play out from back and were creating our on problems. Happened a few times and after about 20 mins we stopped it and just played long goalkicks which relieved the pressure.

[Pound Lane Red]

Shirts given to away fans. That will be why loads were wearing the purple and lime top then. Take it they were given out on the CATS coaches? 

A evening full of entertainment. My lad said it was his best away game yet. Glad we made the effort. 

[BigAl&Toby]

On the coach and in the ground. 

I had to have 2XL

A few players at the end gave theirs away too - FD being the first and clearly delighted to do so.

Korey wouldn’t. He didn’t want to take his coat off. Christ was it cold up north last night....

[Pound Lane Red]

We got there a tad late. Left in plenty of time only for an unescorted Abnormal load on the A66. held us up for 50 mins. Hope the Traffic boys gave them a ticket.  

Special thanks to the women in the home ticket office. Told me to go to away fans booth and cash only. Due to being late I had forgot about the cash only bit. Superbly took payment on card and got me two tickets. Would of been a huge sprint to find a cash machine. Doh

[Spike]

One thing that still concerns me is how our away form is better than our home form, it just screams out that we struggle to break down teams when they are playing for a draw.

Our home record:
played 19 W 7 D 6 L 6 - GF 22 GA 19 GD +3

Our away record:
played 19 W 10 D 4 L 5 - GF 27 GA 21 GD +6

It genuinely blows my mind that in the form tables we're 16th for home but 4th for away with the only teams above us in the away table being Leeds, WBA and Norwich. If we could actually get some decent home form we'd be easily in the top 4 and not fighting to stay in 5th or 6th.
I really hope we get it right for our last 4 home games as we have:
 West Brom - 2nd in away form, definitely going to give us a game!
Wigan - dead last in away form having only won 1 and drawn 1 away, so anything other than 3 points would be poor.
Reading - 19th in away form, lots of draws away but only won 2, we should be looking for three points.
Derby - Chasing a playoff spot so a definite 6 point match and they're 11th in away form.

If there is one thing I will say is that our result against Sheff Utd has shown we can defy trends, I just hope we can do it at home now.

[Fordy62]

2 hours ago, Hampshire Red said:

Some on here only see the rare error from Fam. His touch and skill on 99 other occasions was top class last night-and a repeat of Saturday 

Presumably you’re referring to me? Are you always this much of a moron? Try reading my post and concluding whether the Fammy part of my post is;

(a) generally positive, or

(b) derogatory in any way. 

Jesus. This is like my 6 year old’s comprehension test.