Bonus of the Coventry win

[Port Said Red]

I would have loved to have followed the Coventry game trip with an away day at Oldham but that would have been greedy. Listening on the radio and seeing the goals on TV, it seems the players continued where they left off.

The last 20 minutes at the Ricoh you would have thought we were trying to break down a side sitting on a two goal lead, rather than winning two nil, Coventry were a well beaten team. The players confidence level increased visibly as the game progressed and as such, is the real bonus of the cup run. They looked like they were starting to believe in what Johnson has been instilling in them since he came here.

It would be easy to say that Johnson and Millen had learned more in the 10 days since the first game and made some tactical changes to bring us through, but the truth is we did very little different in the two games except the players looked far more sure they could win this time.

Clearly the Oldham game will now have added to that belief AND the two games must have a positive effect on our away performances going forward.

We have buried a few doubts in the last two games, can't win away? Enoch doesn't score away? Our midfield can't dominate a game? None of these things should be levied at the team any more, we know they CAN do it now, what we need is to see it happening consistently to the end of the season.

[Guest Jan Mollars Gloves]

Interesting thoughts.

Certainly the past few games have ignited the belief that we can go on & gain promotion.

And we have set a standard that we have to maintain.

Strange league, as not that long ago, Oldham were beating Forest 5-0 & their fans were saying much the same as we were.

We can perform. What we need to install is the consistancy.

It's a wide open league & we can't slip back to the depths of performances like Yeovil away.

But lets be positive & think that we will be 6 points clear within the next few weeks.

Scunny away is now massive.

[Ian M]

I would agree with much of what you have written but I would add that all this applies to the fans as well.

There are considerably less moans about Johnson at the moment and some of his fiercest critics in the past have been writing some very complimentary things about him.

Long may this continue....

[Robbored]

I would agree with much of what you have written but I would add that all this applies to the fans as well.

There are considerably less moans about Johnson at the moment and some of his fiercest critics in the past have been writing some very complimentary things about him.

Long may this continue....

Fans views are based on whats happening on the results front.Thats why there has been a Gary Johnson 'love-in' lately.The team has put in two very impressive performances but lets not forget that in was only 225 match time mins ago that City were 0-2 at home against Trannie.

Don't get me wrong - I'm as delighted as anyone with the last two performances but as someone said earlier in this thread we have fallen at the final hurdle many times in the past and whilst I'm pleased to see an upturn in form I'm not going to over optimistic just yet.

[Jay]

Don't get me wrong - I'm as delighted as anyone with the last two performances but as someone said earlier in this thread we have fallen at the final hurdle many times in the past and whilst I'm pleased to see an upturn in form I'm not going to over optimistic just yet.

Caution & restrained optimism is a fair approach. However, whilst we may have fallen at the final hurdle in the past (forgive me for stating the obvious here), that was under different managers and with a different team. I for one am pleased with all of GJ's signings to date & I believe that he's come to Bristol City believing that his sleeves will need to be rolled up & that some serious hard work has to be done. One of my pet hates is people who use the term 'Sleeping Giant'. Our catchment area is good & we know that we have a lot of woodwork fans but, IMO, BCFC is only as big as it is right now.

Maybe this isn't so much about optimism as it is about having faith. Believe!

[yessir]

Fans views are based on whats happening on the results front.Thats why there has been a Gary Johnson 'love-in' lately.The team has put in two very impressive performances but lets not forget that in was only 225 match time mins ago that City were 0-2 at home against Trannie.

Don't get me wrong - I'm as delighted as anyone with the last two performances but as someone said earlier in this thread we have fallen at the final hurdle many times in the past and whilst I'm pleased to see an upturn in form I'm not going to over optimistic just yet.

0-2 down at home to trannie, did you leave at that point, has no one told you we won 3-2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[downendcity]

Fans views are based on whats happening on the results front.Thats why there has been a Gary Johnson 'love-in' lately.The team has put in two very impressive performances but lets not forget that in was only 225 match time mins ago that City were 0-2 at home against Trannie.

Don't get me wrong - I'm as delighted as anyone with the last two performances but as someone said earlier in this thread we have fallen at the final hurdle many times in the past and whilst I'm pleased to see an upturn in form I'm not going to over optimistic just yet.

Robbored,

While your points are completely valid, and while we all hope this is not another false dawn, I think many fans sensed that half time against Tranmere might well prove to be a major turning point in the season.

I wasn't at the game , but at home against Coventry it sounds like we played really well and perhaps should have won at the first attempt. However, as so often previously, in the next game at home to Tranny it looks like we froze and provided yet another a frustrating first half display. When we went 2-0 down that day, I posted that surely another recovery was beyond us this time. Not only did we recover, but did so to win the game. The difference this time was that against Coventry in the replay we played with a freedom Ive not seen for a long long time and you could see the players growing in confidence through the game - yes, Coventry were low on confidence, but that should not detract from the quality of City's display. To cap the week, from all the Oldham reports it seem to me that if anything, Saturday's performance was even more impressive and we reached new heights against perhaps the in form team in this division.

The recent comebacks prove the resiliance the GJ his built within the team. What also comes through so many poster's reports is that the TEAM played so well i.e. we are not relying on stand out individual performances, and that as a team there now seems to be genuine belief in the teams ability to go out and win games. Many of us have long felt that GJ has built a good team, but that he couldn't get that team to play to it's potetential, and certainly not consistantly enough. Hopefuly that last 2 games have proved to us fans ,and the players, that they are now playing to their potential and that they can now go out every game with that same belief.

Yes, there is still a long way to go, but we are in as good a position as any of the promotion challengers and I now genuinely believe that the only team that can cost us promotion is ourselves. For goodness sake, we might even get home fans behind the team with more perfromances like this!