That was some very brave decision making by Derek yesterday and it could have badly backfired on him had it gone wrong. Talking to fellow fans before the game yesterday it struck me how many fans despite Maynards recent bad form still thought he was undroppable, my mate who has played and watched football with me for 30 years was arguing vehemently with me that Maynard would still be in the side yesterday, I said my instincts would be to play 4-5-1 with Wood up front alone, ideally with Bolasie and Adomah either side and Skuse back to full back, (IMO his best position) this system requires Cisse to sit in front of the back 4 as Kilkenny is at his most effective higher up the pitch. My mate was left literally open mouthed when the team sheet was read out and said "Well I wouldn't have called that" which amazed me and just goes to show how different football opinions can be. The first half yesterday was the most entertaining half of football at Ashton gate for an eternity and I'm afraid to say Chris Wood gave Maynard a bench lesson in how to play up front as a lone striker, no lack of movement yesterday, plenty of crosses and shots from outside the area, little one /twos from a striker with his back to goal, I was personally very impressed with that performance. (first touch requires some work) So to the second half, God our fans don't help sometimes, a brief good spell from Donny after being ripped a new one for large periods resulting in a good goal against us, I could hear all the usual abuse. For gods sake show a little patience, the fickleness of some of our fans is unbelievable. Anyway, Thanks Dell, I could see the first shoots of where we are heading yesterday and the way you want to build your side and the way you want it to play. I know we are going to have some ups and downs on the way. But..... I for one, am on board.
I listened to the game on Radio Bristol and while we did very well up to half time, the oft repeated failing of not putting the game out of reach almost cost us dearly at the end. If we had been playing a stronger team with all eleven on the pitch, we would probably not have won. HOWEVER, AFTER I SAT FOR A WHILE, I SUDDENLY REALISED THAT BEFORE THE GAME, EVERYONE INVOLVED WITH BRISTOL CITY WOULD HAVE GIVEN THEIR RIGHT ARMS FOR A 2-1 UGLY WIN. We did better than that with some pretty good football at times. Watching Match of the day later, it also struck me how much more shots are on target than in the Championship. NM please note! Are you good enough for the Prem? All in all , I totally agree with Derek McInnes post match thoughts that it was a great win, enjoy the weekend and they will have a look at the negatives on Monday / Tuesday.
Lets not get too carried away, it was against 10 men Doncaster for most of the game.................3 points was required and that's what we got...long way to go before we can say we have turned the corner.. My feet are firmly on the ground....
I don't think fickle is correct, in the predict the score thread i came out a winner so at least I was happy with that. What I am getting at in a earlier post team, every time we went forward in the first half was fantastic, what I also believe is Del wanted to check out Pitman and Stead in actual gameplay, and we passed across the park rather than go forward. I saw a match in the first half that we could of got at least a 2 goal margin. Which could give us higher position come the end as our difference is sometimes holding us behind others. Maybe I'm negative when teams flip us and turn us around to kick off opposite to what we are used too, also I can't see that well from where I sit in Dolman attacking the east end. But overall I'm am pleased to see what Del is doing, and hope he stays with us for a long while as I can see him bringing us out, next season with HIS team I think the other teams are going to fear us again.
I agree about the first half, I saw a lot of things that I liked - little signs of things to come, HOWEVER.... The reason some of our fans were "fickle" second half was that we would never have such a great opportunity to press on and put 2 or 3 more goals past what was a very poor and under pressure defence and help our goal difference which you never know... Instead, we reverted to the old, nervous and uncertain City, sitting back on a lead and we all know what happens when we do that - the build up was dreadfully slow and obvious and there was no great urgency to pile any pressure on. About 2 minutes before they did, I said to my mate that Donny will get one in a minute, it was so obviously coming... All in all, a great opportunity for a morale boosting thumping missed...
