MATCHDAY Bristol City.. Luke Ayling will be available for Bristol City's home game with Bolton after being cleared of being involved in indecent behaviour at the Cheltenham Festival. Ayling apologised for his part in the incident which to led to a group of footballers being banned from the festival, but City manager Lee Johnson said the Sky Bet Championship club had completed a "full and thorough investigation" into events at Cheltenham and that the defender had only been guilty of being "naive". Korey Smith's ankle injury will be assessed, but his return after four games out is likely to be delayed until after the international break. Mark Little (hamstring) is available after missing last weekend's 2-1 win at Fulham and Peter Odemwingie is in contention to make his first start after joining on loan from Stoke. Bolton.. Midfielder Jay Spearing may not play again this term as another appearance would trigger a bonus payment to Liverpool, while Liam Feeney has been sent out on loan to Ipswich this week. Josh Vela, dropped after a run of disappointing performances and a fall-out with Lennon, could be restored to the starting line-up as he, along with Rob Holding and one-time Bristol City target Zach Clough, all graduated under Phillips' watch. Emile Heskey (hip) and David Wheater (hamstring) are training but may have to wait for a return after the international break while Max Clayton (hamstring), Dorian Dervite and Ben Amos (both ankle) are all still out. Form..http://www.skysports.com/football/bristol-c-vs-bolton/form/339977 Table..http://www.skysports.com/football/bristol-c-vs-bolton/table/339977 General.. please log in to view this image Peter Odemwingie could start this weekend for Bristol City The Gaffer.. please log in to view this image Head coach wary of boss change at the Macron Stadium. Lee Johnson admits Bolton Wanderers will be somewhat of an unknown quantity at Ashton Gate tomorrow (3pm). The Sky Bet Championship’s bottom club parted company with manager Neil Lennon this week, with Academy boss Jimmy Phillips placed in charge for the trip to Bristol and the remainder of the campaign. Without a win in seven games, Bolton find themselves 11 points from safety with just nine games left to play. Previewing the game, Johnson told Bristol City Player HD: “The change of manager does affect your thinking because naturally you get into an opposition manager’s mindset and you have to be careful, because you don’t know what they’re going to do now. “The guy (Phillips) could come in and completely change it by playing a lot of youth team players, who are unknown to us, so we’ve got to do a lot of research and make sure that whatever team we put out can really affect the game in a positive way.” City go into the game on the back of a last-gasp 2-1 win at Fulham, backed by more than 4,000 travelling fans. Johnson is keen for a repeat of the atmosphere generated by the healthy away support back on home soil tomorrow. He added: “Coming back to Ashton Gate we’re desperate to put on a performance and get a win for everybody, given the importance of the game. “The noise at Fulham was immense and we need the same at Ashton Gate. I know sometimes it’s a chicken and egg scenario, and we do need to give the fans something to get them going. “It’s so important for your home to be a fortress because we’re trying to build something here.” Korey Smith (ankle) remains sidelined, while Mark Little (hamstring) is also a doubt. Press.. http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/wanderers/14353303.Zach_backed_to_deal_with_Bristol_boo_boys/ http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Bristol-City-NEWS/story-28943813-detail/story.html Stats.. http://www.kickoff.co.uk/matches/bristol-city-vs-bolton-wanderers-19-03-2016/ please log in to view this image
I tend not to want to be too confident when making predictions, but this ought to be a game City can win by a couple of goals. Though Bolton might be an unknown quantity under a caretaker manager, we should be the ones causing them more problems than the other way round.
Get at them from the get go, score an early goal or preferably two, and their heads will hopefully drop. They are all but down now, and a lot of the players wont be there next season in the 3rd Division. But you can never tell with football and particularly City !
Typical Mate e-mailed me saying there were 2 tickets going on OTIB and did I want to join him. Got an unexpected pass-out from Mrs R&W and replied straight away, but still too late - they're gone. FFS.
My thoughts exactly. On paper we SHOULD win - but Bolton may be different now without Lennon - you just need to look at Rotherham - and us too!
the comment regarding youth passed my mind .. we managed to do very well last season with a team of younger players .. and maybe Bolton who have Blackpool as a guide ..will start the path to building for Lge 1 Football tomorrow, Sat,
Expect to expect the unexpected when you follow Bristol City and you will be on safe ground - perhaps.
The one thing I have just noted .. is Bolton have not won away, in fact have only picked up 4 points on the road.... let us hope that fate does not deliver us another blow, and make it a first for them! their current form pattern of away losses on the trot is 3 a draw has followed their last 4 runs of 3 losses v Blackburn 0 - 0, P N E 0 - 0, Charlton 2 - 2 and Wolves 2 - 2 their last away clean sheet was 11 games ago v PNE
I don't know if anyone has noticed but City's goals for and goals against is exactly the same home and away 17-29. We have won 6 and drawn 4 away and the other way round at home. What a coincidence. The bottom line that City appear to play better away form home so I will glad if we don't lose. Come on City surprise us and go for it
Not to mention the goal difference ..... a bonus 6 different goal scorers ... including Waggy ...ho ho ho
I was about to mention the 6 different scorers - a good sign when you can get goals from multiple outlets. We're not there yet and this was only one game against a side that has had it's 'issues', but we've looked solid for a couple of months now and I think there's reason to be optimistic for the future. A good summer transfer-wise and we could well make more of an impact next season...
But with those summer transfers I think we need to be prepared to up the anti regarding quality. This will cost proper money, and of course that is up to SL but that is what we will need if we are to make a fist of it. And using our experience of last season, it will be better for the club if we can make those signings EARLY
