Jamie McAllister has praised City as they prepare for their Ashton Gate "six-pointer" against Middlesbrough. City are fifth in the Sky Bet Championship, five points ahead of their seventh-placed opponents ahead of the televised encounter. A win for the home side would therefore extend the gap to eight points, while Boro would go two points within City with a victory of their own. City head into the tie following their incredible 3-2 win against Hull City last weekend, although they were defeated 2-1 by Preston North End in their last appearance at the Gate. Assistant head coach McAllister says the Hull result has buoyed the players as they look to get back to winning ways on home soil. He told BCTV: "There's five points between us at the moment so it's a six-pointer....we want to try and get as many points on the board as possible by the New Year. "The lads have been outstanding in training in the last few days. The tempo, intensity and quality of training has been class so we're their managing workload because we do have a lot of injuries. "It's been a very good start for us but we could be higher in the table. We have got to keep doing the basics well, being organised, keep working hard for each other and focus on the next game. That is all you can look at. You can only affect what happens next. "The next game is against Middlesbrough and we want to get back to winning ways at home after the defeat against Preston, so that is our focus." WHEN Middlesbrough hit December sitting three points outside the play-off places and 11 short of an automatic promotion place, Garry Monk knows he still has plenty to ponder. Even though he wants healthy competition for places, he clearly has big question marks hanging over his team selection. Bristol City, sitting five points above Boro, may well have the greater list of absentees going into Saturday’s fifth-versus-seventh tussle at Ashton Gate, but Monk has more than enough posers himself. While Daniel Ayala looks like being the only player certainly ruled out for Middlesbrough, the Robins’ manager Lee Johnson has suggested he faces a “slight crisis” with a hefty number of players missing. Dangerous winger Callum O’Dowda has now joined Eros Pisano, Famara Diedhiou, Gary O’Neil, Jens Hegeler and Ivan Lucic on the sidelines. On the face of it, Monk looks to have it easier because he should even have striker Rudy Gestede available again after a lengthy lay-off, while Jonny Howson is back from his one-match suspension. In fact, while Bristol City’s team will effectively pick itself, it is Monk who has the greater conundrums in terms of who to name in his starting line-up. Here’s why: DEFENSIVE TINKERING Daniel Ayala’s red card means at least one change at the back. Presuming Monk sticks with a back four, Dael Fry would seem the logical player to throw in for what would be his first start in the league since September 27 when he was guilty of a mistake that proved costly against Norwich. Fry, 19, had been effective before that, so deserves another opportunity, while Ryan Shotton’s only appearance since his move from Birmingham arrived in the game straight after that against Brentford. Other than that you would expect Cyrus Christie, Ben Gibson and Fabio da Silva to keep their places for the trip to Bristol. A longer term option could be to see Monk switch to three at the back which has become fashionable again during the last year
Aden Flint has given his assessment of City's season so far, as the campaign nears its halfway point. The Robins begin the busy festive period at home to Middlesbrough on Saturday (5.30pm kick-off). It will be the fifth month of football season, with five more months of the 2017/18 campaign remaining. And City head into December in the Sky Bet Championship play-off positions, five points ahead of Boro. Giving his verdict on the campaign to date, defender Flint told BCTV: "It's been very good. We said in pre-season that we want to be challenging in the top half and that's where we are. "We have played some great games and put in some good performances and we want to continue that and finish as high as possible. But we're not getting ahead of ourselves and we take it one game at a time and see where that takes us. "We just need to do everything properly. We need to work hard on the training field but we need to rest and recuperate as well which is massive. "It's a busy period which is going to be tough on our bodies. We need to recover well after games do the right things and everything should take care of itself." City are scheduled to play 14 matches between now and the end of January, including the Carabao Cup quarter-final clash against Manchester United.
Bristol City winger Callum O'Dowda is unavailable to play Middlesbrough and will be out for eight to 10 weeks after having surgery on an ankle injury. But left-back Joe Bryan is expected to be back in contention after recovering from a bruised hip. Boro will be without centre-back Daniel Ayala through suspension after picking up a second yellow card during last weekend's 3-0 defeat by Derby. Midfielder Jonny Howson is available after serving a one-match ban. Middlesbrough boss Garry Monk told BBC Tees: "There was a lot of frustration and disappointment after that game [against Derby], we've had strong discussions in reflection of what happened. "We've made far too many avoidable mistakes in the games that we've played so far. We haven't been ruthless enough or clinical enough with the chances we've created. "Before the game at the weekend we had one of the best defensive records in terms of chances that are created against us per game, we're the best in the league. "Teams aren't totally outplaying or cutting through us, which shows the structure's right." SAM's prediction Home win 39% Draw 28% Away win 33% Match facts Bristol City have won their past four league meetings with Middlesbrough, with all wins coming in the 2012-13 and 2015-16 seasons. Middlesbrough have not scored a single goal in any of their past three league games against the Robins - Ishmael Miller was the last Boro player to find the net, doing so in a 3-1 defeat in November 2012. The Robins have lost two of their past three league matches at Ashton Gate, as many as they had lost in their previous 16. Britt Assombalonga scored twice in his only previous league visit to Ashton Gate, with his goals helping Peterborough to a 3-0 win in September 2013. Assombalonga has scored a goal in each of his past four away league appearances - the last player to score in five consecutive away Championship appearances was Rudy Gestede in December 2014 for Blackburn Rovers. Bristol City have lost five fewer games after 19 matches this season (3) than they had last season (8).
Outstanding performance. We absolutely bossed a team that were in the Premiership last season. They only threatened after being handed a lifeline by the OG. I think we will win at Sheff Utd on Friday as well.
belatedly watched the post match interview and to be quite honest although there is a little more sparkle in his interview pose his delivery is pretty much the same as last season FLINT oh oh he is well worth the £6m + we should get for him! I think in January only an offer of £9m will see him move ? I reckon this season he has really got himself up another peg, not quite got on the champs: goal list but must be amongst the top 10 players when it comes to assists?
