Who Needs Sam?

Victory showed we can cope without Sam, says Bristol City match-winner Jay Emmanuel-Thomas.

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BRISTOL City match-winner Jay Emmanuel-Thomas claims that victory at Meadow Lane proves beyond doubt there is life after Sam Baldock.

If some onlookers expected the Robins to suffer a hangover following the sale of last season's top scorer to Brighton last week, they were very much mistaken. And the man who clinched victory at Meadow Lane from the penalty spot insisted the Robins still possess sufficient firepower to make a concerted challenge for promotion this season.

Emmanuel-Thomas admitted: "It was important we produced a good performance and result after what had happened.

"You cannot let these things affect you, no matter how disappointing they are at the time.


"We were all sorry to see Sam leave the club, but life goes on and we have other quality players who can step up and take the job on. I think beating Notts County on their own patch proves that beyond doubt."

Emmanuel-Thomas was always confident he would beat Magpies keeper Roy Carroll from the spot after outscoring his team-mates in a training ground shoot-out the previous day.

"The boys already knew that, if I was on the pitch, I was going to take the penalty," he said. "When Luke Freeman went down, I knew everybody's eyes were on me. I took 10 and scored 10 in training the day before, so I was quite confident in my ability to put it in the back of the net.

"It was all down to me and the goalie. I established eye contact, watched his body movement and waited for him to make a decision. It was then all a matter of what I wanted to do."

Delighted to beat one of his former clubs, Robins boss Steve Cotterill felt his side deserved to win by more than 2-1 after what he described as a "thoroughly professional performance."

He said: "I thought we were excellent and to go in a goal down at half-time was a travesty. We dominated the ball and controlled the game, more or less, from start to finish.

"We just had to make sure we didn't get caught with a counter-attack, which is what happened with their goal. I thought we were super for the 90 minutes at a place where it is always tough to get a result.

"We could and should have won by more really. There was a terrible mess-up by the officials when Aaron Wilbraham went through and scored and was given offside. Aaron was onside and it was a wonderful goal."

Although City trailed at half time, Cotterill made the most of his team talk to inspire a second-half recovery. He said: "It was important we stayed patient and upped the tempo when we got the ball in the final third. I felt if we could do that, we would cut them open in the second half. We kept passing it and that is what happened in the end."

Cotterill was delighted for Emmanuel-Thomas, who has had to wait for an opportunity to impress from the substitutes' bench this season.

He said: "He is part of it just as all the others are. I would have slaughtered him had he missed the penalty, because he scored loads in training the day before. "There is nobody better in that situation, because Jay is as cool as a cucumber."
http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Victor...l-City-match/story-22857367-detail/story.html