Liam Manning has hit back after boos from some Bristol City fans rang around Ashton Gate at full-time. And the Robins boss believes the criticism was “unjust” with City unlucky not to come away with all three points against Sheffield Wednesday.
There were murmurings and boos which met referee Anthony Backhouse’s full-time whistle as the Robins couldn’t knock down the resilient Owls defence, with the contest finishing 0-0 under the lights at BS3.
The point leaves the Robins 13th in the Championship standings having picked up 10 points from their opening eight games of the season.
Despite controlling proceedings against Wednesday for large parts of the evening, City were unable to find a winner with goalkeeper James Beadle coming to the rescue on a number of occasions to keep the scores level..
And Manning has responded to the boos which met his side at the end of the game and was adamant they weren’t deserved.
He said, “It’s disappointing, you don’t want it and I think the lads didn’t deserve it. I think it sums the world up a little bit.
“I was the first to put my hands up after Blackburn when we lost, people not competing, not running, not bringing enough energy but tonight it wasn’t that. The lads gave everything, they asked questions and I can’t control the booing – I think it’s really unjust for the lads to be far. It’s unfortunate. It’s where the world is at, it’s easier and quicker to do it.
“Rather than at 0-0 and go and make some noise and get behind them. Everything in the world right now is so short term. We want the fans with us and it’s the first time we haven’t scored this season.We’ve got a really disappointed and frustrated changing room because we want to win games but we’ve got another 38 to go.
“It doesn’t help but I want to talk about the lads rather than the booing. It’s disappointing and you don’t want to hear it but I’ll concentrate on the players ultimately and when you see it the lads gave everything.”
Despite the boos, Manning believed his side did enough to pick up all three points against Sheffield Wednesday and was pleased with the performance he saw.
He added, “You’re never going to please everybody. Especially with the extra day recovery they (Sheffield Wednesday) had over us.I thought it was a really physical game at Swansea, they’ve got the extra day from Saturday and naturally it caught up with us a tiny bit in the second half.
“At the same, defensively we’ve been guilty of being a little bit too open and giving up a few changes which we’ve not been happy about conceding the volume of goals we have but first half I though we were outstanding with the ball as well.
“We got in some terrific areas, pinned them back and had really good control. It’s difficult to dominate a game for 90 minutes at this level and naturally in the second half they had a little bit and we had a little bit. We got in some semi areas Syksey and Yu a couple of times but we just didn’t convert first half ultimately.
“That’s the bit for me, it’s about improving. I think seven out the eight games so far we’ve created 15 plus chances and that’s incredible. You look at tonight, the lads put in such a shift. It wasn’t through a lack of will or trying, they gave everything tonight.”