Liam Manning has bemoaned Bristol City’s missed chances as they could only settle for a point against rivals Cardiff City at Ashton Gate.
The Robins missed a number of key chances to take the lead in the opening 45 minutes before being punished nine minutes into the second period after a spectacular Ollie Tanner opener.
With 73 minutes on the clock, City did break down the Bluebirds defences when Luke McNally levelled the scoring in a feisty Severnside derby.
Boos again rang around Ashton Gate on the full-time whistle, with Manning’s men only able to pick up a point against bottom of the league Cardiff. And the Robins boss has rued his side’s missed opportunities to take the lead on a number of occasions.
He said, “If you dissect the game. I thought we started the game really well, there was real purpose, real intensity and we put them really on the back-foot. Sincs (Sinclair Armstrong) had a decent chance down the right hand side when Twiney slid him in.
“It’s a little bit frustrating especially how we started the second-half. “We were a little bit passive and slow with things and then conceded but we showed real togetherness and character to respond to get back in it.
“That’s the bit at the minute, when the game is in an even state and it’s 0-0 and we’re on top we have to go ahead in those moments. We’ve got to make sure we go and convert such good control into more goals so it can ease the pressure a little bit. And that’s probably the story of the season a little bit.”
McNally’s 73rd-minute header was his first in City colours following his £1.75m switch from Burnley on transfer deadline day.
While Manning believes goals should come from his centre-backs, the head coach has insisted his side must be more clinical in all areas of the pitch going forward.
He added, “As a partnership, two centre-halves should be chipping in with eight goals. That for me should be the challenge. That’s everywhere across the team.
“Where we’ve made the most changes is the top end and the area we’re struggling with at the moment is converting. It’s the eighth game out of nine where I think we’ve had 15 shots at least. We’re having lots of shots but we’ve got to make sure we’re more clinical.
“The keeper made a save off Sincs (Sinclair Armstrong), I thought Sykey’s (Mark Sykes) header at the back post was a good chance, Fally (Mayulu) had a good chance on the left and Zak (Vyner) put one wide which I thought was a good opportunity.
“We’re getting into really good areas but it’s now we either create better clear cut chances or the chances we do get, we make the opposition work harder for it. I’m confident it will change when you look at the performance level across the nine games.
“The frustration is that we’ve lost two games in nine – we’ve just drawn too many. It’s turning those draws into more wins.”