Anis Mehmeti has dedicated his opening goal against Middlesbrough and Bristol City’s win at the Riverside to head coach Liam Manning and his family on the back of a devastating week at Ashton Gate.
City returned from the international break with a difficult trip to the North East to face a Middlesbrough side harbouring promotion ambitions this season before their preparation was thrown into turmoil following the tragic news delivered to them regarding the Manning family and their baby son Theo John.
Tributes poured in throughout the week for all at BS3, with assistant head coach Chris Hogg handed all footballing duties in the interim period as Manning takes a leave of absence.
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Hogg expressed his grief and sadness during the club’s pre-match press conference ahead of the trip to Middlesbrough and continued to show his emotions throughout the afternoon at the Riverside where tributes were again made to Manning and his family both before and after the game.
Quite how City’s players were going to handle the occasion was open for debate, given the events of the week, but the Robins produced a fitting display of courage and determination to come away with an impressive 2-0 victory.
Among the scorers was Mehmeti, who fired the visitors into the lead just before the half hour, and the Albanian provided his verdict on what has been a challenging week for all at the club and just what both his goal and the win meant to City.
“It’s been a tough week for us all, for the gaffer first and foremost, his wife Fran and his little boy Isaac, and that win was for them,” said Mehmeti.
“It’s obviously been a hard week for us and the club as a whole, but we’re buzzing to get that win for the gaffer.
“It’s always good to score. It was a good goal and Yu scored after me. When you go in at half-time 2-0 up you feel good. Sometimes you come to grounds like this and you might not have full possession or full control but we punished them when it counts.”
He added: “The gesture at the end of the game shows that we’re all one. We’ve all felt the pain this week, altogether as one, and it’s really for [the fans] and the gaffer, his wife and his little boy. It’s been a tough week but we’ve got to use this win now to kick on.”
Assistant boss Hogg told of his immense pride in his players after their win, in how they handled the occasion, before revealing it as a key topic of discussion heading into the game as to how they would deal with their emotions after both sets of players, staff and supporters shared a minute’s applause in respect of the Manning family ahead of kick-off.
“It wasn’t easy,” said Hogg. “The good thing for us was that we spoke about it on Wednesday and how it was really important we express our feelings and our emotions as a group and know what’s coming and accept that we were going to be emotional at times. Once they got themselves in the game, I thought they did a terrific job. The togetherness and some of the defending was immense.
“And I have to say, the football club has been outstanding in terms of the staff. They’ve come in every day and given me support where they can. There isn’t one individual who hasn’t stepped up for me, the players and the football club.”