Bristol City had to ‘navigate’ their emotions as well as the tactical gameplan on Saturday to come away with their first away win of the season against Middlesbrough with assistant boss Chris Hogg pleased by the Robins’ ‘ruthless’ edge.
City ended a devastating week off the field with a significant win on it, as they claimed all three points at the Riverside thanks to first half goals from Anis Mehmeti and Yu Hirakawa.
Mehmeti struck just before the half hour mark after high pressure from the advanced Jason Knight forced Aidan Morris into a turnover from Seny Dieng’s short goal kick. Knight was able to pick out Mehmeti who evaded the sliding challenge of Hayden Hackney before firing in his second goal of the season.
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And Hogg, who was standing in for the absent Liam Manning, watched on as his team doubled their lead in first half stoppage time when Knight forced another high turnover which would eventually fall the way of Hirakawa, with the Japanese winger executing a sweeping finish into the bottom corner.
City’s game plan could be seen in full effect after the break as they threatened on the counter-attack while holding onto their first away win of the season and an important three points which lifts them up to 10th in the Championship table, just four points outside the top six.
But while Hogg stopped short of conceding this as a ‘smash and grab’ performance, the assistant boss highlighted how clinical the Robins were after praising their mentality in dealing with the heightened emotions surrounding their first game without head coach Manning in the dugout.
“Today was always going to be about trying to navigate [emotions], especially in the first half after the tribute [to Liam and his family],” said Hogg.
“We tried to give them everything for the game today like we normally would. We spoke a lot about staying in the present moment and dealing with the emotions and they were terrific.
“I’m so proud of them. The connection between them and the fans at the end is something that will probably live with me forever in terms of the day. But it’s the connection. All Liam has ever wanted, since we came to the football club, is a bit of unity and trying to unite the city behind the football club and I think you see signs of that again.
“Ideally, I would have liked to have the ball a little bit more,” Hogg added on the way the game played out. “We spoke about trying to play and do what they did to us with the football but, again, you talk about the heart and the head and using those two things and the spirit they showed was outstanding.
“They defended the box, there were blocks, tackles – you have to ride your luck sometimes when you come to Middlesbrough because they’re a very good team and they’re very good with how they control games and get momentum in games by putting teams on the back foot.
“It’s then just about us trying to force mistakes and being ruthless at the other end and that’s something we probably haven’t been good enough at, in terms of converting chances this year. But I was delighted for the two goalscorers because they’ve been working so hard and that will give them a good confidence boost.”