Centre-back Rob Dickie has lauded Bristol City’s squad depth after the Robins’ injury-forced substitutions helped them get past Preston North End on Saturday.
Liam Manning’s hand was forced in the first half at Deepdale after both George Tanner and Joe Williams had to depart the field earlier than hoped, with Haydon Roberts and Marcus McGuane replacing them.
Roberts had missed five games through injury before the Preston clash, with it also being Dickie’s first game back after missing nine.
“We adapted really well,” Dickie said after the match.
“The subs that came on today did absolutely brilliantly. We changed formation mid half and I think it shows the strength of the group and how far we’ve come. We’re showing real maturity at the moment.
“One thing I know we targeted in the summer was to really strengthen the squad [so that] if we were down players or down numbers then we wouldn’t be any weaker. I think it’s shown, especially in the last few weeks.
“We want to keep our heads down, keep our foot to the pedal, and go.”
Substitutes Roberts and McGuane performed admirably on the day in a mature Reds display in which they responded quickly to their opponents’ equaliser and saw out the tie in style.
The latter in particular had not had much gametime in a red shirt before Saturday, only making his full debut the week before against Leeds, with the ex-Oxford United man a recipient of Dickie’s praise after the game.
“The lads did really well. Marcus, absolutely brilliant when he came on. He was always in the right place at the right time. He showed good composure on the ball. Full credit to him; he was excellent.
“Haydon as well. I’ve shared the physio room with him unfortunately and he came on today and just did his job really well.
“That’s what it takes in the Championship, especially when you come away from home. It’s tough place to come, here. I can’t imagine many teams would win here so we’ve shown, as a group, a great performance today.”
Maturity was a key word for the returning centre back.
Deepdale was a hostile venue on Saturday thanks to the controversial nature of Yu Hirakawa’s goal which put the Robins ahead inside six minutes, with City’s injury troubles also stirring the crowd.
So for Manning’s men to see respond so effectively to the hosts’ equaliser and then put the game to bed in such circumstances is testament to the team.
When asked whether he thought the Reds side have matured since last campaign, Dickie replied: “Yeah, I do. It’s coming up to a year since the manager’s come in and I actually said in the dressing room there to the whole group that I think the maturity that we’ve shown over the last few months has been amazing. We’re really progressing well as a group and that’s credit to everyone in the building.”
City extended their unbeaten run to eight games with the win against the Lilywhites and will be looking to extend that to nine when Sheffield United come to town on Tuesday.
Amidst the spotless string of games is also a season-long unbeaten streak at home, with Ashton Gate becoming a place of solidity in recent times.
It will be back-to-back promotion challengers in BS3 on when the Blades visit, and so another big hurdle to jump in the Reds’ bid to stay unbeaten.
Despite spending a couple of months on the side-lines, the Robins’ towering no.16 is proud of his team’s achievements.
“The lads, credit to them, they’ve been on a great run and we’ve had to deal with such difficult circumstances but we keep going on. Hopefully we can stay unbeaten until the international break and go from there.
“We want to make [Ashton Gate] a fortress. We want to be really solid there and we have been so far. Hopefully that can continue on Tuesday.”