Having gone four games without a win in the lead-up to Christmas, Bristol City returned to winning ways with a workmanlike win over Luton Town on Boxing Day.
A second-half screamer from Scott Twine was enough to secure all three points for the Robins. The attacking midfielder found the top right corner with a long-range effort just after the interval to ease the frustration in and around Ashton Gate.
While the Reds limited the Hatters to few scoring chances, Rob Edwards’ side had a couple of opportunities to level things up, the best of which saw Carlton Morris head over the bar from close range late on in the second period.
Thursday’s win leaves City sitting 11th in the Championship table, seven points adrift of the play-off places and a comfortable 11 points clear of the relegation zone.
Here is a full transcript of every word Liam Manning said to the written press in his post-match press conference at Ashton Gate…
After West Brom that was a hell of a good, hardworking performance today.
Yeah, definitely. I think it wasn’t a game full of free-flowing beautiful football with lots of chances. But at the same point, I have to say a moment of really high quality wins us the game and that’s nice to see sometimes. Often you’re looking at mistakes that decide games, whereas today it was a moment of outstanding quality. So really pleased with the response to West Brom, and stepping up to what was a really tough physical side to play against.
I thought we were really aggressive in duels, won numerous headers, managed the second balls really well and, yeah, I’m delighted we found a way, the lads deserve all the credit they get for today.
I thought they managed the game really well, but when that chance fell to Cauley Woodrow, you must’ve been worried.
It was probably when the referee didn’t give the penalty I was thinking that to be totally honest.
We’ve just been looking at it again, He was the wrong side of the defender, wasn’t he Scott?
It’s embarrassing but let’s not talk about that.
That would have been game over and made it more comfortable obviously.
Yeah, because then you are managing a completely different situation, so yeah. I thought second half we probably had a little less control with the ball, but probably had more threat. In the first half, we probably had a lot more control but I thought we lacked a little bit of threat. They’re hard to play against, well organised and extremely physical, so that was the challenge, to find a way to win today and we did.
Two home games in a row Twine has produced a moment like that for you, did you think one was better than the other?
Yeah, and that’s why we brought him in. I know what he can do, I have so much confidence in him to do that. I know he can score goals and create goals at the level. It’s obviously been a bit frustrating for him, with the injury he had early on, and then coming back and getting ill, it’s been a little bit of a slow start.
I’m hoping now that he’s had a few games, he can build a bit of momentum going into the second half of the season because he’s someone who can do that and change the game massively.
Performances have been pretty consistent, but at Portsmouth and West Brom, something wasn’t there was it? Can you put your finger on why those two games were so poor compared to everything else?
I think if you were able to go 46 games and not have a poor game, you’ve done incredibly well. I don’t think there are too many teams that are able to do that. I think we overanalyse everything probably. We look at everything, it doesn’t mean we accept it, but sometimes you have a bad day and again, they are tough places to go to.
Of course, we go away and we hurt like everybody, we’re frustrated like everybody. But at the same point, I think the lads have hit such a consistent level, and even here, I think we’ve played really well here and not got maybe the results that performance have deserved. But that’s Championship football. I think the margins are so fine, so tight that you can perform well, then you switch off for a second, and you can lose the game. Like I said, I’m delighted in such a tight game today that we’re on the winning end.
You never like substituting someone at half-time but Fally didn’t have a great first half. Was Nahki Wells not quite fit, is that the reason he started?
Sinclair Armstrong isn’t fit. He’s back out on the grass but he isn’t ready. You’ve got to be careful with someone when they’re that explosive. Nahki Wells did his first session yesterday. He did a little bit on the grass but trained yesterday and [Sam] Belly’s done really well. I thought what we ultimately needed was more tactical than anything else. We needed somebody to stretch their backline and run in behind and Belly’s really good at it.
Are you confident Fally will grasp it?
He’ll be frustrated and disappointed now I’m sure, but you learn from every experience, not just when you play well. We’ll do the work now, we’ll have to move on quickly. I have to say, it’s what you need the squad for, it’s why you need the options on the bench. I thought the lads who came on had an impact. I thought Anis [Mehmeti] was excellent. He was disappointed, rightly so, not to start but he responded in the right way. He came on and did exactly what the team needed. The two Georges were similar. That’s what you need, you need people to step on the pitch and give everything for the team.
You mentioned that Woodrow chance, you must be delighted for Max to pull off a save at a moment as crucial as that. It shows what he can do.
Yeah, he rightly so will deserve the credit for it because it was in such a key moment. It was a pressure moment and he’s delivered, that’s what we need. We need people in those moments at both ends of the pitch when the pressure is high to deliver, to do their jobs and to execute. I’m pleased for him today that he did it.
A lot of focus on Scott’s goal, but the backline faced one of the Championship’s most physical strike partnerships and it felt like they won basically every duel, you must be delighted.
Yeah, I thought they were terrific. It’s tough because the more direct they go the deeper you tend to get. You have to be brave and try and stay high. Moving across the pitch becomes really important, it’s hard to single just them out, but I thought in terms of trying to nullify Luton’s threats, the three centre-backs were terrific.
I just wanted to ask you about Ross McCrorie, he seems to give you some balance and was really bright going forward today.
Yeah, I thought he had a really good impact at West Brom as well. You know what you’re getting with Ross. I think his energy, his intensity, his competitiveness, how aggressive he is, it gives you that real outlet on the right side. I think playing at wing-back as well probably gives him that licence to be a little bit more free, to roam and get forward. He did well today, I thought he did really well.
It’s the first time he’s played on the right this season, having played on the left before injury. It feels like people have forgotten how valuable he can be because of his stop-start time here. How much do you think he can offer to your side both attacking and defensively?
He can play on the left and the right, and yeah I think with Ross and a lot of the other lads, having the depth, having the options, having the competition is so important especially when you have four games in 10 days. It is such a heavy period and with how hard the lads work, you need freshness as well.
Ross came in today, did a terrific job, and then obviously we were able to bring George Tanner on and sustain a level, which I think is equally important. It’s great to have those options, have that competition and it’s about raising the bar now, I think that’s the biggest bit.
On Monday, Jason mentioned wanting a reaction, it did feel like every player was great in a real team performance. It was almost impossible to single anyone out. Does that show where the group is at, after a lull in results recently?
Yeah, I think that’s the biggest bit, we’ve performed better and not got results, that’s the thing. It’s about trying to set your stall out every game. I think you have to see every game as a cup final. You’re going to get one opportunity to play that game this season.
The bare minimum is you’ve got to go out and give absolutely everything. We’ll get it right and we’ll get it wrong. We’ll have good days and bad days. It’s about sticking together, having a real clear way of what we’re doing and pulling each other through because we’re only at the halfway point now. There’s still so much football to be played. Like I said we need everybody to step up and keep building and progressing in the second half of the season.
On Sunday you spoke about learning how to win games. Yu in particular had a few moments, battling to win free-kicks and corners. Do you feel the intelligence side of his game has improved?
I think he’s always been an intelligent player to be fair. It’s such a big move for him. He’s started so well. Everybody loves him already, and rightly so because he produces really exciting moments.
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I think the challenge we have is managing his freshness. It’s ultimately going to be an 18-month season for him. So over the second half of the season, it doesn’t mean he can’t do it, but I think that’ll be the challenge to it. How do you manage that? I thought in general we managed the game quite well. When you look at Sunderland away so close, today was completely different, and we managed to get it over the line.
Is anyone likely to be back for Portsmouth?
Not off the top of my head I don’t think so, Naismith and Sykes are a little bit away.
You haven’t had back-to-back wins yet, how important do you think it could be to break through that barrier on Sunday?
We’ve tried every game to do it, but haven’t been able to. I think that’s the challenge, putting consecutive runs together. I think we’ve spoken about that before, haven’t we? It’s not necessary about not losing games, because every team in the league will lose games. It’s about how you respond, how you put runs of wins together. That’s what we have to try and follow this up with.
I’m looking forward to coming back here. I think we’ve found a good element of form here, and it’s now about coming back here and making sure that we give everything to come and win again in the next one.