Mark Sykes has admitted it was a “huge relief” to see his strike hit the top corner in Bristol City’s draw with Oxford United, as it was Scott Twine who was originally set to take the shot from the set-piece routine.
The 27-year-old scored his first Championship goal of the season as the nine-man Robins, who saw both Joe Williams and Ross McCrorie sent off, secured a workmanlike 1-1 draw at The Kassam Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Gregory Leigh had given the home side the lead early in the second half, but Liam Manning’s side drew level just moments later when Sykes found the top corner from the edge of the box, having been picked out by Max Bird’s creative free-kick.
Although the Ireland international revealed that City had practised the routine in the run-up to Saturday’s clash, he did admit that there were one or two people on the bench unsure of whether or not he was the right man to take on the responsibility.
“We worked on it yesterday, Pat [Mountain] set up a few set plays,” Sykes told the City media team after the full-time whistle. “It wasn’t actually me on them, it was Scott Twine so I found myself lucky that he was off the pitch.
“Then I heard a few rumours that there were a few doubters on the bench who didn’t fancy me. Luckily, it’s ended up in the top corner and it’s a huge relief for me, it’s a nice goal and it helped us get the point we needed in the end. When we went down to nine, we had eight players in our own half and no one in their half as we just tried to sit in and try and get something from the game because it’s quite difficult to at least create a chance with nine men, never mind win the game. It took a good one to get a point and thankfully, we got there.”
Although Saturday’s draw felt more like a win for the travelling fans packed into the corner of The Kassam Stadium, for many supporters the performance of the referee and his decision to send off Williams was the primary talking point.
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Undoubtedly, the midfielder’s early exit had an impact on proceedings but City and Manning adapted well to stop the U’s one-man advantage from deciding the game. While Sykes did admit that he and his teammates were disappointed to not claim all three points, he was impressed by the character they displayed.
“We were probably under the cosh there for an hour or so,” explained the 27-year-old. “We had to dig deep and showed good character at the end of the day to come away with a point so we’re happy enough in there.”
“We want to come and win the game today but we had an incident where we went down to 10 and we had to change our plans and probably set up a bit deeper than we wanted. The outcome of the game was in the end what we needed, we needed to come away with something and we did.”
City’s draw against Gary Rowett’s side has helped them climb to within two points of the play-off places with just 16 league games left to play this season. Although there are an awful lot of points still to play for, the Robins have another chance to cut that gap further this weekend when they welcome Swansea City to Ashton Gate on Sunday, with games against Stoke City and Cardiff City to follow next weekend.