Where do you even start with that one? On a night when the pressure was on Bristol City, Liam Manning and his side stepped up to deliver one of their best performances of the season to breathe new life into the Reds’ play-off hopes and send the home support into the weekend on a high.
Having fallen behind to a Tommy Conway goal in the first half, Friday evening felt like it could be another case of “what if” in the Robins’ season. City had got the better of Michael Carrick’s side everywhere on the pitch, other than the penalty area where an inspired performance from Mark Travers repeatedly denied the home side what looked like a certain leveller.
Fans inside Ashton Gate would have been forgiven for thinking the opening 45 minutes was all too familiar. For all their dominance and for all their neat passages of play, the Reds had not found the net.
But what followed was different. City returned for the second half and picked up where they had left off. They continued to pile the pressure on Middlesbrough’s backline, constantly testing them with crosses into the box and stinging the palms of Travers. As was the case in South Wales last weekend, it felt like the pressure would tell and it did, not only once but twice as George Earthy’s first two goals in a City shirt secured all three points.
If the feeling at the Cardiff City Stadium just a week ago was deflation, the mood in and around Ashton Gate on Friday evening was one of pandemonium. Every single player in red and white headed back down the tunnel with a smile on their face and the supporters were singing and chanting late into the night.
It may have only been worth three points, but this win felt like more than that. For the first time in a little while, the Reds made a statement against a play-off rival.
With the stress of watching the Robins out of the way before the weekend has even properly got underway, fans can revel in victory for the next two days and what better way to start than by reading the main talking points from City’s 2-1 win over Middlesbrough…
Late arrival
Unlike its winter equivalent, the summer transfer window was a period of excitement for Bristol City supporters. The Robins were active throughout the off-season signing the likes of Sinclair Armstrong, Scott Twine and Yu Hirakawa. One arrival that quickly slipped under the radar however, was George Earthy.
The West Ham midfielder made the move to Ashton Gate just days before the Reds finally made a breakthrough in talks for Twine. Although fans were excited to see what he could do and Hammers supporters were quick to raise expectations, the 20-year-old played very little football in his preferred position in the first half of the season.
Before Friday night, Earthy had shown flashes of his quality but never made it count in the final third. His display at right wing-back away to Norwich was excellent and he could have and should have scored away to Oxford. But after quiet cameos against the likes of Swansea, Stoke and Cardiff in recent weeks, there were some fans questioning just what Liam Manning saw in the youngster.
The City boss, who has always been quick to praise the midfielder, had said just last month that the only thing the West Ham loanee needed to do to kickstart his time with the Reds was add some goals and assists to his game. It may have taken until February for that to happen, but against Middlesbrough, Earthy finally arrived as a Robin.
Neither goal was exactly a screamer, but they were demonstrations of a clinical edge that cannot be undervalued. His leveller was a smart close-range finish and the sort of chance the Robins had repeatedly spurned in the first half, while his winner was a real poacher’s goal as he was the quickest to react to Twine’s free-kick. Earthy, for the first time in a City shirt, was the difference-maker and his challenge is now to do that consistently between now and the end of the season.
“We want him to deliver and I know he will,” Manning said after the full-time whistle. “Hopefully, he’ll back that up and continue to do.”
If he can continue to make that impact in the final 12 Championship games of the season, a fully firing and confident Earthy could be like a new signing.
The Tinker Manning
Let’s be honest, we can all be rather quick to criticise Liam Manning for his substitutions during games. Fans tend to point to the fact the Bristol City boss almost always mixes things up on the hour mark while others have suggested the majority of his substitutions are like for like.
I’m sure there would have been several fans inside Ashton Gate on Friday evening questioning just why the Reds head coach had turned to George Earthy, Yu Hirakawa and Cam Pring when his side were in desperate need of a goal, rather than Nahki Wells. City had created plenty of chances in the first 60 minutes, surely they just needed a clinical forward in the box to make the difference?
But as was the case against Oxford just a matter of weeks ago, Manning demonstrated just why he is the man in the Ashton Gate dugout as that triple change changed the whole momentum of the game. All three players had an impact as Hirakawa constantly got at his man, Pring provided some pace on the left flank and I don’t need to tell you what Earthy did. It was a bold call to change a third of the outfield players at the same time, but not for the first time this season it paid off.
“I think numerous times this season players have come on and had an impact,” Manning said after the final whistle. “It’s not easy, you bring a player on and what you have in your head is them at their very best, but you have to get up to speed, you have to find your rhythm and it’s not always easy coming into a game.
“I’ll never underestimate how difficult it is. Sometimes, we’ll do them at half-time because it gives them a little bit more time to get up to speed with things, hence doing the three at the same time. It allows people enough time rather than it becoming a bit bitty and breaking up the game a little bit. It’s why, especially this season, we’ve been a little bit bolder with changes, doing more at once to allow people to get up to speed with the game.”
In the other dugout, Michael Carrick didn’t turn to his bench until the 83rd minute, just moments after his side had gone 2-1 down. Earthy may have scored the winner, but it was Manning’s proactiveness that won the Robins the game on Friday night. He out-thought and ‘out-tacticed’ the opposition manager and that deserves praise.
Boro show risks of January
It is safe to say the majority of Bristol City supporters were more than a little underwhelmed with their side’s activity during the January transfer window. Liam Manning didn’t make a single addition to his playing squad this winter, with the only movement in and out of Ashton Gate seeing Kal Naismith, Rob Atkinson and Fally Mayulu depart on loan.
Some felt the lack of incoming business was a demonstration of the lack of ambition in BS3, others felt it was a result of an expensive summer that had garnered mixed results. Whatever the exact reason, Middlesbrough showed on Friday evening that spending big in winter doesn’t necessarily guarantee success.
Michael Carrick’s side let seven players depart the Riverside Stadium last month and made six new signings with some big names like Morgan Whittaker, Kelechi Iheanacho, Ryan Giles, Samuel Iling-Junior and Mark Travers all heading to the North East. Although they had money to spend following Emmanuel Latte Lath’s big-money move to Atlanta United, they followed up an expensive summer with a big winter to try and confirm their place in the top six.
But according to Craig Johns, the Middlesbrough reporter for our sister publication Teesside Live, the major mid-season changes have left Boro “disjointed”. The side that took to the pitch at Ashton Gate looked more like a team of individuals rather than a collective unit.
This isn’t all to say that City were right not to make a single signing. In fact, with Ross McCrorie now set for an extended spell on the sidelines alongside Luke McNally, you could argue it was a mistake to not at least bolster the ranks in some way shape or form. However, Friday’s game should serve as a reminder that spending lots of money and making lots of signings doesn’t mean guaranteed success.
As Manning said in his post-match press conference, he has built a squad and a culture that everyone in the Robins’ changing room has bought into. Spending unnecessarily could have disrupted that and left the Reds disjointed like Boro. Even with that in mind, let’s just hope City don’t pick up any more injuries as the backline is looking more and more stretched with each passing week.
Nosebleed territory
For the first time in 2025, Bristol City are in the play-off places. Well, they are at the time of writing but with a whole set of fixtures to come across Saturday and Sunday afternoon, that may not be the case when you get around to reading this article. Either way, they did against Middlesbrough what they couldn’t against Cardiff or Swansea.
Liam Manning’s side turned up and produced not just a performance, but a result when the pressure was on. Boro didn’t make it easy for the Reds and for a while, it looked as though Tommy Conway’s goal would be enough to secure a smash-and-grab away win. But the Robins’ heads never went down and they produced the sort of statement win supporters have been waiting for.
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The criticism that has been levelled at this side for much of the season so far has been that they lack the desire, hunger and belief to secure a top-six finish. That was a reasonable question to ask after last weekend’s trip over the Severn Bridge or the defeat to Swansea. Both of those matches were chances for City to make a splash and they let them pass by.
Of course, at the end of the season, we may look back at those dropped points as the moment the play-offs slipped through the Robins’ fingers if they do miss out. However, with their win over Michael Carrick’s side, the Reds have not only reached nosebleed territory in the table but shown that they can pick up wins when it matters and ensured their destiny remains in their own hands.
The impact of Friday night’s win will only be as important as what follows. Manning’s side has to put a run of results together to have a genuine shot of keeping their place in the top six between now and the end of the season. That lack of consistency, especially on the road, has been City’s Achilles heel so far this term and the head coach knows that will need to change, starting against Millwall at The Den a week on Tuesday.
“We’ll do everything,” Manning replied when asked about following up the win over Boro on the road. “We’ve been quite clear, we looked at Cardiff, and we had a really good meeting this week around the bits that we need to get better at and the group will continue to grow and I think that’s the biggest bit.
“If you look at how far we’ve come in just a year, there have been masses of progress and that’s the bit that excites you about the group. It doesn’t mean we’re always going to get it right and it’s going to look great, that’s Championship football and you’ve got to play 46 games. It’s about bouncing into the next one, which we’ll do.”