What a night! The atmosphere under the lights at Ashton Gate on Friday night was special and the winning goal from George Earthy really had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. Tommy Conway was the pantomime villain, returning to Ashton Gate for the first time since his move to Teeside.
I’ve said in this column many times before that booing former players is not for me and I thought the vitriol aimed at Tommy was unnecessary and based on just one side’s details of the events that led up to his departure. Maybe one day we will hear Tommy’s side. I honestly don’t think I have ever seen a former player receive that amount of abuse, let alone a player who had come through our academy system and that was before he’d even opened the scoring for Michael Carrick’s side.
This isn’t about being soft, I personally just choose to focus on those playing for my team now, as opposed to giving any energy to the opposition, whoever they have playing for them. Each to their own and what I will say is that from that point on, the atmosphere was electric, it was palpable and the celebration backfired. It fired up the home support and even while being 1-0 down at the break, the fans stayed with the side and played a huge part in the subsequent victory.
Because of my knee surgery, I have spent the last three home games in section A9 of the South Stand and as a result, I have been able to witness first-hand the incredible support and atmosphere those in Section 82 generate. The noise is something else and it was constant from the first whistle to the last whistle. Even though I normally sit in the South Stand on the opposite end, I didn’t appreciate the drums and the loud hailer, let alone the constant chanting. Huge kudos to all of those involved.
I think most fans would have predicted the starting lineup with George Tanner coming in for the injured Ross McCrorie. Cameron Pring and Joe Williams were back on the bench after injury and suspension respectively. I was pleased to see Sinclar Armstrong given another start and Liam Manning kept faith with both Scott Twine and Anis Mehmeti. Thankfully, he paid no attention to fans like me who thought Twine didn’t warrant a start.
Armstrong was causing Boro problems with his pace and physicality and Twine was always looking to unlock their defence. I have been critical of Twine of late, but he was constantly involved and put a real shift in. Rob Dickie was once again dominant at the back and alongside him, George Tanner on the right and Zak Vyner on the left by and large kept Middlesbrough’s attack quiet. Haydon Roberts and Mark Sykes went about their jobs effectively and Max Bird was similar, not perhaps catching the eye with his work but doing everything he needed to keep City ticking over. Jason Knight was again the driving force for the side, setting the tempo and I hope that the club are looking at tying Jason down to a longer contract. It’s imperative we keep Knight.
Middlesbrough, on the back of four straight defeats, didn’t offer too much and it was against the run of play that they took the lead. Vyner tried to intercept a pass on the halfway line but failed and when the ball was played to former Manchester City and Leicester City forward Kelechi Iheanacho he was afforded too much room by Roberts. Max O’Leary could only parry his curling shot up and out centrally, for Conway to head past him. Conway’s movement lost Tanner and it was a simple header. Max makes the initial save and certainly, we should have been alive to Conway and his movement but for me, Max must push the ball wide. It’s a reoccurring theme and the debate over competition in the goalkeeping position is raised again.
Manning and his team will rightly have felt unlucky to be behind at the break. They created numerous opportunities in the first half with Mehmeti, Bird, Twine and Armstrong all going close or being denied by Travers in the Boro goal. Twine and Armstrong both saw dipping long-range shots go close, both of which would have been contenders for goal of the season. Armstrong’s effort demonstrated a new confidence and we are starting to see the player we thought we signed. Only Twine will know how he managed to send his shot wide after Travers saved Bird’s effort from just outside the six-yard box.
Manning has been criticised for the timings of his substitutions and also for the like-to-like nature of them. On 63 minutes Roberts, Mark Sykes and Mehmeti were withdrawn for Pring, Yu Hirakawa and George Earthy. The side also seemed to change shape. There were a couple of things spotted with the changes, firstly the reactions of Sykes and Mehmeti to being taken off. Sykes threw his shirt to the ground and when Mehmeti was slowly walking off, Pring could be seen telling him to hurry up somewhat or words to that effect.
Hirakawa went close with a header as City poured forward, roared on by the vociferous home crowd. The equaliser came within 10 minutes of the changes and not long after Nahki Wells had replaced the impressive Armstrong. All three of the initial substitutions combined, Hirakawa beat his man and sent over a deep cross, Pring played a controlled first-time ball into the middle and there was Earthy to fire a left-footed shot past Travers. I loved the goal but also loved Earthy’s reaction, racing to the corner in front of Section 82.
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The atmosphere was electric and it was written in the stars for Earthy to seal the win. Twine had seen a free-kick minutes earlier go over the bar, but he adjusted his range finder and his dipping deadball beat Travers all ends up but crashed against the bar. Earthy had timed his movement perfectly, anticipating the strike before he side-foot volleyed the ball into the net and past Travers. Earthy was off again to lap up the adoration from his fans, standing there with his fingers in his ears, emulating Conway’s earlier celebration..
Earthy has always been in and around the team but perhaps hasn’t had the minutes or impact that he would have hoped. That changed on Friday night. This was George’s night and in the same way that we see prints and t-shirts of Scott Murray’s goal and celebration running down the wing, ear cupped at Ninian Park, Cardiff, I can see the same for George in the future, fingers in his ears, stood in front of the South Stand, an iconic image. The young man has written his name in City folklore.
Following the late goal conceded against Cardiff City the week before it would have been easy for the side to be nervy, but they stood strong and showed good game management to see the game out.
Our 3 Peaps in A Podcast player ratings were: Max O’Leary 5.5, George Tanner 7.5, Rob Dickie 7.5, Zak Vyner 7.5, Mark Sykes 6.5, Max Bird 6.5, Jason Knight 8, Haydon Roberts 6.5, Scott Twine 8, Anis Mehmeti 6 and Sinclair Armstrong 7.5.
For the substitutes who must play a minimum of 20 minutes (including injury time) we went Cameron Pring 6.5, George Earthy 9 *MotM, Yu Hirakawa 6.5 and Nahki Wells 7. A game average player rating of 7.00. That’s an overall season-to-date average player rating of 6.17.
For Liam Manning it was 8, the manager got his substitutions spot on with all having a positive impact and none more so than match-winner George Earthy.