Liam Manning has admitted he feels for Sinclair Armstrong after Bristol City’s defeat to Swansea City as he believes the officials don’t award the forward fouls because of his physical attributes. However, the City head coach was impressed by the former QPR man’s impact off of the bench.
The Robins slipped to a first Championship defeat at Ashton Gate since November as they were beaten 1-0 by Luke Williams’ side on Sunday afternoon, with Josh Tymon’s goal proving to be the difference between the two sides. The 25-year-old tapped into an open net from close range in the second half after Max O’Leary had pushed Goncalo Franco’s first-time shot into his path.
City had several chances of their own to find the net with Jason Knight, Luke McNally and Sam Bell all forcing smart saves from Lawrence Vigouroux in the Swansea net. The goalkeeper’s impressive display and a lack of quality from the Reds in the final third ensured it was the home support who left BS3 frustrated.
One of the positive aspects of Manning’s side’s display however was the performance of second-half substitute Armstrong. Having been introduced in place of Nahki Wells on the hour mark, the Ireland youth international offered a real outlet at the top end of the pitch as he has done since returning to fitness in Janaury. While his head coach was keen to praise his display, he felt the referee could have done more to reward his battling efforts.
“He’s done well in the last three games, I think,” said the 39-year-old. “I thought he did well here against Blackburn, I thought he was really good for us away at Oxford last week, and I thought he did well again today.
“I feel for him a bit to be fair. Because of his physical attributes, he doesn’t get the fouls he should. I think it’s almost like there’s something around him now where because of his strength and his power, centre halves naturally want to rough him up a bit and he doesn’t tend to get the the things that he should. But he should be pleased as he had a good impact today.”
While Armstrong got into some good areas, as did many of his City teammates on Sunday afternoon, he was also unable to produce the moment of quality needed to unlock the Swansea backline. Despite having 19 attempts on the away side’s goal, Manning’s side only hit the target on three occasions. For comparison, the Swans tested O’Leary with five shots on target, despite only having nine attempts on goal.
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Although the Reds head coach was frustrated that his side let a chance to climb into the top six pass him by, he insists that it is a sign of progression that the Robins are attacking with purpose even if they continue to occasionally lack the composure to take their chances in the final third.
“I don’t want to lose games but you have to almost accept that it’s part of football, especially when playing a 46-game season,” Manning explained. “It’s relentless, you know you’re gonna lose games, it’s then how do you do that?
“Like I said, in the short term it hurts. It’s frustrating because we’ve said this too many times but when you actually step back, I think it’s a sign of the progress that the group is making. Last year we couldn’t have said it. There weren’t many games we went into, alright we were solid defensively, but some of the attacking was passive and we didn’t create a lot, whereas now we’re pressing a lot better, we’re on the front foot, we’re making better decisions with the ball and we’re getting into numerous areas.
“I actually had a look at a stat before I came up and it was we had 36 touches in their penalty area to nine in ours. When you look at it, there was plenty of purpose, it was then, like I keep saying, the quality and the composure to then find the final bit.”