Bristol City 3 Blues 1
As Blues suffered their first defeat in five games at Ashton Gate last night, there was a strange feeling of relief. One glance at the other results suggests that Blues have got away with it this time.
For what it’s worth, the better team won. Yet, without meaning to sound like Steve Cotterill, if Blues had made the most of their chances the outcome could have been a whole lot different.
After a bright start, Marlon Pack’s 12th-minute opener knocked the stuffing out of Blues. The second, scored by Bobby Reid 15 minutes later, seemed to wake them up.
A string of decent openings were squandered – Jacques Maghoma, Lukas Jutkiewicz, Jeremie Boga and Jota all guilty parties either side of Reid’s sucker punch – but Garry Monk will be relatively pleased with the intent and response of his team.
Jutkiewicz did pull one back 10 minutes before the interval – his third in three games – with a clever snapshot which caught Frank Fielding by surprise.
The second half could have gone either way. Jutkiewicz came close with a header and youngster Bez Lubala almost created something from nothing with a speculative shot from distance. The hosts also had their chances through Pack, Reid and Joe Bryan.
The game was finally put to bed in the 84th minute when Matt Taylor slid the ball home despite claims for offside.
With Blues’ good run of form coming to an end, the reliance on other results was stark. With Bolton, Barnsley and Reading all suffering defeat, not much has changed for the time being.
However, Monk takes his men to Molineux on Sunday lunchtime as huge underdogs as Wolves look to get their promotion party started.
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