It seemed ages since I’d been to a game. I had missed the win at home against Swansea which brought to an end our dreadful run. I was attending my niece’s wedding and there was a three line whip for that! Mind you, I wouldn’t have missed such an important day but it still felt strange waiting for news from Chris which he dutifully supplied including a quick chat at half time and briefly again when Troy Deeney scored. I thought we’d blown it when I saw the text saying 1-1 but was delighted to see another saying 2-1 and finally a short and simple; “we’ve won!”
On Saturday I went to an old school reunion which was held at the Thames Hotel on the banks of said river in Maidenhead. Lovely spot which I can recommend if anyone reading this needs somewhere to stay in that area. I had to make do with Radio 5 Live and a scratchy reception in the car to get news of the Boro game. I have to confess I wasn’t expecting much there as it is not traditionally a happy hunting ground for Blues so was delighted with the 2-0 win with goals from Roberts and Hogan. Two wins on the spin; the stuff of dreams is this! The reunion was very enjoyable and it was great to see so many old friends of over 55 years standing. A number amongst them however had long since turned away from the light and reside on the dark side of the force. Yes, intrepid readers; they are Vilers! However, they were prepared to drink beer, shoot the shit and put the world to rights and a convivial time was had by all. The following morning many set off back to Birmingham early enough to miss the hold up on the M40 and get home in time for their match against West Ham. I’m sure many wished they hadn’t bothered!
Bringing things up to date, I hadn’t envisaged going to the match since the long round trip on a weekday night does not put me in good shape for an early start back to work on Wednesday morning. However, Will called and announced that he was in the Midlands on business and did I intend going as he was prepared to give me a lift back if I came up on the train? This sounded like a plan and thus having spent the morning finishing off garden fence repairs and maintenance, I set off for Blackwater station. It was a gloriously bright Autumn day with a pleasant feel to the temperature but I took the insurance to put on enough layers as no doubt it would be chilly later on. The 15.33 train arrived on time and I made Coventry just before half past five with the intention of going for a prematch curry on the Coventry Road.
Suitably fortified at the Jalabi curry house, we made our way to the ground for kick off. It was so good to be back in our usual seats now that the upper tier of the Kop was back in commission. After a pretty nondescript first fourteen minutes, Riley McGree picked up the ball from Gary Gardner in midfield and decided to try his luck from 30 yards. I have no idea whether the keeper would have saved the effort or not but since the ball took a significant deflection he was left helpless as it entered the net on the other side of his dive. A shade fortunate admittedly but given that this sort of mishap always seems to go against us, I’ll take it! There wasn’t much else to report from the half after that although Jeremie Bela went very close seven minutes before the break when having squared up his defender he turned inside to work the opening for a curling effort from the edge of the area but the attempt just cleared the bar with Daniel Bentley relieved to see it miss the mark. Andreas Weimann missed a couple of openings for the visitors, one of which was well defended by Friend, the other he really should have done better than shoot wide.
After the break the game remained fairly attritional but I felt the visitors had the best of the exchanges for the first 15 minutes or so without seriously threatening except when George Tanner found himself with a chance 15 yards out. His half-volley, fortunately for Blues, cleared the bar to be fielded by the vocal travelling support. Any apprehension of a Bristol City equaliser was quelled by a second goal for Blues by Scott Hogan on 67 minutes. A route one punt from Sarkic was flicked on by Troy Deeney into the path of his strike partner who coolly evaded Tomas Kalas and goalkeeper, Bentley to slide the ball into the bottom far corner. Blues were now in the ascendency and a third goal arrived on 77 minutes when a beautifully flighted cross was headed home by Gary Gardner to seal the win.
Coming away from the game, I think we all felt that it hadn’t been the best game of football we’d ever witnessed but it was a solid performance where everyone in the team played their part. There were players like George Friend, Ivan Sunjic, Gary Gardner, Jeremie Bela and Jordan Graham that stood out and I thought the hold up play by Troy Deeney was exceptional. Scott Hogan looked sharp and took his goal beautifully but my man of the match has to go to Riley McGree who was everywhere and didn’t stop running all night. I agree with a caller into WM radio who said that we should seriously try and bring him in permanently in January rather than have him join his team in the USA. They may be open to the right offer? This is all the more pressing given the unhappy news regarding Tahith Chong’s return to Manchester United because of an injury that will keep him out until at least February. I fear we have seen the last of him in a Blues shirt which is a great pity. So we’re back up to 13th in the table, our negative goal difference has been wiped out and Reading arrive from my part of the world on Saturday. Another win will give us real momentum going into the international break. It’s been a long time since we won two home games in the same week. Let’s hope so eh?
The Good: The whole evening. It was good that the triumvirate of Will, Chris and me were all present at the same time to witness a Blues win. It’s been far too long. Good also to see Jordan James come on for his debut.
The Bad: I cannot think of a bad moment for this one. It doesn’t get better than a prematch curry, a solid performance, three goals and a clean sheet.
The Ugly: I can’t think of anything for this category either. It’s the same as the reason why the leading character In ‘Better Call Saul!’ changes his name from Jimmy McGill to Saul Goodman; it’s because “S’All Good Man!”
Matija Sarkic 6, Marc Roberts 7, Dion Sanderson 6 (Harlee Dean HT, 6), George Friend 7, Gary Gardner 7, Ivan Sunjic 7, Jeremie Bela 6, Riley McGree 8, Jordan Graham 7 (Jordan James 84, N/A) Scott Hogan 7, Troy Deeney 7 (Lukas Jutkiewicz 73, 6)
Subs not used: Neil Etheridge, Juanito Castillo, Ryan Woods, Chuks Aneke.
Goals: McGree 14, Hogan 67, Gardner 77.
Yellow cards: None
Bristol City: Daniel Bentley 5, George Tanner 6, Zak Vyner 6, Tomas Kalas 6, Rob Atkinson 6, Jay Dasilva 7 (Cameron Pring 82, N/A) Matty James 6 (Han-Noah Massengo 54, 6) Tyreeq Bakinson 6, Andreas Weimann 5, Nahki Wells 5 (Alex Scott 82, N/A) Chris Martin 5.
Goals: None
Subs not used: Max O’Leary, Callum O’Dowda, Sam Bell, Ayman Benarous.
Yellow cards: Bakinson 81, Weimann 87.
Referee: Simon Hooper; 7, I thought the referee and his assistants had a really solid game. I cannot think of a single decision that they made that I disagreed with.
Attendance: 16,143
Bazza KRO
A great review as usual. What curry did you have? Is the Cookhouse closed? Was Harlee Dean motivated to be back on the pitch and Captain again??