City Lose Home Record

City wearing Black Armbands to mark the death of steward Martin Harris,attacked the CT Stand first.

Dele Adebola made a nuisance of himself up front from the start. His strike partner Leon McKenzie was also lively and unlucky in the tenth minute when his close range effort was bravely stopped by Basso in the Bristol City goal.

From the angle I had, it looked like he should have really scored and five minutes later, City were the ones doing the picking the ball out of the net.

Elliott Ward, was all over the place all game and obviously unsettled by the appearance of the man who has replaced him as captain as well as the reshuffled back four, let Michael McIndoe dispossess him and turn inside the area to fire past Konstantopolous.

We sat waiting for the City of the Sky Blue variety to up their game but this was a first half performance similar to Preston,whereby City showed plenty of spirit but lacked the ability to make the ball go into the net.

On the half hour mark, Michael Doyle was fouled. Hall took the free kick. De Zeeuw rose but Bradley Orr was back on the line to head away for a corner.

Two minutes later and Doyle tried his luck with a 26 yard low drive and Adebola winning everything against Louis Carey in the air,nodded wide

Stephen Hughes who like Doyle has been encouraged to get forward into shooting positions, battled well for City's cause and drove wide with a short form outside the area shortly before a break which saw City still trailing at the break.

Apart from a Jay Tabb screamer,the Sky Blues were pegged back by an organised outfit managed by Gary Johnson.

With Michael Mifsud injured, Robbie Simpson was introduced and the noise in the stadium from the City supporters temporarily lifted.

But in the 72nd minute, The Robins went further ahead. Dimi Konstantopolous came out to punch a corner under pressure from Carey and the ball went in off the Greek's arm.

It was another bad mistake by a City keeper in a week of keeping howlers and one that Dowie must urgently address.

Michael Doyle had a chance cleared off the line before Dowie's final substitution,five minutes from time, was to replace Marcus Hall who had done reasonably well in this unfamiliar position.

Personally, I'd have taken off De Zeeuw who was showing his age and moved Hall over and put on Liam Davis at right back. The City management threw on Wayne Andrews against the side he was loaned out to last season.

De Zeeuw started an eighteen man scuffle in the last minute of normal time which saw the former Wigan player,Marvin Elliott,Ward and Adebola all cautioned.

Then six minutes into stoppage, he played Darren Byfield on side and the former Millwall forward raced through to fire past Konstantopolous with relative ease.

That was that and there will be much for the City management team to work on before we travel to Palace on Tuesday.

Man Of The Match Stephen Hughes beat Dele Adebola in the nominations. Hughes also won the sponsors award as well.

Supporters View
Tracy from Northampton said: "It's disappointing to lose our home record. "We were obviously disrupted by injuries to key players such as Isaac Osbourne.

"I think we will rue some of our missed chances in the first half and the soft goals conceded. "I was encouraged by the solid performances of Stephen Hughes and Marcus Hall."

Steve from Northampton (in no way related to Tracy) said: "Bristol came here to keep it tight and rely on taking advantage of our defensive errors, hence the ball over the defence tactic.

"It was a big test and although we played some good football,we did not show the urgency and tempo required."