We certainly kept on trying throughout the game but some sloppy play at the back and poor finishing cost us this game.
BEFORE
After two great wins our tails are up again but can we make it three in a row this afternoon? I feel pretty confident that we can at least get a draw. I’ve never heard of Mick Beale but many fans are already slagging him off. I remember that I was distinctly underwhelmed by Tony Mowbray’s appointment but soon grew to admire him so if Mick does get the job, I’ll reserve my judgment for a few games. I don’t know of any injuries hanging over from Tuesday’s match but there may well be some rotation with the games coming thick and fast. As long as Pritchard plays for most of the game I’ll be happy. Bristol are currently in mid-table but they’re on a bad run having gained only one point in their last four matches. I won’t be at the game so it’ll have to be SAFSEE for me. Match prediction: 3-1 to us.
I got the team news around 2.15 and both Ekwah and Roberts were starting, in place of Seelt and Jobe who were on the bench. It looked like a strong side to me but I’d have started with Jobe rather than Ba.
THE MATCH
I got the game online and Conway was booked for a foul on O’Nien in the first minute. Clarke was playing as a striker and we did most of the early attacking but an O’Nien error almost let Bristol in. We won the first corner in the seventh minute and it skimmed the bar before being cleared. Clarke set up Hume in the box but he shot straight at O’Leary in goal. The first quarter of an hour had gone okay but commentator Benno said we’d been sloppy at times and he suggested swapping Ba and Clarke’s positions for a while. In the nineteenth Roberts went on a great run but his shot dribbled into O’Leary’s hands. Next thing Hume gave away a penalty when he tripped Gardner-Hickman after Patterson had played him into trouble. Conway put it away no problem and we were one down.
Bristol soon won their first corner which we finally got clear, though it took a good while. Benno said we were all over the place and that Clarke looked lost upfront. Bristol’s tails were up and it was nearly 2-0 when a shot came off a post. Around the half-hour mark we started to perk up but our finishing was poor. BBC Sport said we’d had a penalty but they must have been reporting on a game in a different space-time continuum. In the thirty-sixth Hume was tripped just outside their box resulting in another yellow, for Dickie, and a free-kick for us in a promising spot. Pritchard took the kick and it deflected into O’Leary’s hands. A Clarke cross just eluded Ba and another Pritchard free-kick kissed the bar. We’d certainly improved as the half had gone on but it remained 1-0 as the half-time whistle went.
There’d been no changes as we started the second period but Clarke had abandoned his lone striker role. Unfortunately the sloppy play reared its head again with a poor clearance from Patterson but at least we weren’t punished by it. An Ekwah shot was spilled by O’Leary and led to another corner for us and it immediately resulted in our third corner. We couldn’t make anything of them, though. An O’Nien header from a corner was blocked on the line and that was our closest effort so far. A Ba shot was straight at O’Leary and a Garner-Hickman shot at the other end was straight at Patto. We had a penalty-shout when Pritchard flicked the ball against Vyner’s arm but referee Steve Martin wasn’t having it. Jobe had been warming up for a while and he finally came on for Ba in the sixty-third minute. We had a more serious handball shout but again it was denied. Our corner count was steadily rising and we were putting crosses in too but we lacked players in the centre to take advantage of them.
As we entered the final quarter it seemed the best we could hope for was a draw and it sounded like we’d scored but a Jobe header was well saved by O’Leary. Next thing Jobe was booked for a foul so he’d had an eventful few minutes on the pitch. Williams was booked and Benno thought it could’ve been a red. Bristol were applying most of the pressure and Hume was again making some of his tasty tackles. I wondered if we’d bring Aouchiche on as time was running out and in the eighty-first we did. It was a double switch with Dack also coming on while Ekwah and Pritchard went off. We kept plugging away but Bristol were defending stoutly. Two minutes to go and we brought on Mayenda for Huggins as we had another corner. We were awarded a free-kick outside their box in the eighty-ninth that resulted in a Ballard header that went straight to O’Leary, again.
Only three minutes of added-time were announced and my heart sank. We had two more penalty-shouts and there was a booking for Ballard in a frantic finale before it ended 1-0 to Bristol.
