Preston jinx strikes again as the goals dry up for Robins
Talking points from Bristol City’s defeat to Preston at Deepdale,
GROUNDHOG day. There are few things as maddening as seeing your football team lose the same way over and over again to the same teams.
On Friday night the Preston North End curse struck again as the Lilywhites made it 15 games without defeat against City. It may have been a fairly even match in terms of chances - though arguably the home side did do enough to nick it - and it was ultimately settled in the first half by a predictable Daniel Johnson penalty (so predictable in fact that one fans podcast made a pre-match joke about the forthcoming result - and nailed the scoreline and scorer).
Here’s some talking points from City’s third successive defeat.
ARCH-NEMESIS JOHNSON
JOHNSON has now scored four times in the last eight meetings between the sides. Callum Robinson has been surefire replaced as an arch-nemesis. At least the midfielder is out of contract in the summer and looks likely to move on, and so his tormenting of City may slowly be coming to an end.
But that it was all so foreseeable is maddening for City fans. If it’s to be expected, why can’t it be guarded against?
Not only that, but the first half showed what onlookers have come to expect. Zero penetration of the opposition goal. The first shot on target came in the second half as Antoine Semenyo - who was impressive coming off the bench - headed tamely when meeting a Jack Hunt cross.
There were three shots on target by the end of the game, but that was just not enough and a reoccurring problem as we’ll come on to.
SO MUCH RAIN . . . BUT THE GOALS HAVE DRIED UP
THE Robins just carry so little threat. What happened to the goals? City have only had more than three shots on target once in the past 11 games.
Friday night - at a damp Deepdale - made it four of the last five games where City have been unable to find the net. The reason is clear and Sky Sports’ commentators illustrated it wiith an in-game statistic: ahead of the game, only Sheffield Wednesday have had fewer shots on target than City this season.
A first 45 minutes without troubling Declan Rudd didn’t change that. Indeed, the goalkeeper seemed to be only troubled by tripping himself up in the first moments and thereby receiving the longest treatment in the game.
Semenyo should have perhaps scored when he met Hunt’s nearpost cross in the second half, while Callum O’Dowda twice brought good saves from Rudd. It seems unless Nahki Wells scores, City don’t.
City are crying out for goalscorers beyond the forwards. How nice it would be to see one of the wingbacks get into the box and convert. Dean Holden suggested after the game that his side need to do better on set-pieces - and the head coach may have been thinking that Tomas Kalas may have done better when he met O’Dowda’s whipped freekick in the first half.
“We’re not scoring enough from set-pieces, even though we’re having some good deliveries but we’re not quite just getting on the end of them at the moment,” he said in his post-match press conference.
NOT A PENALTY IN HINDSIGHT
WE have to admit, we thought it was a penalty on first viewing - just like referee Geoff Eltringham, who did not have the best night. However, replays showed Taylor Moore may have got the slightest of nicks on the ball, while former Gas winger Scott Sinclair looked for the award.
Eltringham oliged and then compounded that mistake later on by not awarding Darnell Fisher a second yellow card at a delicate stage of the game.
Arguably City did not get the rub of the green at Deepdale, but away from home in the Championship, teams need to be prepared for that to happen.
The Robins were unable to get back on even terms and did not do enough to get something from the game, though by the end there was not a huge deal between the sides.
Both teams finished with just three shots on target each, though Alex Neil felt following the match that his side had the better chances in the second period.
“I thought we deserved it. The changes at the break gave us a new challenge for 10 minutes but the two best chances after the break still came for us,” he said.