Pearson pleased with City’s performance against Scottish big guns

BRISTOL City enjoyed a good workout against Champions League Qualifiers to mark the official opening of the Robins High Performance Centre.

A 0-0 draw with Celtic was almost marked by an Andi Weimann goal, as the forward returned from injury and struck the post in the 36th minute.

The Robins earned a clean sheet through their endeavour on the pitch, but also the fine work of goalkeeper Max O’Leary, with Harvey Wiles-Richards replacing him late in the second half.

The squad now roll on to their camp at Loughborough, following a good exercise against the 51-time Scottish champions. Pearson, pictured, was happy with what he saw, with owner Steve Lansdown watching on from the stand.

“Considering we’re playing against a side that have a Champions League game coming up we didn’t do too bad,” said Pearson.

“It’s always good to gauge, for the players, where they are compared to training sessions when we’re basically playing against ourselves to play against another team who is two or three weeks ahead of us. And they did okay.

“One of the things I’ve been talking about across the summer is that we need to be stronger across the middle and we certainly looked that. At times we didn’t always move the ball quick enough or took a bit of time to get to the pace of it.

“But having said that, it’s a training exercise and considering normally we would play a charity game or a non-League team I think they’ve done okay.”

Pearson confirmed there are no serious injuries in the camp.

Considering we’re playing against a side that have a Champions League game coming up we didn’t do too bad