Pearson not concerned if City’s goal was lucky or not
I look whether the players have been committed and done what we’ve asked them to do
NIGEL Pearson shrugged off Marco Silva’s claims that Bristol City were fortunate to claim a point against Fulham after Kasey Palmer came off the bench to grab a dramatic equaliser at Ashton Gate.
Aleksandar Mitrovic gave Fulham the lead in the second half but City managed to stay in the game with a spirited performance and then Pearson introduced Palmer, Joe Williams and Nathan Baker, switching to wing-backs, to successfully force the issue.
Silva insisted after full-time that Palmer’s 79th minute goal was “a metre” offside as the City substitute was ahead of the play when Paulo Gazzaniga saved Chris Martin’s initial shot.
“Unfortunately for us (the Bristol City goal) is one metre offside, a clear offside,” Silva said, insisting he had seen a reply of the goal . “It’s difficult for me to understand because it’s clear. Football is like that, unfortunately.”
Fulham struck the crossbar three times, while Harry Wilson wasted at least two good opportunities, and Dan Bentley denied Neeskens Kabano when one v one. That said, Nahki Wells also had three good chances and Nathan Baker went close with a header.
“I have no idea,” Pearson said, on Silva’s claim. “I don’t judge whether it’s lucky or not, I look whether the players have been committed and done what we’ve asked them to do. It’s not my job to get decisions right in terms of what the officials do.”
Nathaniel Chalobah was fortunate not to be sent off in the firsthalf as, having already been booked for one rash and dangerous tackle on George Tanner, he then had two further incidents that possibly warranted a second booking.
Silva’s response was then to remove the midfielder at half-time for Harrison Reed and Pearson indicated the Portuguese rejected the accusation that Chalobah was on borrowed time with the officials.
“I’ve heard their manager had a bit of a dig at that but the fact they took him off at half-time, would suggest he might amend that point of view,” Pearson added with a playful smile. “After he got booked he had two challenges that were yellow cards.
“But the referees are there to do a job and it’s never easy to get everything right. I’m certainly not going
to moan about referees. They see what they see.
“I expect our players to present a tough barrier against our opponents and I accept opponents to do that to us.
“It’s their job to get decisions right or wrong. Their manager is upset about it ... it’s gone now, it doesn’t matter.”
The equaliser ended a tough start to the season for Palmer in which he’s been able to force his way into the team, and then failed
to deliver in a surprise performance for the Under-23s against Peterborough in midweek.
Palmer asked to play in that game to keep his match fitness up and now will hope his goal can shift him further into his manager’s consciousness with away trips against Millwall and Peterborough next week.
“He’ll get some feedback about one or two others things, which he’s expecting, but I think for somebody in his position who plays as a
No10, we haven’t played with a No10 all year so he recognises he’s got to be adaptable or, when he gets an opportunity, has to work very hard to take it,” said the City manager.
“I supposed it’s rewarding for him that he scored the goal but I don’t care who scores the goals, we had to get ourselves back into it. We could have lost the game but, on another day, we could have won it because we had some good opportunities.”