ROTTEN ROBINS

Saville nicks it for Boro as City’s unbeaten record bites dust

TAYLOR MOORE must have wished the turf would swallow him whole after gifting George Saville the goal that ended Bristol City’s unbeaten run.

The young Robins defender committed the cardinal sin of dithering on the ball in his own penalty box after receiving it from a goalkick.

In nipped Saville to steal it off him, and he then easily beat Dan Bentley in the home goal in a one-on-one (above) to break the deadlock in the 73rd minute.

It meant Neil Warnock’s side made it five games without defeat, three days before the verteran boss heads back to his last club, Cardiff, on Saturday.

Having taken a point off unbeaten Reading last weekend, and now managing the first t eam to b eat Bri stol City, Warnock (right) will l arrive in the Welsh capital al in high spirits.

The Robins’ ’ Andreas Weimann had the first chance of the game in the third minute, after being set free ee on the right by Nahki hki Wells. But his shot on the run from the edge of the Boro box went well wide.

That was about as good as it got for the home side. Patrick Roberts, on loan from Manchester City, set-up the first oppor opp or tunity for Boro wh when he created a ch chance f or fellow n newbie Chuba Akpom.

He got to the byline, pulled the b ball back across go goal , but Akpom , wh who cost Boro £2 £2.75million 75 from Salonika last month, missed the target under heavy pressure. The other big chance of a turgid opening 45 minutes also fell to the former Arsenal trainee striker. This time it was Saville who put the ball into the danger zone, but once again Akpom missed the target.

The hosts started the second half with a bit more pace and purpose, but then saw skipper Alfie Mawson carried off on a stretcher just short of the hour mark, after he raced back to stop a breakaway raid from full-back Djed Spence.

Both sides began to press forward with more purpose as they looked to break the deadlock, and Wells almost made Boro pay for some sloppy defending with a fierce halfvolley from the edge of the ‘D’.

Ty re e q B a k i n s o n h a d a penalty shout waved away with three minutes to go and City – now second in the table – were left to rue Moore’s gift of a goal.