Brave Bristol still in with a chance
THE accepted wisdom is that if you try to stand toe to toe with Manchester City you will go home with a bloody nose. Here was the evidence it doesn’t always have to be l i ke that. bravery and ambition can still get you a long way at the Etihad stadium in 2018.
Lee Johnson’s terrific bristol City didn’t get the shock result they and the neutrals were hoping for after bobby Reid gave them the lead with a penalty late in the first half.
Neither, t hough, did Pep Guardiola’s side respond well enough to put the tie to bed in this semi-final first leg.
Kevin De bruyne equalised just before the hour but it took until the second minute of added time for sergio Aguero to benefit from a rare error of judgment from visiting keeper Frank Fielding to nick the game with a header.
so Johnson and his players return to Ashton Gate in two weeks’ time as very much the underdogs but very much in the contest, also.
‘I said congratulations to Lee Johnson on full-time, they are a fantastic team for many reasons,’ said Guardiola. ‘ They can play, they are fast, they know exactly what to do. It will be tough in bristol.
‘but my players were fantastic because in football you can win, you can lose, but we try until the end. we win many games in the last minutes because we don’t give up.’
Johnson said: ‘I’m very proud of my team. Disappointed with their goal late on but the boys were magnificent. we came here and tried to play our game and cause a few problems. It is only halftime and we are well in this tie.’
His team earned their second chance. This was no smash and grab attempt from the team who beat Manchester United in the last round. They came to play and compete.
They stuck two players up front when possible and they tried to impose themselves on opponents that some Premier League teams are convinced just cannot be beaten.
City and Guardiola were worried f or a ti me, hence Aguero’s introduction with 20 minutes left. Thanks to his most reliable goal scorer, he will go to bristol with a lead.
It was close, though maybe here was a template for others to follow.
More than 8,000 bristol City fans had taken encouragement from the victory over United and headed to the North west. Every one of them would have been pleased to see Johnson name the same outfield team. only the keeper was diff erent, with Fielding playing i nstead of Luke steele.
That was a big call, given Fielding could expect to be the busiest man on the pitch. Even when they are not at their best — such as in beating burnley in the FA Cup last saturday — Guardiola’s team tend to win here, usually with something to spare.
For long periods of the first half, it didn’t go to plan and then, j ust before t he break, an understrength City handed the underdogs the lead.
when central defender Eliaquim Mangala gave the ball away to Josh brownhill i n the 42nd minute, another error was required for bristol City to profit. It came from John stones, who lunged at Reid with such ferocity it’s a wonder he didn’t break him in two.
It was a clear penalty. Reid faced a spot-kick expert in Claudio bravo but struck the ball hard and low with his right foot and it was enough to beat an opponent who dived the right way.
Now the visitors’ task was to avoid the kind of overwhelming reversal of fortunes that saw burnley lead here at the weekend but lose 4-1.
In the short term the plan was to get to half-time with the lead intact. It almost didn’t happen. A pass from deep played in Raheem sterling and his lob over the keeper was destined to drop into the net before defender Aden Flint managed to head the ball over.
Johnson’s t eam r emained forward thinking after the break. but from a bristol City corner, sterling broke the length of the field to be denied by Fielding’s right hand before a similar breakaway ended in City’s equaliser.
The visitors were terribly stretched as De bruyne carried the ball from deep and when he played a one-two with sterling the belgian dropped off intelligently to receive the ball in space and drive it past Fielding first time.
with a draw in their grasp, the life was sucked out of bristol City as Aguero struck at the death. but it’s still game on at Ashton Gate in a fortnight. MAN CITY (4-3-3): Bravo; Danilo, Stones, Mangala, Zinchenko (Walker 80); De Bruyne, Toure (Aguero 70), Gundogan; Bernardo Silva, Sterling, Sane. Subs not used: Delph, Adarabioyo, Fernandinho, Ederson, Diaz. Booked: None. BRISTOL CITY (4-2-3-1): Fielding; Wright, Flint, Baker, Magnusson (Walsh 72); Brownhill, Pack; Smith, Bryan, Paterson; Reid. Subs not used: Taylor, Steele, Engvall, Eliasson, Kelly, Vyner. Man of the match: Kevin De Bruyne. Referee: Anthony Taylor. Attendance: 43,426.