RISING STAR STILL SHINES BRIGHTEST
BRISTOL CITY 2 Abraham 65, Paterson 68 NOTT’M FOREST 1 Vellios 33
TAMMY Abraham celebrated his first England Under-21 call-up by helping Bristol City come from behind to beat Nottingham Forest.
Apostolos Vellios gave the visitors the lead, but the Chelsea loanee, who turns 19 today, made the most of a shocking back-pass from Henri Lansbury to score his 11th of the season before Jamie Paterson completed the turn-around three minutes later against his former club.
City have now lost just once in their last nine games in all competition and it is 11 goals in 14 games in all competitions for Abraham this season.
“I thought the attitude of the players was great, especially at the end of a really tough set of games,” said boss Lee Johnson.
“We kept going to the end and the character and energy we needed was all there.
“We got a bit of luck with the first goal, but our pressing was good throughout the game and I think that took its toll on the opposition in the end.
“It was constant pressure and I think Forest got further and further back as the game went on and I thought they were playing for time quite early on, so to score pretty much straight after seemed to demoralise them.”
The Robins came into the match having lost just one of their last eight games in all competitions and started the clash looking more confident, keeping the majority of possession in the opening 20 minutes.
They were left frustrated though by the solid spine of Forest’s line-up though as Matt Mills and Damien Perquis held their own at the back, while Chris Cohen and Pajtim Kasami were bullish sat just in front of them.
Forest’s toughness at the back was rewarded in the 33rd minute with a goal.
Ben Osborn went down the left and got a cross in, which found Lansbury, who saw his header deflect into the path of Vellios and the Greek international made no mistake from seven yards out.
The Robins tried to put the disappointing end of the half behind them after the restart as they looked to outpace Forest, with Paterson going close in the 57th minute. Unlike the first half though, their control did help them create goals, with two goals coming in three minutes.
With 25 minutes left, Lansbury’s pass from 35 yards out to his goalkeeper was too weak and fell into Abraham’s path. The striker rounded Vladimir Stojkovic to score in the empty net.
Moments later, the goalscorer become the supplier as he linked up with ex-Forest winger Paterson in the box, who took the chance to score.
Forest have now gone without a win since the end of August, but their head coach Philippe Montanier thought they were unlucky.
Montanier said: “We had a good control of the game except for eight or ten minutes where the game was lost.
“I thought we played a good first half and we knew the second half would be tough. But after the first 15 minutes we came into the game and I think we lost the game during eight minutes in the second half.
“I thought we deserved something from the game.
“Yes, Bristol played well, but it is tough for the players to lose a game like that because we gave everything, but just lacked a little concentration around the goals we conceded.”