‘Desire to keep the ball out’ impresses Pearson
NIGEL Pearson praised the desire of his Bristol City team as they emerged victorious at Ashton Gate after Stoke dominated for large spells of the game on Wednesday night.
A familiar story was in danger of playing out in BS3 as midfielder Tyreeq Bakinson put City in the lead before half-time, against the run of play after Steven Fletcher had struck the post and crossbar for the visitors.
With the one-goal advantage, however, City gave up possession after the break, inviting pressure onto themselves and an equaliser seemed inevitable, as has been the case so many times this season.
However, the Robins dug in for a 1-0 victory, albeit assisted by some wasteful Stoke finishing, their effort typified by the energy and tenacity of teenage midfielders Alex Scott and Ayman Benarous.
“It was a tough game,” Pearson said. “We struggled to find a lot of real creativity, but what stands out was the desire to keep the ball out the back of the net.
“We’ve had some difficult moments this season which we have talked about at length, in terms of losing points late in a game, and so tonight was a very important experience for the players out there.
“The youngsters were exceptional, and our senior players have shown a really good example too in terms of doing what we need to do as a side.
“I never kid myself after a result against a side that we know are quite a potent force and they started the game well, but I don’t think that it effected our confidence or our ability to work ourselves into the game.
“The result is a lot more important than the performance, let’s put it like that, but in terms of the performance.
“If you look at it from a purist footballing sense, it’s a difficult one to say we played with a lot of fluidity but we had our moments where we caused them problems, especially in wide areas where we talked about when they defend deep they defend very narrow so we had to work the ball well in both areas.
“I thought that Callum O’Dowda’s second-half performance, in terms of doing a one-to-one job on their wingback and creating dangerous situations, was good. I thought the two kids, Alex Scott and Ayman Benarous, were outstanding.”
Scott was once again stationed in the unfamiliar position of right wingback, and was repeatedly targeted by Stoke’s Josh Tymon, but stood up to the challenge throughout, while Benarous – in only his second senior start – was tigerish in midfield.
Pearson also hailed the work rate of his front two, Chris Martin and Andi Weimann, as they once again defended from the front and got through a ton of work to keep the Robins in the contest.
Martin came closest to scoring after some nice build-up down the left which led to O’Dowda swinging in a dangerous cross and the veteran striker was inches away from converting with a diving header.
“When you have a front two like we have, regardless of the quality that comes up to them, their work rate is really good,” Pearson added. “They were both really, good tonight in terms of working for us.”