Bobby Reid hit a hat-trick as Bristol City bashed Sheffield Wed
LEE Johnson was on cloud nine after seeing Bobby Reid’s first hat-trick fire Bristol City back into the Championship play-off zone.
Not only could the head coach reflect on a confidence-boosting win after a lean spell, there was also the exhilaration of achieving the result his way – with quick, accurate, passing football.
And worryingly for oppostion defences, he claims that Reid is only just getting started.
“Bobby Reid is having a fantastic season and is still relatively new to his position, so I think there is even more to come from him,” said Johnson
“I wanted us to get our mojo back, by which I suppose I mean the confidence on the ball to play the way we want to.
“I told the players I would take responsibility for any errors as I wanted us to pass out from the back and I think that was important.
“Some of our football was very impressive and really the game was everything I could have hoped for.
“A lot of work from a lot of people went into getting it on and I am delighted that work was rewarded.”
City took a 13th-minute lead when Reid exchanged passes with Josh Brownhill on the edge of the box and ran through to fire past Joe Wildsmith from close range.
The second goal came on 35 minutes. This time Marlon Pack was the provider in a one-two that ended with Reid shooting home from a narrower angle.
Wednesday’s fragile defence was opened up again on 43 minutes, Jamie Paterson’s clever flick putting Brownhill in to shoot past Wildsmith.
And Reid completed his treble from the penalty spot on 62 minutes, sending Wildsmith the wrong way after Joel Pelupessy had tripped Pack inside the box when there seemed little danger.
There were other chances, particularly in a first half which saw City rip through their opponents at will, to the dismay of the 1,400 Wednesday fans who had made the trip from Yorkshire in tough weather conditions.
They did their best to keep the volume up as their team disintegrated in front of them. And when Wednesday did create chances, Atdhe Nuhiu, Lucas Joao and substitute George Boyd failed to take them.
Wednesday boss Jos Luhukay declined to have a go at his players after the game, even though they had been booed off at the break by their own fans.
“Bristol City were too strong for us and had too much quality,” he said.
“Their two strikers [Reid and Famara Diedhiou] caused us a lot of problems and we couldn’t handle them in offensive situations. One of them [Reid] is among the top scorers in our league.
“In the first half we didn’t only find it hard at the back. When we got possession of the ball we had no solution over how to use it.
“At half-time we tried to put some confidence back into the players and the second half was better.
“But when you are 3-0 up, as they were, you can control the game and they did that well.”
City had squandered a threegoal half-time lead against Sunderland at Ashton Gate last month to only take a point.
But there was never any hint of a repeat and it took a fine second half save from Wildsmith to deny Korey Smith a fifth goal as the home side coasted to three very welcome points.