Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Build on our Boro win, urges Mariappa
ADRIAN Mariappa has urged his Bristol City teammates to carry the momentum of their fine midweek win at Middlesbrough into today’s Sky Bet Championship clash at high-flying Swansea.
The Robins ended a seven-match losing streak with a comprehensive victory at Boro, with new boss Nigel Pearson taking a watching brief from the stands.
The side from the North East were, like City, trying to challenge for a play-off spot, but the Swans will be a further step up, with Steve Cooper’s men well-positioned to claim an automatic promotion place.
Mariappa says it was “important” that City got both the performance and result at Middlesbrough, where goals from Famara Diedhiou (2) and Nahki Wells ended the dreadful run of form that cost former head coach Dean Holden his job.
“We knew we had to put on a good performance (at Middlesbrough) to get some points on the board,” Robins defender Mariappa told the official club website.
“The game went well, the boys up front grabbed the goals and that helps with confidence, so now we’re looking to build on that.
“You always want to start well, but we wanted to have a lot of pressure in their final third and the forward lads, the midfielders, were brilliant in that, penned them in and created chances. The finishing was very good and that allowed us to get a foothold in the game and get a good lead.
“We want to build on that, getting back to doing the basics of what we can do. It will be a tough game (against Swansea) but we go into it full of confidence.”
Pearson will take charge of the side for the first time this afternoon, and means Mariappa is reunited with his former boss after the pair worked together at Watford.
The defender added: “He has a wealth of experience; he talks very well and you can see everyone feeds off of that. He has clear ideas of how he wants us to play and approach every day and he’ll resonate with the squad very well.”
Mariappa added a few players had been in touch with him to ask about life with the new manager.
“That’s normal when someone new comes in,” he added. It keeps you on your toes, everyone has points to prove and to earn their places. There’s always the effect of a new manager coming in and I think more so with Nigel because of his personality and how he is and I think that will give everyone a push.”
In League One, Swindon have a home game against Northampton, one of their fellow-strugglers. Just three points separate the bottom seven sides, with the Wiltshire Robins currently just outside the drop zone.