The ACN Match Review 24/25 – Bristol City (h)

How did we play?

Like you would expect a team missing their spine to play. We have a goalkeeper who’s bereft of confidence, a midfield that’s barely fit, and a number of young players who have been chucked in at the deep end.

Injuries are one thing, but I was a tad unnerved to see the amount of arguing and finger pointing taking place on the pitch. The immediate reaction to the first goal was for five players to stand around shouting at each other, shrugging and pointing and complaining. This isn’t something we’ve seen too much of recently and it perhaps speaks to the lack of leaders on the pitch (although when their on-pitch captain is busy spending his suspension sunning it up abroad, perhaps they don’t have many role models to look up to). In my professional life I spend a lot of time saying “don’t worry about what anyone else is doing, your priority is taking responsibility for yourself,” and there were many times today where it felt like a senior player was needed to tell them to be quiet and focus on their own performance.

What was the best bit of the game?

The Last Post is a tricky piece of music to get right – especially in front of so many people – but today’s showing was impeccable. There’s something special about twenty six and a half thousand people standing in total silence, reflecting (I always find a moment’s silence more moving than applause) and it was done well today.

Also, someone hit the crossbar at halftime!

What was the worst bit of the game?

Hard to pick. The feeling that we weren’t getting back in it at 2-0 was pretty gutting, especially when that belief wasn’t really lost against Middlesbrough. It felt like so many games in the last few seasons, the total confidence that no matter how long the team plays, they wouldn’t come close to scoring.

What was the atmosphere like?

It was a far cry from the fun in the sun we had against Boro, where it felt like the cobwebs from the last few seasons were being shaken off. Today was a return to the recent norm – it felt flat from the very start and didn’t improve. I forgot the Bristol fans were there until the final few minutes, when their chants of “is this a library?” went unanswered.

Hero of the match?

The classic ’anything but the football’ game made a triumphant return to form. The bloke next to me regaled of us with tales of his recent afternoon tea, I spent a joyful 20 minutes watching a spider climb around someone’s head, and our own Jon Punt entertained the ACN WhatsApp group with the journey of a leaf on his neighbour’s head.

Lungi watch

Earlier in the season I missed a number of matches with a concussion (never work with children and/or basketballs) and made my triumphant return from injury at the Boro game, along with the (constantly) MIA Jacob Lungi Sørensen. Naturally I considered this a fantastic sign: he’s just had a kid, he’s got a guaranteed spot in the starting lineup, he’s playing for a Danish coach.

Oh how quickly it went wrong. I’ve never taken as much stick at a match as I did today. At half time someone came up to me and asked “are you the Sørensen fan?” He, along with my seat neighbours, then entertained themselves by laughing and laughing and laughing. Come on Lungi, my B Block cred is fading by the second.

Summary in five words 

It’s all gone terribly wrong.