The ACN Match Review – Bristol (a)

The atmosphere

Good numbers with over 2,300 making the trip but perhaps not surprising given back-to-back four-goal away hauls. An element of the Bristol City support were surprisingly aggressive outside the ground before and after the game, including the bespoke chant “Fucking hate Norwiiiich, fucking hate Norwiiiich.” Do you though? Really?

The line up

Angus Gunn’s unsubtle hints on Instagram on Friday made it clear he was ready if called upon so it wasn’t a surprise to see his name in the team, and Núñez was worth a go from the start to try and inject some creativity into the midfield. Frustratingly, neither went particularly well. 

Boooooo moment

Writing this on the M4 I haven’t seen the goal back yet but it felt a very soft one to concede, from the slackness in midfield via a possible foul to the missed interception and the fumbled shot. A very avoidable way to turn a game that had 0-0 written all over it into a defeat.

Hero of the match

The referee, for not succumbing to the hype of the New York Times and others this week and rejecting Bristol City’s penalty claim in the second half – their 65-game wait for a spot-kick ticks over to 66. Along Come Norwich averted.

Our post-match takeaway

We can’t score four on the road every week, but this felt like a regression back to the away days of a few months ago. It’s February and it’s still not clear what our best option is in several positions on the pitch, and the intensity with which we started the trips to Preston and Coventry never came at all here. A big four-game fortnight is an opportunity to get sone long-awaited momentum going, because if we are going to reach the play-offs, let alone do anything in them, we are going to need it.