LFL: BRISTOL

After we’d gone down to ten men very early in the game it was always going to be a real struggle and so it was. Even so, with a full side I don’t think we’d have too much to fear from Bristol City if we had to face them again in the play-offs. Mayenda’s goal was really one to savour.

BEFORE

I hope we'll end up playing Bristol City in the play-offs and not Coventry so this afternoon's game could be a warm-up for all that. I don't imagine it'll be very exciting and we'll be resting a player or two and not playing at full tilt. Bristol are in fifth spot and their recent form has been better than ours, with three wins and two draws in their last six outings. Mehmeti is their top scorer and I'm sure he got a goal or two against us when he was playing for Wycombe so he may well get another today. In a way I'm more interested in what will happen to our rivals as they too juggle for a play-off spot and I'm hoping West Brom will beat Coventry. I'll be on my todd in the pub in Sunderland for the game as my usual companions have a problem and my match prediction is 1-1.  

I got the team-news around 2.15 and, as expected, there were several changes from the starting line-up against Swansea with Hjelde, Le Fee and Mayenda in place of Browne, Jones and Isidor. Jobe was on the bench. Mehmeti was on the bench for them so no doubt they were saving him. I was in the pub half an hour before kick-off and got a seat with a decent view of a screen.

THE MATCH

We started off brightly with a penetrating move in the second minute but Rigg miskicked when he received the ball in the right section of their box and it went for a goal-kick. In the fifth we won a corner, immediately winning a second but it came to nothing. Then in the seventh minute the game was dramatically altered when Hume was red-carded for what looked like a fairly innocuous contact with Wells, who went down like a sack of taties. He was the last defender and off Hume went. It’s one way to rest a player, I suppose. Anyway, the resulting free-kick was blocked and Wells hit a follow-up shot narrowly wide of our right post. After that it was pretty much one-way traffic towards our goal for a good while but by the twentieth minute neither side had had a shot on target. 

In the twenty-fifth Dickie had a powerful low shot that went just wide of our right post and though we continued to be on the receiving end, our defence looked pretty relaxed. Bristol City wasted a quickly-taken corner on the half-hour and then suddenly we were in the lead and what a wonderful goal it was. Mayenda got the ball deep in his own half and proceeded to race goalwards. He got past a final defender and escaped the attention of two others who were closing down on him before hitting a shot into the bottom right corner. For the rest of the half Bristol put on a lot of pressure and in the thirty-sixth they had the ball in our net after Patto had made a great block but it was ruled out for offside. Shortly after that Wells turned well near the right angle of our box before hitting a powerful shot that Patto did well to save. Next thing Pring shot just wide but then we relieved the pressure with a great move that culminated in Mayenda passing to Roberts in their box before the latter hit an effort that O’Leary in goal struggled to save. There were two minutes of added-time and it remained 0-1 as the whistle went. Bristol City  had had seventy-five per cent of the possession but so what? We had the goal. Elsewhere Coventry were 1-0 up against West Brom and that wasn’t good as they were currently above Bristol City.

As we kicked off again Hirakawa had replaced Tanner but we’d made no changes. Bristol City put us under a lot of pressure from the off and after conceding a corner in the fifty-second we had to make two crucial blocks to keep them out. In the fifty-fifth we could do little about their equaliser when Dickie blasted in a strong shot from outside of our box. Three minutes later they were shouting for a penalty for a trip but thankfully referee Oliver Langford wasn’t having it. I checked the other scores and Coventry were 2-0 ahead. Just after the hour-mark we made a triple switch, replacing Le Fee, Roberts and Rigg with Isidor, Jobe and Abdul Samed. 

We continued to soak up pressure and in the sixty-eighth Hjelde made a great stop right on our line. We weren’t getting out of our half much at all and soon after Patto had made another good low save from Pring we went behind. As Bristol attacked down the right side of our box, Jobe lost the ball with a poor touch and McCrorie hit a shot between Patto and our right post to put them ahead. We replaced Mayenda with Browne in the seventy-seventh. It was pretty much the same pattern for the rest of the game and we received two more yellow cards in addition to one for Patto midway through the half; one for Hjelde who was quickly subbed by Anderson and then a short while later one for Anderson himself. West Brom had also gone down to ten men and Coventry’s win looked assured as the time ticked away. Mehmeti had come on around twenty minutes from the end and he showed his danger by shooting just outside the right angle of our goal in what was the last serious attempt by either side. There were three minutes of added time and it ended in a 2-1 defeat.