“So many positives” – Liam Manning hopeful despite Bristol City’s late loss to Sheffield United

It felt like the crescendo of all crescendos at Ashton Gate on Tuesday night.

A relatively uneventful first half was followed by a slightly better opening 30 minutes in the second which resulted in Bristol City taking the lead through an Anis Mehmeti penalty.

A combination of calamity and decreasing concentration culminated in a Rob Dickie red card and a 98 ^th minute winner in which Harrison Burrows lashed home for Sheffield United.

The left back’s goal was the dagger to the heart of Liam Manning and City’s hopes of continuing both their nine-game unbeaten run and their spotless home record this season, with it halted in the most gruesome way possible.

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Despite such a loss, the Reds put in a valiant display for the best part of 86 minutes, especially considering they lost yet more players to injury and were forced to play certain men in unfamiliar positions.

“It feels a game lost rather than they won,” Manning said after the game. “I thought we were terrific until the last ten minutes.

“What I can’t question from the lads is attitude, desire, bravery to play and compete. I thought there were so many positives from it, and we go ahead, and we just didn’t manage the game well enough.

“That’s the big bit we spoke about as a group: if we want to go from a team that performs well to one that performs well and consistently wins, it’s how do we cope with that pressure? There were some poor decisions and some poor moments under pressure in terms of for the goals and how we managed it.”

There were no complaints from the Robins head coach regarding Dickie’s dismissal, with the official City X account dubbing it ‘a professional foul’.

Following the referee’s dishing the red card out in the 95 ^th minute, it’s hard to argue that it did not directly affect the eventual outcome of the game with the winner occurring only three minutes later.

It is a shame as Manning’s men performed so maturely against Preston North End on Saturday to see out the victoy, so to then lose this one in such a manner after going ahead hurts all the more.

“Of course, it does,” the Reds head coach admitted when asked whether the red card had a bearing on the winner.

“You’re then soaking up even more pressure and the ref decides to add even more time on at the end. It’s frustrating; we have to learn from it. We have to make sure that in the future when we’re ahead and the pressure’s on…it’s how do you manage the game?”

As much as good game management relies on the collective staying together and remaining resolute, it also needs good individual decisions.

Against the Blades, that is where the hosts faltered as a couple of freakish flashes, including the red, became decisive.

The corner from which the visitors scored was conceded by goalkeeper Max O’Leary who opted to try and punch the ball clear instead of catching it, but he scuffed the swing and it ended up flying behind.

“I was [expecting O’Leary to catch it], to be totally honest,” Manning said. “But then there’s a few phases after that where [we shouldn’t] let it out for a corner then should defend the corner.

“When you look at most goals, it’s never always one mistake; it tends to be two or three, a collection. But we win together, we lose together.”

So comes to an end City’s unbeaten period.

During that patch of games, the Robins won three and drew five, with an heir of disappointment surrounding the manager and players over not being able to turn one point into three during the drawn matches.

“If you consistently hit a level performance-wise, you’ll win matches,” the Reds’ 39-year-old head coach declared.

“Of course, we’ve drawn too many games but when you look at how you draw a game, you either nick a point; you’re going, like Leeds, it’s fair; or you’re coming away disappointed not to get three.

“I’d say when you look at the draws, we’ve probably had more where we’re disappointed not to get three points. When you look at the performance level and the consistency that we’re hitting, that’s the bit that we’ll only keep improving with the age of the group and how hard the players work and the culture that we’ve got. But that’s the bit that excites me.

“We’ve hit a level, now we’ve got to do better. We’ve got to, like tonight, handle those moments, those pressure moments when you’re ahead, better. They’re the bits that with a young group we’ll only get better.”

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