Whatever way you want to look at it, a return of 10 points from a possible 12 available is a decent haul for Bristol City over the Christmas and New Year period.

Had we been a little wiser away at Plymouth Argyle's Home Park on New Year's Day, we could have and should have been talking about four wins on the spin and 12 points. The victory against a spirited and organised Derby County has seen us climb to eighth in the table.

I joked before the game with a friend who had predicted the exact starting lineup and said sarcastically how well he had done in getting it spot on. In truth with the injury to Cameron Pring and after Ross McCrorie had been rested from the off against Argyle, I think the side Liam Manning started with would have pretty much been the side most City fans would have picked.

We struggled to get going in the game and we needed Max O'Leary to be on it, on a couple of occasions. Several of the players understandably looked leggy, and Manning himself referenced that Rob Dickie was spent before the game had even started. This was a case of grinding out a result. We got the all-important goal after Scott Twine's free kick in the 19th minute was steered home by an outside-of-the-foot volley from the excellent Luke McNally.

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We produced some nice approach play during the game, but couldn't find the killer second goal and as a result, Paul Warne's Derby side were always in the game. Twine impressed me throughout and could so nearly have got the second goal but for a brilliant defensive block. He then thwarted the Rams inside his own six-yard box minutes later, making a brilliant clearance.

We created some good opportunities in the second half but again lacked the quality final ball. George Tanner should have set up substitute Fally Mayulu but played the ball just behind him which made connecting with it difficult and both Anis Mehmeti and Yu Hirakawa should have done better with breakaway opportunities.

I thought Derby County were decent and certainly one of the better sides that have visited Ashton Gate this season. They were, as I say, well organised, and ex-Robin Kane Wilson delivered several good crosses, the like of which probably persuaded us to sign him in the first place.

McNally and Zak Vyner were excellent as was Twine but once again for me, it was Jason Knight who set the tone. There was a moment in the second half when he burst past Mehmeti and Max Bird to steal the ball from Derby before driving 20 yards up the pitch until he was eventually brought down to win a free kick. Knight is some footballer.

When there is only one goal in it, you can never relax, especially having conceded a late equaliser in the last match away at Plymouth Argyle. We seemed to have learnt a little from that match and our game management in the final few minutes was good. Mehmeti, Mayulu, Hirakawa and Knight all did well to keep the ball deep in the County half and we saw the game out to seal the three points.

With the January transfer window open, I wonder if Manning is playing his cards close to his chest when he says he expects it to be a quiet month, certainly in terms of incoming players. Most fans expect forward Harry Cornick to leave and with a new contract unlikely at the end of the season, Kal Naismith may look at what options are available. We have already seen one transfer out with defender Rob Atkinson joining Portsmouth on loan for the remainder of the season. There was a meltdown in some quarters on social media after City made the call to allow Atkinson to leave (albeit only on loan), with a feeling that this left us short of defensive cover.

Weighing things up, getting Rob game time in the same division makes sense. Having been out of action for such a long period of time, getting minutes and building his confidence is a good thing and we do have options. We can change to a four at the back, although our form has picked up with the three. We also have players in Haydon Roberts, Ross McCrorie, George Tanner and Josh Campbell-Slowey who could play there if we lost any of Dickie, Vyner or McNally. It's a brave call to make and only time will tell if it was the right decision.

Clearly, a mobile striker who can hold the ball up ala Colby Bishop would be high on most Bristol City fans' shopping lists for the January window and owner Steve Lansdown must decide if he wants to roll the dice and really go for it. At the halfway stage of the season, neither Mayulu nor Sinclair Armstrong are pulling up trees, with Nahki Wells shouldering the major responsibility of playing that central forward role. Understandably Mr Lansdown may look at it and say that the millions were provided in the summer to sign the aforementioned strikers and would he trust the recruitment team to get another striker signing right? Once bitten and all that but for me, it could make the difference between being in the mix (I'm not saying the words) or not at the end of the season.

Our 3 Peaps In A PodCast player ratings were Max O'Leary 6.5, Zak Vyner 6.5, Luke McNally 7.5 *MotM, Rob Dickie 6, Ross McCrorie 6, Haydon Roberts 6, Jason Knight 7.5, Max Bird 5.5, Scott Twine 6.5, Anis Mehmeti 7 and Nahki Wells 6.

For the substitutes who must play a minimum of 20 minutes (including injury time), we went with George Tanner 6 and Fally Mayulu 6. A game average player rating of 6.38. That's an overall season-to-date average player rating of 6.26.

For Liam Manning it was 6.5, his team managed the game out well and just about deserved the 3 points.

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