The Championship is such a strange division this season. Blackburn Rovers, a team pushing for the play-offs, came to Ashton Gate to face Bristol City on Saturday and never really looked like a promotion-chasing side. It was another game that for periods lacked quality, but I enjoyed this one, far more than I did last weekend's game against Coventry City or the showing at Sheffield Wednesday in midweek.

Of course, victory was always going to give a slightly different slant to my feelings after the game and this was by no means a classic Bristol City performance. We did, however, produce a couple of quality moments. I think we just about shaded it and deserved the win.

We welcomed back two former players on Saturday. The first was Dariusz Paweł Dziekanowski 'Jackie', who made 55 appearances for the team, scoring nine goals between 1992 and 1993. It's hard to explain just what a mercurial talent Jackie was to those who never saw him play.

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Saturday marked 33 years to the day that City travelled to Leicester City's Filbert Street stadium in the FA Cup fourth round where Jackie set up the first goal for Junior Bent and scored the second with a header in a 1-2 victory. This followed him scoring a debut goal the week before at home against Southend United. At the final whistle of the FA Cup game, supreme BBC commentator John Motson said of Jackie that he was "not just from another country. he looked to be from a different planet today. This was his match."

I was able to spend a couple of hours in Dariusz's company on Saturday morning, and a nicer, more humble man you could wish to meet. Jackie spent time before and after the game signing autographs and having his photo taken with fans, young and old alike. When he was introduced to the crowd before the game and before he became the latest former Robin to receive a legacy cap, Jackie kicked a signed football into each of the home stands, balls that he'd brought from his home in Poland. They say never meet your heroes, well for me that's rubbish. I got to meet my favourite Bristol City player in my fifty years of watching the team and it was an absolute privilege and something that will live with me forever.

We also welcomed back Andreas 'Andi' Weimann, who made 216 appearances for the club, scoring 51 goals between 2018 and 2024. It was great to see Andi and whilst I never want to see the opposition score, it was somewhat fitting that Andi produced the equaliser for Blackburn Rovers but that we still went on to win the game. Andi is a model professional, he refused to celebrate his goal in front of the home fans and there was clearly a mutual respect between the supporters and the player alike.

Liam Manning opted to make four changes to his starting lineup with Ross McCrorie, Mark Sykes, Yu Hirakawa and Nahki Wells moving to the bench with Haydon Roberts, Anis Mehmeti, George Tanner and Sinclair Armstrong coming in. I wasn't surprised by the changes, as Ross and Mark looked exhausted at the end of the game on Wednesday in Sheffield.

It was a cracking atmosphere throughout the game, especially early on. Supporters fed off the atmosphere after Jackie was introduced to the crowd and did a few keeps-ups before delivering the three footballs into the stands.

The home fans then witnessed another Scott Twine special, as he scored with a direct free-kick in the 12th minute. I have had the pleasure of watching dead ball specialists in the likes of Alan Walsh, Darren Barnard, Mickey Bell, Brian Tinnion and Lee Tomlin over the years but for me, Twine is the best of the lot. There is almost an expectation of a goal when we have a free-kick in around the box and again on Saturday, Scott didn't disappoint. I think Aynsley Pears will be disappointed at being beaten but it was so well executed that I expect he feared crashing into the post.

The goal came after a bright start, albeit Tyrhys Dolan had a good chance before our opener. He found himself in an opening very similar to the goal that Brandon Thomas-Asante scored for Coventry City last week but thankfully he couldn't keep the ball down. It's funny as a fan, I was so disappointed in Twine's performance against Sheffield Wednesday that I would have started George Earthy. Again, that shows what I know. It's a good job Manning makes the decisions and not the numpty that writes this column.

The free-kick came from a good run from Armstrong and I think in the main, it was a decent performance from Sinclair. We didn't push on from the goal and at times we looked uneasy at the back. There was almost a calamitous moment when Max O'Leary and Rob Dickie got their communication all wrong but Weimann didn't take the shot and instead opted to pass to Dolan. He miscued his shot, which wouldn't have counted as he had drifted offside.

Dolan was Blackburn Rovers' brightest player and he set up the equaliser, beating Roberts and sending a cross to the back post, where Makhtar Gueye had the physical presence to beat Tanner. While Gueye's header struck the post, it bounced out to the alert Weimann who had the simple task of nodding the ball over the line. As I say Andi didn't celebrate and instead almost apologised to Section 82.

Manning opted to make changes in the second half and those alterations had the desired effect. Wells made a great run, which Joe Williams spotted with a perfect pass and whilst we had a huge slice of luck as a deflection took the ball past Pears, Nahki's shot was on target. Wells now has two in two and clearly still has that hunger and desire. I will bang the drum again, get a new contract sorted for him and at the same time get the pen out for Sykes to sign an extended deal.

The club announced on Sunday morning that striker Fally Mayulu has joined Austrian side Sturm Graz on loan until the end of the season. Fally could potentially go from not being in our matchday squad to playing Champions League football on Wednesday night at home to RB Leipzig. It's a funny old game, Saint!

I wish Fally well but wonder if part of the problem was settling into life in England and whether a loan to a League One club in the EFL may have been a better option. Clearly, it is better for Fally to be playing games and depending on the logistics of the deal that has been done, it may free up some wages to allow Manning to bring in a loan striker of his own.

Again, I will keep saying it and whilst I appreciate the money that was made available for signings in the summer, the side is eighth in the league, three points off fifth place, albeit with a far inferior goal difference, and now must surely be the time to speculate to accumulate. The right striker and this is so easy for me to say, could make all the difference.

"You put your left leg in, your left leg out, in, out, in, out, shake it all about, you do the Dzieknowski and you turn around, that's what it's all about. Oooooo the Dzieknowski, ooooo the Dzieknowski, ooooo the Dzieknowski, knees bent, arms stretched ra ra ra."

Our 3 Peaps in A Podcast player ratings were: Max O'Leary 6.0, George Tanner 6.0, Zak Vyner 5.0, Rob Dickie 5.0, Luke McNally 5.5, Haydon Roberts 6.5, Jason Knight 6.0, Max Bird 6.0, Scott Twine 7.0 *MotM, Anis Mehmeti 5.0 and Sinclair Armstrong 6.5.

For the substitutes who must play a minimum of 20 minutes (including injury time), we went Mark Sykes 6.5 and Nahki Wells 7.0. A game average player rating of 6.0.

That's an overall season-to-date average player rating of 6.18. For Liam Manning it was 6.5, his subs made an impact.

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