Bristol City midfielder Matty James on team bonding, Oreo Cheesecake & Derby County

Bristol City midfielder Matty James has hailed this week’s bonding exercise ahead of their Championship match with Derby County.

All the members of the Robins first-team squad this week had the chance to let their hair down and come away from the High-Performance Centre.

They were whisked away to the ‘Cooking It’ kitchen based on Chandos Road in the Redland area of Bristol for a team-building exercise where they were tasked with cooking.

This was one of the first opportunities for the players to all come together and enjoy themselves, given the lack of ability to do given the lack of Christmas parties and the long gruelling fixture schedule.

‘I think when you do things like that as a team you see different sides of people and you are out of your comfort zone,” said James.

“You are out of the area of the training facilities, it’s something completely different and you see different sides of people.

“It was an enjoyable day, there were some good food cooks and some really bad food cooks as well.

“It was really good and a good idea, it was probably something that we needed at the time.

He added: “I think everyone struggled with the whole COVID situation in the first half of the season. It kind of hit around the Christmas time. For a lot of people there are Christmas parties or Christmas food where you can get some form of team bonding.

“It was cancelled due to doing the right thing to protect the players and other people.”

The winning team was the trio of Antoine Semenyo, Jay Dasilva and Nahki Wells, though Dasilva’s contribution was brought into question by his teammates.

James, who by his own admittance isn’t the greatest of cooks, was tasked with making an Oreo cheesecake, where he was commended for his effort, but ultimately lost out.

All in all, it was a beneficial experience for the players to enjoy being in a different kind of setting to the pressures they face on the football pitch.

The added bonus also was that all food that was cooked by the players were packed up and delivered to the local community by the Robins Foundation.

“The Oreo cheesecake went down really well,” he said. I think it basically put my team through. It was a really enjoyable day and a good crack to be fair.

“It is something we missed out on, it’s always difficult when the games come quick and fast to try and fit something in at the right time.”

“I think for us it’s something we haven’t been able to do many things like that so that’s what I mean when we got to see different sides of people than we would in here.”

Back to matters on the pitch and City play their penultimate away fixture this season, as they travel to the Midlands.

Derby is a place that James will know all too well having played there as a player with Leicester City, as well as Barnsley and Coventry City.

Wayne Rooney’s Derby were relegated on Easter Monday after their 1-0 defeat to Queens Park Rangers, as well as Reading’s 4-4 draw with Swansea City.

But despite their relegation, there won’t be any easing up on the Rams from City, who have their own motivations to finishing the season as strongly as possible.

‘Unfortunately for us it is our next game,” said James.

“We want three points regardless of their position. The ninenty minutes is us focusing on trying to win the game. After it you can feel for them and the fans and the way they have dealt with the situation.

“I think it’s a crying shame like Derby to coming out of the Championship into League One. My own personal stance on it is I enjoyed playing there, I think the fans are really good.

“It is a shame but it is our next game, we are fully focused on trying to get three points to continue our form into the back end of this season.”