The 4 greatest play-off comebacks of all-time that Bristol City must take inspiration from

Bristol City were beaten 3-0 at home by Sheffield United in the first leg of their Championship play-off on Thursday night. The Robins now have a mountain to climb as they prepare for the second leg at Bramall Lane. They head to South Yorkshire on Monday evening.

Liam Manning’s side saw defender Rob Dickie sent off on the stroke of half time. They had to play the whole second half with 10 men. Harrison Burrows, Andre Brooks and Callum O’Hare were on the scoresheet for the Blades.

Greatest play-off comebacks of all-time to inspire Bristol City

Here is a look at the greatest play-off comebacks of all-time to inspire Bristol City. Firstly, rewinding back to lockdown football, Cheltenham Town won 2-0 away at Northampton Town in the first leg of their League Two play-off semi-final clash. The Robins looked well on their way to booking their place at Wembley after their perfect performance at Sixfields.

Howevers, the Cobblers fought back and won 3-0 in the second leg to completely turn the match around. Callum Morton found the net on two occasions. Northampton went on to gain promotion to League One that year after beating Exeter City 4-0 in the final.

The same happened back in 1996. Blackpool beat Bradford City 2-0 at Valley Parade in their first leg. However, they lost 3-0 to the Bantams at Bloomfield Road. Carl Shutt, Des Hamilton and Mark Stallard were on the scoresheet against the Seasiders and the Yorkshire outfit ended up winning the final against Notts County to go up to the Premier League.

More dramatic play-off stories to boost Bristol City’s hopes

Yeovil Town locked horns with Nottingham Forest in the League One play-offs back in 2007. The Glovers are currently 18th in the National League, whilst the Reds are challenging for a place in the Champions League. Going back 18 years though, they battled it out for Championship football.

Forest won 2-0 at Huish Park and the second leg seemed a formality at their place. The visitors stunned the City Ground though and ended up going through in dramatic fashion. They won 5-2 after extra-time but would go on to get beat by Blackpool in the final.

The greatest play-off comeback of them all came in 2023 in League One. Sheffield Wednesday were pumped 4-0 away at Peterborough United and another year in the third tier beckoned. Darren Moore’s men then somehow won 4-0 and scored with the lack kick of the game through boyhood hero Liam Palmer.

The Owls conceded in extra-time but equalised again through Callum Paterson before winning on penalties. They then saw off Yorkshire rivals Barnsley in the final. They have stayed up in the Championship over the past two seasons now since as well.

Speaking after their match against Peterborough, ex-boss Moore said: “When it came to penalties we were prepared for it. We’ve worked on them in training. We got the goals, we kept our head in the moments. We had a strong belief, we honestly did. We showed them videos of great comebacks in the week. The mindset was right."