‘Careless’ - What Nigel Pearson said about Bristol City’s disappointing loss to Cardiff

Nigel Pearson described Bristol City's performance as 'careless' in their Severnside Derby defeat to Cardiff City.

The Robins' succumbed to a 2-0 defeat courtesy of second-half goals from both Sory Kaba and Jaden Philogene, who netted in a 12-minute spell for the Bluebirds. The hosts had goalkeeper Ryan Allsop sent off for handling the ball outside the area but City could not test outfield player Perry Ng, who donned the gloves for the six minutes of additional time.

To rub salt into the wounds of the defeat, both Joe Williams and Tomas Kalas were substituted off during the game after complaining of injuries. Williams immediately called to be brought off whilst Kalas went down twice, with both players with a history of injuries that have kept them out for a long period.

The visitors had more possession with 61% of the ball but the goal attempts were even with 12 shots to City, and 11 for Cardiff with four landing on target. City have mainly been used to counter-attacking football and beating teams on the break, but the hosts were happy to give Pearson's men the ball.

"We didn't move the ball quick enough is one thing, which is a frustration. " began Pearson in his assessment. We couldn't find enough moments of quality. It was clear that they were prepared to let us have the ball in wide areas especially at full-back positions. We couldn't move within enough purpose.

"It was a bit of a careless performance in some ways. The players have been brilliant over a sustained period It's not about being overly critical.

"We had plenty of the ball today. We showed a bit of patience but we didn't show patience often enough to find those added moments. On top of that it's one of those frustrating performances that didn't happen for us."

City started the match on the front foot and Mark Sykes played brightly with several testing crosses inside the first moments of the game. The Republic of Ireland international also headed over the bar from Williams, cross before he was withdrawn from the match.

The best moment to open the scoring was when Alex Scott's header was cleared off the line before Anis Mehmeti's shot was blocked by Ryan Allsop on the line. Cardiff put their players behind the ball and defended resolutely which was of frustration to the visitors.

“It's now back-to-back defeats for City, but the manager was relatively upbeat in his post-match press conference, allowing for a full assessment of the situation. A defeat to Manchester City on Tuesday was the first defeat since Boxing Day, and whilst losing a Derby match is frustrating, he believes it was down to the players just not defending like they have done in recent weeks.

"When the opportunities came we weren't clinical, and we had one or two decent opportunities. I suppose in some ways, it's one of those where I don't think there's been times where I have been critical of us in recent weeks because our performances have been rreally good. We lost the game today because the two goals we conceded we didn't defend with the urgency we have done recently and it turns out to be a frustrating day.

“We've gone a long time without a defeat, and it's a bit like our penalties, two on the trot, it is frustrating for us