‘Clinical’ - Curtis Fleming’s Bristol City vs Plymouth assessment as ‘sloppy’ moments need addressing

Curtis Fleming praised Bristol City’s clinical nature following their 4-1 win against Plymouth Argyle but insisted that the Robins must tidy up their ability to close games out.

A fast start from City saw Nigel Pearson’s side go two goals in front before the 10-minute mark, thanks to goals from Sam Bell and Matty James.

Pilgrims midfielder Adam Randell pulled a goal back before Mark Sykes struck to restore City’s commanding lead at the break.

Second-half substitute Harry Cornick latched onto Kal Naismith’s pass to net a fourth late on, which capped off an excellent performance from the Robins.

Fleming said: “We’re really happy with the work rate, and the togetherness of the team, and it’s great for the substitutes to come on and make an impact like they did so for us it’s a great first home win.

“It was important for us all but, but as I said on Saturday, we don’t panic. We know our processes and we need to be more clinical and I think we were tonight.”

City have had joy in terms of performance level and results on the road this season, but have tended to play with less fluency at Ashton Gate.

The Robins were unable to find a way past West Brom in BS3 last weekend, but Fleming was impressed with how the side have played in their last two matches.

“Was it as good a performance in the first half against West Brom? I thought we were probably a bit better at times, but I thought we were a little bit more clinical. We took our chances, we caused them a lot of problems,” Fleming said.

“I thought we started the game with high energy which was very important for us and I said on Saturday, there’s a lot of games we’ve played at high energy and we haven’t been clinical. We’ve taken chances and probably missed a couple as well which probably could’ve made it a little bit more comfortable.”

Despite the convincing victory, there were a few careless moments. Max O’Leary’s poor kick almost allowed the visitors a route back into the match, while Ryan Hardie struck the post late on before moments later being denied by a last-ditch tackle from Zak Vyner, after the forward had rounded O’Leary.

The assistant manager said: “I think we were sloppy at times. You know little things can change games in the Championship but that’s something that we have to learn. We’re really happy with the victory, we’re happy with the home victory but there are still things that we spoke about after the game that weren’t good enough.”

“It (Vyner’s tackle) was a wonderful tackle but it shouldn’t be happening. That’s probably our biggest thing, I think it’s wonderful from Zak but that shouldn’t be happening, we shouldn’t be getting into those situations, and we should be making better decisions. But, what I would say to you is that, you look at this team, it’s never say die, we’re not giving up.

“I think Zak has shown that a couple of times, Kal on Saturday as well, last-ditch tackle. Max has made some brilliant saves and I keep thinking we’re growing. We’re going to get stronger, I think we’re going to get better, and I think momentum is key.”