‘Excellent’: Nigel Pearson on Bristol City draw with Coventry in positive verdict

Nigel Pearson had no complaints about the outcome of Bristol City’s draw with Coventry City as he took positives from the display. The Robins had to settle for a point with the Sky Blues, as they started the New Year how they ended the last, with a point on the road.

Jake Bidwell opened the scoring for Mark Robins side after Max O’Leary’s save could only fall into the path of Bidwell who was in the right space to head home. City got back on level terms just before half-time, as he slotted home a shot on the rebound for his fifth goal of the season.

The result left City in 19th, and with only one win in their last ten matches, but it was another slight improvement after defeat against West Brom on Boxing Day.

“We started a bit slow and it was disappointing to go behind,” Pearson said to BBC Radio Bristol. “There was I suppose some ill fortune as well, Max made a wonderful save but it just happened to fall in the right place.

“I was disappointed with the slowish start, but there on we were excellent in terms of our collective determination, and effort and some of our play was excellent.

“We’ve put a very good home side under pressure for long periods. I suppose either side could have won it, maybe a draw was relatively fair.

“We won a lot of set plays and put them under pressure. They looked rattled, we couldn’t find that finishing touch. In the second half, it was a bit more ebb and flow in the second half, both sides had some good promising spells, but didn’t really come to much.”

An element that pleased the 59-year-old was how they defended. Right-sided centre-back Zak Vyner was awarded man-of-the-match by supporters. Defence has been an area of concern for a majority of the campaign, with 35 goals leaked in the league.

Against Millwall, City put in a solid defensive display and created plenty of attacking opportunities, which almost saw them win the game. They were unable to deliver a clean sheet as they did in South London, but as a center-back during his playing career, the former Leicester City manager was pleased with his backline.

He added: “Some of our defending in the second half was brilliant in terms of blocks, and just being able to read the threat.

“It’s what we need every week, we still aren’t winning enough games, but if we get performances like that, clearly we’re going to have a better chance of winning games.

“We’ve always got threats up top, we’ve got forwards that have got lots of energy, it was good for Antoine to get back on the score sheet today because he’s been a little bit frustrated, but you know what strikers are like, once they get a goal, they get the belief that the next one is seconds away."