Nigel Pearson not worried about Bristol City players making mistakes with positive trend clear

Robins manager discussed a late error and another sparkling display from Alex Scott.
Dan Bentley of Bristol City cuts a dejected figure after Viktor Gyokeres of Coventry City scores.Dan Bentley of Bristol City cuts a dejected figure after Viktor Gyokeres of Coventry City scores.
Dan Bentley of Bristol City cuts a dejected figure after Viktor Gyokeres of Coventry City scores.

Both sides had four shots on target, both teams hit the post, and arguably both teams deserved a point. But another late goal conceded meant that Coventry City took the three points from Ashton Gate on Tuesday night.

But that doesn’t reflect that actually Bristol City had played very well, had dominated for much of the second half and created chances, and were certainly much improved from the disappointing 3-2 loss to the Sky Blues back in November, against 10 men for much of that game.

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Nigel Pearson was positive after last night’s loss and he sees the bigger picture.

A midfield of two 18-year-olds and a 20-year-old had committed late errors but they have time on their side and in time will be all the better for it.

Discussing the late Viktor Gyokeres goal in particular, Pearson explained that his team had been punished for late errors, with Han-Noah Massengo gifting the ball away in the final minutes.

“Yeah, it’s another mistake in the middle of the pitch, which has cost us,” explained the manager following the game.

Ayman Benarous of Bristol City is tackled by Jamie Allen of Coventry City.Ayman Benarous of Bristol City is tackled by Jamie Allen of Coventry City.
Ayman Benarous of Bristol City is tackled by Jamie Allen of Coventry City.
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“It’s quite hard for young players to deal with those types of situations, but that’s how they get better.

“Of course it was [an individual mistake]. Look, if you just generalise, nobody gets apportioned blame so you’ve got to apportion blame. There are always different aspects of what could be slightly better.

“The bottom line is that we’ve conceded two goals which there is a bit of naivety on the first one but it’s my decision to select players who are young and out of position.

“And I’m happy to do that because I think tonight the performance that we got was a very positive one.

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“I’m not worried about the future for where this group are. We’ve got a lot of talent within the group and we’ve made a really strong progression in terms of our ability to play games.

“What we haven’t done is solve that final problem of winning those types of games because we’ve lost so many points late in games. But tonight’s story is a bit different to that. It’s not because we looked anxious,” said Pearson, who believes that his team have shed a weakness of late: no longer is the team nervous on the pitch.

The 58-year-old is adamant that through a bit of tenacity and patience his team will progress.

If the mistakes keep coming, those players will not have a long-term future in BS3. But the manager is determined to iron out the deficiencies in a talented group of Robins who may be able to carry the club forward as they themselves develop.

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City had got back into the game with a Chris Martin goal after Ian Maatsen’s 25th-minute opener.

Gyokeres sealed victory for the visitors with just seconds left as the Robins lost a first home match in five games, and a sixth of the league campaign.

This result certainly puts paid to any romantic suggestions that a late run could yet see the top six made.

Instead, just another win or two should be enough to kickstart planning for another Championship campaign in earnest, and further development of the excellent young players.

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Alex Scott in particular was superb in midfield, standing in for Joe Williams in that “front sweeper” position and playing a deeper role than of late.

“I’ve told you before. He can play anywhere because he’s bright enough. I thought he was great tonight,” said Pearson when Bristol World asked what he had made of the ex-Guernsey FC man’s performance.

“The tactics were different tonight. Coventry set up with either one or two up top, and if they have one up top they have two players playing just behind. It was an interesting game, because they allowed us to have the ball out from the back pretty easily,” the manager added.

“They were sitting hoping to spring. So for Alex he didn’t have to play in the same way that Joe did because Boro are a lot more aggressive with how they play and they play a slightly different shape.”

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