The damning statistic that is an all too familiar theme for Bristol City fans and how it is affecting them

Twice Bristol City took the lead on Saturday and twice they surrendered their lead in what would turn out to be a 6-2 win for Fulham.

Antoine Semenyo - an inclusion in the EFL’s Team of the Week - had shown two bits of individual brilliance, breaking on the counter-attack on both occasions to score an impressive brace.

His efforts would all but be in vain though as the Robins would fall to a heavy defeat to the Championship’s most prolific scorers this season.

Eagle-eyed City fans tuned into the Sunday lunch-time kick-off between Hull and Stoke City and as the Potters took the lead, a damning statistic smacked them in the face.

A graphic in the left-hand bottom corner appeared and with it came the caption ‘Points lost from winning positions’ that had a list of four teams and who sat at the top? Bristol City, who have surrendered a whole 21 points after taking the lead.

Games in which Bristol City have surrendered points from a winning position

Nigel Pearson’s side have taken the lead on 16 occasions this season but have found it difficult to preserve their lead in the 26 games they’ve played.

Perhaps what is more telling is that out of the eight fixtures they’ve taken the lead and failed to get maximum points, six of them have been at Ashton Gate, where for a long period they failed to register a home win.

In five matches this season they’ve taken the lead and failed to pick up any points, though all of the defeats have come against top-half opposition, which perhaps goes to show the quality of the division this year.

Whilst the recent defeat to Fulham is the biggest collapse, conceding four goals and failing to issue a response, the loss to Nottingham Forest back in October may be the most frustrating with Lyle Taylor scoring a brace in stoppage time.

As well as losing points from winning positions in five of the matches they’ve dropped points, they’ve conceded goals late on.

Imagine what difference 21 of those points would have made to the team this season given the early promise we’ve seen. In fact, City would be just outside the play-offs if the league table was based on first-half scores. The flip side of that is they would be in the relegation zone based on how they play in the second-half.

It does ponder the question as to what is discussed at the interval for City to perform so poorly when the second-half kicks off.

Currently the team is going through a transitional period with Nigel Pearson steadying the ship after letting a number of high-expensive earners depart last summer.

That though may be an explanation of why City may have dropped points is perhaps the lack of experience of some of the players in the division. Nigel Pearson has handed a number of debuts to players through the academy or the development team and some are still getting to grips with the toughness of the division.

It doesn’t mean that experienced players should escape any of the blame though as some can be attributed to individual errors that have led to conceding goals, whilst others up at the attacking end have failed to kill games off when they have dominated matches.

Whilst there is a feeling of frustration that City haven't been able to preserve their leaders, they are in the top-half when it comes to salvaging points from a losing position. Seventeen times this season they've fallen behind but have been able to pick up 11 points from it.

It is why their league position of 16th right now is a fair reflection of their season, they are in between being a good side but also have frailties they need to iron out.