Why Bristol City should have nothing to fear if they secure a play-off berth

Liam Manning’s side ran out 2-1 winners against Sunderland in a crucial win that solidified their fifth position in the championship table.

It was goals from defenders Rob Dickie and Ross McCrorie that secured a come from behind victory at Ashton Gate and make it eight games unbeaten in BS3. The victory kept the Robins in the playoffs and with only three games left to play, it is looking increasingly likely that the Robins will get an extended season for the first time since 2008. Here are my three takeaways from another Ashton Gate thriller.

Red-hot Ross

Should the season end today, Bristol City would be then onto a two-legged affair against yesterday’s opponent for a place at Wembley. In the two fixtures against the Black Cats this season, City haven’t lost with yesterday's win added to the 1-1 draw they played out earlier this season at the Stadium of light.

In the draw up North, it was old habits striking again as City conceded late on and three points turned into one. However since the turn of the year with the exception of the game at the Cardiff City stadium, the Robins have shown the ability to see out games a lot better than it previous time and instead are now the ones who are getting points with late equalisers or winners.

Good Friday’s contest was another example of that, despite playing against 10 men for 83 minutes, City late on in the game didn't sit back and try to defend and instead were keeping the ball in the midfield and getting into the forward areas or taking the ball to the corner. In the game at the Stadium of light, The Robins had to soak up a lot of pressure throughout the 90 minutes and eventually did succumb to it late on. However the game yesterday was the complete opposite.

Yesterday City had 77% possession throughout the game and combined that with 27 shots on goal, it was a dominant performance from Manning’s men and red-hot wing-back McCrorie made the most of Jobe Bellingham’s mistake to score the winner. Some fans will talk about the man advantage for that length of time that they had it however they had a man advantage against Hull City and they didn't make use of it by only drawing 1-1. The two performances have proven that should City have to play the Black Cats twice more they have shown that they can more than hang with them both home and away.

Yu Hirakawa makes up for lost time

After a tough game at Loftus Road for the Japanese winger Yu Hirakaw where he was brought in as a late replacement for Mark Sykes as the Irishman went down with a quad injury in the warm up.

So against Sunderland, Manning made the decision to start George Tanner instead of Hirakawa and it made City more defensively sound however they were missing some more pace and creativity going forward. So at halftime, Hirawkawa made his entrance to the pitch and almost instantly changed the complexion of the game by constantly wanting to take on his marker and a ball went down the line you’d back Yu a lot more than Tanner to reach the loose ball.

Not only did he make an impact on the pitch but in the stands as well. It’s a staple of the Ashton Gate atmosphere now that whenever Yu gets the ball he hears three stands filled with home supporters give a cry of his name. With Sunderland one goal to the good and the crowd could tell they were going to sit back in the second half, the atmosphere was a bit flat but Hirakawa’s presence lifted it and gave the crowd a lift which in turn gave the players a lift and secured the three points.

Fan power pays off with shooting star

I doubt anybody who was sat in Ashton Gate on Good Friday could have predicted how City would’ve gotten on the scoresheet for the first time yesterday. When Rob Dickie picked the ball up from 25 yards the cry of ‘SHOOT’ from the crowd might’ve been a mix of loose optimism and a bit of sarcasm at the same time. But Dickie listened to the crowd and once the ball left his right boot it never looked like going anywhere else than the top corner.

When Dickie was signed for Bristol City, the fans were quick to find goals from his QPR days when he scored similar goals to the one yesterday. Especially one during the lockdown against Middlesborough when he showed his dribbling skills and after that he rifled one into the top corner.

In the first half against Sunderland, the big central defender did have a sighter from range after a free kick but his shot from 20 ish yards went just wide of the post. This must have given Dickie some optimism that if he had another opportunity to unleash a shot from range he could get it on target at least.

When speaking to the press after the game, Liam Manning revealed that after Friday training before a game the City squad participates in a light hearted shooting game and the big centre half is always in latter stages of it. “Do you know what it is? We laughed about it in the changing room. We play it as a little finishing game where we have a competition every Friday after training. And to be fair, the big man, he's quite often in the final stages of that. So me and Hoggy (Chris Hogg) fire it in, and then they have a touch. They have to cushion it in the d and then finish from the d. If I score, the next one has to score. If not, they're out. So we play every play most Friday. And Rob's touch is pretty good. Rob's right up there most of the time,”