WELL done to Derek McInnes and his players for bringing about a massive improvement since Bristol City lost at home to Charlton a few weeks back.
It was a game which Derek described as a "watershed" moment in a season that had started promisingly before quickly deteriorating over the last couple of months.
Who would have expected McInnes to have watched his side take five points from what were three difficult games that followed the disappointing 2-0 defeat at the hands of Chris Powell's side?
OK, City lost at Brighton on Tuesday night, but on the whole, the players have shown a lot more spirit in their performances to offer supporters some encouragement that things have the potential to get better.
I don't think the defeat at Brighton took too much of the shine off the way City claimed what was an unexpected victory at Middlesbrough on Saturday.
I know a few at the Middlesbrough end were having a bit of a moan about the 'goal' that wasn't given as the fog descended on the Riverside, but when you are playing one of the top teams in the league away from home you're going to need a bit of luck along the way. City played well and fully deserved the three points, which raised hopes that they may go to Brighton on Tuesday and come away with a draw at worst.
It was always going to be tough – although the fact that the players conceded two goals from set-pieces would have left Derek pulling his hair out.
Defending set-plays is something you work hard on in training as a team, so to keep Brighton out from open-play only to lose the game because of a failure to defend in set-piece situations is really disappointing for a manager to accept.
What City could do with now in order to build on their recent improvement is to win a game in front of their own supporters for the first time since August.
It has been a long few months for regulars at Ashton Gate to endure since then, but I see an opportunity for City to end that long home run without a victory when a struggling Wolves side provide the opposition on Saturday.
Whatever pressure Derek had been under in the previous couple of weeks pales into insignificance to what Wolves boss Ståle Solbakken is experiencing at the moment.
Wolves are without a win in nine games and have slipped from the higher echelons of the Championship to 18th place in that short period of time.
That's not good enough for a team expected to, at the very least, make a sustained challenge for a return to the Premier League at the first time of asking.
I've seen Wolves play a couple of times this season and the really encouraging thing from City's perspective is that they are a team I feel you can really rattle if you set about them early on.
That gives me hope that City have a great chance of making it seven points from four games since Derek received a public vote of confidence from majority shareholder Steve Lansdown.
Correcting the home form is crucial, however, because, while I think City are improving, I don't think they are anywhere close to a level where they are going to go and win five games on the bounce.
Nicking points away and winning games at home is possibly what Derek will be looking for going in to the new year.
We now know the players are capable and have been under-performing, they've proved that over the last three games. All recent performances have done, however, is to lift a bit of pressure off the players – they are still in the bottom three after all. It is vitally important that they don't think it is job done, which would see them in danger of slipping back into old ways.
The same can be said for Bristol Rovers, who were much improved in their 3-3 draw with Bradford City at the Memorial Stadium last weekend.
It had certainly been a difficult week for Mark McGhee following the pretty lifeless display his side had offered in defeat at Port Vale on the previous Tuesday night.
The chairman was forced into publicly backing his under-fire manager on Wednesday, so it was more important than anything else that Mark's players showed a bit of fight and desire whatever the outcome of Saturday's game. It's something Mark acknowledged in his post-match press conference after watching his players produce a spirited display against a good Bradford City side – even if Rovers would have been a little disappointed to have scored three times and not won the game.
That aside, what Rovers supporters saw on Saturday was a lot better than they had seen in the previous few weeks – but, like City, they must now build on what was an encouraging performance.
Not that they'll need little motivation when they go to Wycombe Wanderers tomorrow to play a re-arranged game because the original fixture between the sides was abandoned in controversial circumstances when Rovers were leading 3-1. Everybody knows how hard done by Rovers felt that day – but this game takes on even greater significance now because they are two teams around and about each other at the wrong end of League Two.
Mark said earlier this week that he's be "quietly satisfied" if Rovers can go into the new year ten points or so behind the play-off chasing pack.
Looking at the next three games, you'd say it is a possible – but only if the players can maintain the sort of passion they showed last weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment