Bristol City 2 - West Bromwich Albion 1

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Ratings submitted so far: 13

Brendan Clegg:

It’s pretty difficult to put into words what an implosion this is.

A shocking result in such a pivotal game.

There is nowhere for Mowbray to hide on this. It’s not all his fault but I was staggered by the starting 11.

Griffiths the call that should have been made at the end of the window aside, Diakite not starting and the rest of the midfield with no pace or creativity in it, Price who cannot have been fit, Armstrong firing blanks and Fellows and MJ on the bench. Molumby and Price out of position to accommodate Swift. I found it ludicrous and predictably that’s the performance we got.

What can you say about the opening 60 minutes? As dreadful as expected, the keeper doing okay and enough to keep us in it. Eventually Holgate got rolled like the weak player he is by Wells who put it in the corner.

Somehow and our only goal for ages was a total fluke purely through Mowatt breaking all shape and chasing something. He finished it well but imagine having 2 strikers doing that all game.

Mowbray then chucked 4 subs on, getting rid of Price, Mowatt, Swift and Armstrong for Fellows, Bany, Diakite and Dike. Once settled we played really well for about 15 minutes, attacking with purpose and creating chances. It’s embarrassing how much more Fellows and Bany did within 10 minutes of being on than those they replaced did in 60 odd.

We couldn’t quite force it home with Dike smashing our best chance straight at the keeper.

Grant made way for MJ as we pushed on… and I sat there livid with what might have been had we actually tried something like this from the start.

And then the collapse which was about the rub of the green and our own actions.

Molumby got red carded. It was a moronic challenge but not a red - or very unlucky to be given one.

Then having defended okay were a minute over stoppage time, don’t clear our lines with urgency and allow a free strike on goal from deep within our box. That it went straight through Griffiths was ironic but part of me felt… did Mowbray invite this cruelty with his previous comments on ‘what if’.

Abject failure looks likely with us missing out on the playoffs despite potentially have the best starting 11 in the league had we been able to keep them fit and by some bizarre miracle that the manager might actually pick them in a suitable system for more than 2 games in a row … and I’ll give you we only had the best keeper until the end of Jan.

• Griffiths - 5 looked okay apart from the MASSIVE HOWLER
• Furlong - 6 Some good moments but too quick to smash it.
• Holgate - 5 Weak, gave it away a lot. We missed Heggem badly.
• Barts - 6 Tried
• Styles - 6 Usual energy but all the composure of a moth around a lightbulb
• Mowatt - 5 Makes himself look good but goes nowhere. A good finish though.
• Swift - 4 Give it up. It’s over. No contribution.
• Price - 5 Not fit, no options, bizarre decision
• Molumby - 5 Dreadful until he was put back into the deeper role. Silly tackle.
• Grant - 6 gave his all again. Just not a threat.
• Armstrong - 4 Another big chance missed. Can’t believe how bad he’s been.

• Dike - 6 put himself about and caused problems
• Bany - 7 over eager but tackled well and tried to create
• Fellows - 7 created chances and won corners. Start him.
• Diakite - 6 solid presence
• MJ - on too late really

Our marathon this season looks like it’s over but I’m still running one in just over a couple of weeks for Black Country Women’s Aid if you can spare a few quid:

https://www.justgiving.com/page/brendan-clegg-2

Kev Buckley:

Horrible, Horrible

Only managed to get access to 10 mins of highlights, within which I saw two fine near-post saves in quick succession from Griffiths, before he then pulled off another one

Price, bizarrely playing, as I have read elsewhere, as a false No9, blazed one over in a style that suggests he should not even be classed as "false" in that context. Holgate got turned way too easily for their goal, although the strike still came from a good way out.

Our goal appeared to come from Price, in the left back area, just lumping one forwards, which then saw their defender and keeper make an absolute horlicks of it, allowing Mowatt, the furthest forward of all our players, getting to roll the ball into an empty net.

Dike simply has to score after more great set-up work from Fellows, but sadly, he shoots straight at the keeper.

Molumby's challenge was just horrible: clearly he thinks he's the new Livermore - enacting the "enforcer role" that saw JL out of action for numerous periods when we could have done with him, so perhaps JM's suspension may yet be a blessing in disguise.

Their winner was almost as horrible: Bristol players unmarked all across the top of the box, with Albion players dropping off ever deeper as they failed to clear the ball, let alone get between it and the goal, and even then the shot goes through the keeper's legs: just horrible.

As my regular reader will know, I am a Mowbray fan but even I can't see what he's doing here: compounding not playing the best XI from the start by then playing not his not-the-best players out of position.

Coventry's win last night now sees us five points off the top six, so we're going to have to win two more than one of the Cities to scrape in.

A note for Brendan: I have been trying to get JustGiving to accept a donation for you, even to the extent of trying to make one in AUD, but they won't take my money. Drop me a line via the BOING list and we'll sort something out.