Bristol City manager Nigel Pearson said his side should have taken something from the game against Cardiff City and was left to rue bits of sloppiness which led to Cardiff's two goals.
The Robins boss said Cardiff City 'weren't exactly sparkling' but scored two goals because his team were careless and lost possession in key areas. The manager said City lost a 'bang average game' because they didn't create enough chances of their own and gifted situations and chances to Cardiff. And Pearson refused to blame injuries - instead pointing at City's small squad that meant the Robins played two 17-year-olds and an 18-year-old making his debut during the game.
The Welsh side took the lead from a simple header from a corner in the first half from Perry Ng, and then secured victory with the only bit of stand-out quality from Reuben Colwill on the stroke of 90 minutes, as he beat two City defenders and lashed the ball in from an angle for the second.
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But for Nigel Pearson those two goals came from sloppy play from his own City side. "The two goals we’ve conceded have both come from us, quite frankly. The first one, we gave the ball away in our own half which resulted, ultimately, with a corner, so that’s disappointing," he told BBC Radio Bristol. "The second goal is from a similar situation - we have good possession and give the ball away, so in that regard it’s very very disappointing," he added. Pearson said there were few positives to take out of the game at all. "Not a lot at the minute. I’m not very happy with the fact that it’s a very bang average game, we’ve got a depleted squad but it’s a game that’s there to be won. In the end we come away with nothing because we’ve been careless with the ball. I don’t think they’ve particularly created lots and lots at all, it was a game with nothing in it and we’ve come away with nothing," he added. (article continues below...)
"It’s tough when, at the moment, we’re not creating a great deal of chances, so it means we’ve got to be even tighter at the back, but we’ve put ourselves under pressure by giving away chances by conceding pressure in areas that are potentially dangerous and that’s something which is the most disappointing thing about it," added the City manager.
City did have their moments - a couple of first half shots inside the area were followed by a couple of long range efforts from Jason Knight, and two presentable chances for Andi Weimann to flick goalward. Late on, with City still trailing only 1-0 there were shouts for a penalty as 17-year-old Ephraim Yeboah wriggled his way through the defence and was brought down, but the referee didn't agree.
Pearson was quick to dismiss any talk of that penalty shout. "No, I don’t see any reason to start trying to look for things that aren’t there. The bottom line is they didn’t create anything, we didn’t create a great deal, but we should get something out of the game."
He had little positive to say about Cardiff City either - concluding that City should have beaten them, and only have themselves to blame that they didn't. "I’ve just been told they (Cardiff City) are fifth, well good for them, but I wouldn’t say that they are a sparkling side at all," he said. "I rue the fact that we’ve not been able to make the most of the possession we’ve had. We’ve looked relatively comfortable for a lot of the game. I don’t think think they caused us too many problems at all - they didn’t really open us up, but we concede two goals from our own possessions, which has ultimately cost us the game."
It was a big day, despite the result for two young teenagers who have come through the Bristol City Academy. Joseph Jones, 17, made his first full debut for City just a few days after coming on as sub on Wednesday at home to Ipswich. He started at right back and played well, and did not look out of place. He was replaced in the second half by Jamie Knight-Lebel, an 18-year-old making his senior debut. The Canadian under-20 international moved to centre back and made some robust challenges as City battled for an equaliser late on, while 17-year-old Ephraim Yeboah continued his run of appearances off the bench.
For Nigel Pearson, even the presence of three teenagers wasn't exactly a positive sign, more a sign of necessity. "If I’m honest, I don’t want to keep talking about how good it is that we keep giving debuts to players," he said. "The bottom line is we’ve got a small squad and we’ve got a lot of players missing, which means we need to use younger players. It’s a lot easier to give them debuts when the team is playing ok, but at the minute I suppose you can look at it from a positive point of view, but I’m a bit tired of talking about it to be fair," he added.
The injuries on Wednesday night at home to Ipswich to Matty James and Hayden Roberts meant City could name an Injured XI and even have the luxury of a sub, with now 12 first-team regulars out. There's little hope for too many of them to come back, but Pearson gave an update on which of them might be back first.
"Maybe Zak Vyner, Kal Naismith, we’ll see. There’s no point me saying now. I didn’t know before the game, I’m not going to know after the game. I don’t think a great deal has changed. Clearly we need to start finding wins again, because it’s disappointing to lose games which are relatively tight, not a lot in it, it’s a bit of a shame for us," he explained.
Matty James and Hayden Roberts both picked up ankle injuries on Wednesday, Pearson said. "Both him (James) and Hayden picked up ankle injuries in the game against Ipswich. You can’t do a great deal about injuries you pick up in games. We have a long list of injuries at the minute but there’s only one of them which is potentially avoidable in training, but the rest of them are injuries picked up in games, and they are impact and trauma injuries, so I’m afraid that’s what you get sometimes in football and we’ve got a small squad so we’re suffering at the minute,." he added.
