Bristol City 2 Charlton Athletic 1

Not sure what to think about that. Watching was quite intense, but looking back the game was split into intervals. One thing is for sure we did not deserve to lose.

I thought the first half hour we imposed ourselves on the game excellently with Sam Field as the midfield pivot the real catalyst for our high pressing driving game. We held the ball well and had some good forward moments in the 1st half without really threatening, but nor did they.

Losing first Field and then JFC, now in an even more alien position of left-back, was a killer. You could tell it shook us. The changes weren’t necessarily drastic although I don’t like Solly at left back and Pratley was clearly being saved for Saturday, but it hit our flow and I’m sure Bowyer was pleased to get them back to the changing room.

After a team talk we started the 2nd half on the front foot, moving the ball well, and getting in down the wings. Bonne had a fine curling shot just wide. I was impressed with Kayal’s confidence and he was fully involved. The Israeli also had a shot pushed over. Gallagher was buzzing about and we were getting close to taking the lead.

Then there was a crazy five minutes as the pendulum changed and City were throwing everything at us. Black shirts were blocking everything and lady luck shone for a few. Phillips made a couple of fantastic saves to keep it goalless.

Then we broke out quickly and Bonne, who was excellent throughout, kept his composure as the City keeper raced out to meet a lovely Kayal through-ball, but he was 2nd best as Bonne came away with it and planted the ball into the empty net in front of 1,300 Addicks.

In the ten minutes that followed we could easy have got a second. Bonne had a one-on-one saved and Pratley trying to catch City’s errant keeper out, almost scored with a magnificent curling shot.

City were still dangerous and made a couple of substitutions, and two of them were to have a big impact on the game. Diedhiou scored the equalizer, although he knew little of it.

After that goal the game settled down and looked to be heading for a draw. With 4 minutes left Diedhiou got rightly sent off for kicking Pearce on the ground three times. Lee Johnson said he will appeal. Honesty wtf.

We seemed to panic then and showed our naivety. Meanwhile ex-Charlton youngster Kasey Palmer was very influential and it was his 98th minute pass forward that saw Brownhill break our hearts.

Bowyer’s substitution of Kayal for Aneke was the main talking point, and hindsight is easy. Aneke I am sure was expected to be a large presence in midfield and hold the ball to wind down the clock, but he was poor and we caved after they went down to 10 men. Still, we did not deserve to come away pointless but the injuries to Field and JFC, plus news of Williams will make the journey back home a long one.

Addicks at Ashton Gate:
Bow: “But I said to the lads; ‘we have to learn from this’. We have to be more ruthless. The amount of chances that we had in the first half in so many good areas and we just didn’t punish them.“
Elsewhere: Just 5 points separate top from us in 10th. Tonight Derby won late at home to Wigan, Hull won at Forest where Josh Magennis scored and saw red and Mitrovic scored a hat-trick as Fulham kept Luton at bay 3-2. Huddersfield and Middlesbrough drew 0-0.
Photo: @K_AndrewsPhotos