By Jack Watson
That was a very different game of football compared with our previous two games against The Owls and Blackburn. It was more equal and we played similary to how we played last season; slowly building our attacks from the back, which I did not mind because, compared with last season, we seem to be able to concede fewer goals and make less sloppy mistakes. We just struggled to stick the ball in the back of the net tonight. Thankfully, Bristol faced the same dilemma.
It was nice to be back under the lights of the MKM Stadium, after picking up three points in Lanchester last week, as the opening Championship fixture of the week. Heading into the game, we have lost one and won two in our first few opening fixtures of the season and we were looking to win our third consecutive game, which we have not done since the 21/22 season. For the visitors, making the grim 8 hour journey on a Friday night, backed by 700 loyal fans, they have drawn one, lost one and won one in their opening few games. In the reverse fixture last season, I made the long trip down to watch us get beaten 1-0 and I was hoping we could get our revenge tonight and send them home with the same feeling I had.
Rosenior made no changes to the starting eleven and I wonder if this is going to be our locked in starting line-up for the season. According to LiveScore, we were in a 4-2-3-1 formation, which seems to working, with Matt Ingram, in goal; Lewie Coyle, Alfie Jones, Sean McLoughlin and Jacob Greaves, holding the fort at the back; Regan Slater and Jean Seri below them and Adama Traore, Ozan Tufan and Scott Twine, making his home debut, were distributed above Liam Delap, who was up-front on his own. On the bench was: Ruben Vinagre; Allayhar Sayyadmanesh; Harry Vaughan; Xavier Simons; Oscar Estupinan; Andy Smith; Thimothee Lo-Tutala; Cyrus Christie and, the man on fire, Aaron Connolly. Our bench is building and getting stronger every week and I have heard that we should be expecting more to come. What an exciting team we have; I just wish we can do something special with it.
In the first period we looked hungry and we found our stride from the beginning and it was safe to say that we had control; passing it nicely, creating chances and not allowing Bristol to have any time on the ball. On the quarter hour mark, we had the first opportunity to take the lead; Seri picked out Traore, who drove towards goal, but his shot was stopped by the side netting. Not to worry, though, shortly after this, we took the lead. In the 17th minute, Liam Delap outstripped Vyner on the right wing and his neat cross was finished superbly by Tufan, who struck first time and netted his fourth goal of the season, putting him first as the top goalscorer in the Championship–i'm pretty sure he has scored more than Haaland!
For the remainder of the half, we allowed Bristol to settle into the game, which was galling, and we were on the back foot. They had two very good chances to equalise around the 30 minute mark; Joe Williams lofted a 10-yard opportunity over an unguarded goal and later, we had to block about five shots in the box until we snuffed out the danger. We should never have allowed them back into the game and we needed to fight for another goal, which we know we can do. Take the Sheffield Wednesday game two weeks ago as an example; we scored one goal and went on to score three more. We must be more consistent and have the same resilience and determination every week.
Just before the end of the half, the visitors scored, which was similar to how we conceded against Blackburn. Knight shot from inside the box, but it deflected into the feet of Wells, who tapped it into an open net. However, thankfully, a very delayed assistant’s flag saw his effort chalked off the scoreboard. I know it was ruled offside, but I felt like we could have prevented this from happening by being more switched on at the back. Also, I thought that if the officials made a decision, they could not overturn it. In that case, surely they should have disallowed the last minute goal by Norwich in the opening game of the season? Anyway, we headed into the break with a very fortunate lead.
The second period started the same as the first 45 minutes ended; Bristol looked like they wanted the three points more. And, after 15 minutes of purely dominating in possession, they equalised. At the end of a smooth passing move, Sykes' low cross was tapped in at the far post by Wells, which was a similar finish and set up to Tufan’s goal in the first half. Strangely enough, Bristol switched off and it was our turn to look for a response. We were very lucky that they did not carry on with the way they were pressing us, otherwise it would have been a very different scoreline.
The only good chances we had to take the lead was a fierce Twine free-kick, which was tipped over the bar, and star substitute Aaron Connlolly charged clear on goal from an excellent pass, but shot straight at the keeper. Considering we only had two opportunities in 28 minutes–plus six minutes of extra time–it just shows how much time we spend with the ball pinging it around, going backwards and doing nothing with it. Another flaw in the performance was that none of our players would take on their players; they would turn around and revert back. There are a couple of things we need to rectify before we face a big team next week, Leicester City, who are unbeaten. If we play like we did today, I hate to say it, but we will get battered by The Foxes.
I do not know how I feel about the game today; it was mediocre, it could have gone either way and we took our foot off the gas after we scored. I took my sister to this game as well and she said that it was better than the Doncaster match, but it was a little bit boring. However, I do trust that we will go to The King Power Stadium next week, which I will be going down to watch, with a different attitude and be the same team who battered Wednesday and fought back to win after conceding against Blackburn.
