JWSport Jacek Waszak – Sport journalist
It was thanks to Anis Mehmeti from Albania who gave hope and led the team to attack, while Scott Twine scored two goals in the second half, securing another 3 points for the team and promotion to fourth place in the Sky Bet Championship league table. During an evening of celebration, Zak Vyner became Bristol City’s record holder for the number of appearances in the championship, and 17-year-old Leo Pecover made his debut for Robin’s team.
On Tuesday evening, I was lucky again, as I wasn’t refereeing or coaching, I had the evening off, so I was able to watch the match. On 21 October, I arrived at the match at 7 p.m. The match officially started at 8 p.m. as planned. That’s how it was today.
I made a good choice coming to this match because, I have to tell you, the stadium is full, there are supporters everywhere, even the bar is packed and you can’t find a place to sit, and in the middle of the stadium, what an atmosphere, the supporters are singing and cheering on their clubs. About three thousand Southampton fans came to this match, which is a lot. The left side for the visiting fans is full, and that’s how it should be, so that everyone fills the entire stadium and you can hear the cheering for the visitors tonight. as well as very strong support from the hosts, which certainly helped this evening. Certainly, European stadiums still lack drums and flags, and there needs to be more loud singing, and then the twelfth player, the fans, are a very important piece of the puzzle, or a missing piece that is helpful to every team, and when it works, every team benefits from it.
Watching this match, I saw that Southampton had 67% possession, while Bristol City had only 33%, and it was unbelievable how the home team, Bristol City, used their cunning and guile to win. In turn, the hosts had a lot of shots on goal, as many as 13, while Southampton shot more, 14 times, but was unable to equalise or fight back, and so one shot made the difference and the result is incredibly different, 3-1 for the Robins.
The hosts sealed the victory and were successful, as the win that evening was clearly evident, 3–1 over Southampton, securing their second home win of the season thanks to a goal from Anis Mehmeti in the first half and two goals from Scott Twine in the second half.
The visitors started the match better and Adam Armstrong put Southampton Saints ahead in the 30th minute, scoring past Radek Vitek after a perfect pass from Shea Charles. However, the Saints’ lead lasted only a few minutes
2` Early action from City in the Robins’ half ends with the ball being deflected behind the goal line and a goal kick.
4` The first shot of the evening. A nice move by Southampton ends with the ball being passed to Jander in the Robins’ penalty area. He strikes with his right foot, but the ball flies over the bar and ends up as a goal kick.
8` This is the chance City has been waiting for. A clever pass from Sykes frees Twine, who runs from the halfway line towards the penalty area.
18` Good play from Borges gives Randell plenty of space in the centre of the pitch, with Riis running down his right side. Randell tries to pass the ball with the outside of his boot to the striker.
21` Southampton crosses from the left wing into the penalty area, and as Vitek comes out to catch the ball, Atkinson jumps high before the goalkeeper can react. It was an important intervention, which he made with apparent ease.
27` Albanian Mehmeti shows off his skills with a good move, taking a corner kick towards the back post, but the referee blows his whistle and asks him to retake it. It could have been a goal straight from the corner kick, just like when Polish player Kminski scored against Lithuania to make it 1-0.
He fails to do so and the Saints end their attack. A moment later, Sykes commits a foul in the middle of the visitors’ half. From the Robins’ point of view, the game is a bit chaotic.
30` The visitors take the lead. A clever pass from Shea Charles between Borges and Atkinson finds Armstrong, who rushes towards the Robins’ penalty area.
In a one-on-one situation with Vitek, the striker calmly lobs the goalkeeper and scores, causing euphoria among the visitors’ fans.
The Saints take the lead in the 30th minute, scoring against Radek Vitek after a perfect pass. However, the Saints’ lead lasted only a few minutes
Instead of passing to Riis, he decides to pass to Mehmeti on the left, and the winger sends the ball across the penalty area. It is a dangerous move, but the ball lands just behind Riis and the visitors manage to clear it.
Then we had a good attack, with Bristol City responding again with an ingenious move where Mehmeti fired a powerful shot with his right foot from 25 metres, which narrowly missed the goal, and in this situation, it should have been a goal with better precision.
42 Rob Dickie showed great play, stepping into the centre of the pitch to intercept a misplaced pass and then passing it to Sykes on the right side of the penalty area.
He positioned himself and shot with his right foot, but did not achieve the desired result. The shot was not weak enough to reach the player at the back post, but also not strong enough to hit the bottom corner of the goal.
He certainly made up for it, because in the 33rd minute, Anisa Mehmeti scored a beautiful goal one-on-one with goalkeeper Alex McCarthy to equalise.
At the start of the second half, both teams came close to scoring. Scott Twine wasted a great opportunity within a minute of the restart, weakly shooting the ball at Alex McCarthy from close range after a long throw-in fell his way.
Twine completed the comeback for the Robins, scoring twice after the break. He scored the first goal after a strange sequence of events, when the ball rebounded off Sinclair Armstrong and the post, and then extended City’s lead by scoring after a failed pass to the goalkeeper.
Moments later, at the other end of the pitch, the Saints came within inches of regaining the lead when Scienza ran in from the right and fired a powerful shot from 20 metres that hit the crossbar, beating Vitek.
In the 50th minute, the visitors had another great chance, again involving Scienza, whose corner found Charles at the near post, but he headed over the bar, beating Vitek.
51` Southampton really should be in the lead! The ball from the corner kick reaches City’s penalty area, and someone in Saints colours throws himself into the air to head the ball to Charles.
57` 57` The Robins take the lead! Borges passes the ball to Vyner, who fails to connect properly with the ball from the edge of the box. The ball rebounds off the post and lands at Twine’s feet.
From close range, the attacking midfielder lobs McCarthy and finds the net. An extremely calm finish from close range.
He strikes well, but from close range he misses the goal and the ball flies over the crossbar and lands behind the goal line.
Both teams were pushing for another goal, and City immediately went on the attack when Mehmeti cut inside with his right foot on the edge of the box and fired a shot that narrowly missed the far post.
It seemed that either team could take the lead, but unfortunately for the Saints, it was the hosts who ultimately did so.
They were quite fortunate, as Zak Vyner’s shot from outside the penalty area went wide, but on its way it hit substitute Sinclair Armstrong, rebounded off the inside of the post, flew across the goal and found Twine, who shot past McCarthy into the far corner.
In the 64th minute, Twine intercepted a misplaced pass from Southampton and ran unchallenged into Southampton’s half. When he reached the penalty area, he switched to his left foot and lobbed the ball over McCarthy into the net.
The Saints’ situation worsened when Caspar Jander’s loose pass towards the centre line was intercepted by Twine, who beat Wood and ran towards the goal, then lifted the ball over McCarthy to score the third goal for the hosts.
74` Southampton take a free kick in City’s penalty area and although it looks dangerous, the referee blows for offside… even though the linesman did not raise his flag.
79` Dickie is first to the corner and kicks the ball out to the left wing, where Armstrong runs with the ball along the touchline to win a throw-in in Southampton’s half.
83` Southampton have a chance to get back into the game when Robinson attacks the goal from the left, but his right-footed shot misses the post and lands behind the goal line. At the other end of the pitch, Armstrong forces a corner with a clever shot.
The victory puts the Robins in fourth place in the Championship table ahead of Wednesday’s games, and they return to action on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. when they play Birmingham City at Ashton Gate.
Bristol City – Southampton 3:1
ArmStrong 30′ , Mehmeti 33′ Twine 57′ Twine 64′
Bristol City: Vitek, Tanner, Dickie (kapitan), Atkinson (Roberts 90+2), Sykes (McCrorie 72), Vyner, Randell, Borges, Twine (Pecover 72), Mehmeti (Hirakawa 90+1), Riis (Armstrong 53).
Southampton : McCarthy, Fraser (Fellows 65), Edwards, Wood, Harwood-Bellis, Welington, Jander (Downs 78), Charles (Manning 65), Scienza, Archer (Robinson 66), Armstrong (kapitan).
Viewers 24,019
