Manager Lee Johnson has said he was delighted with Bristol City’s ‘grit and determination’ in the weekend’s clash with Sunderland.
Heading to the Stadium of Light for the tie against Simon Grayson’s side, City took a two one victory with Bobby Reid and Milan Djuric finding the net either side of Lewis Grabban’s consolation.
Speaking to the Official Site as he met with the media following the game, Johnson explained.
‘The grit and determination in horrible conditions was fantastic. We had to go away from our pass and move game today, taking Pato (Paterson) off and putting on the big man (Djuric). They were the better side in the first half and deservedly equalised just before half-time, even if we had four chances to clear it. We showed that we are capable of winning games in many different ways because we needed to be gritty today.’
Having admitted they were the better side, Johnson was obviously delighted to see us win in a different manner as we dug in and there was some individual praise to be spread as well.
‘Bobby has got a good leap. Dean Holden does a lot of work on set-pieces to make sure the players know their jobs. We`re right up there for the number of goals we`ve scored from set-pieces and I was delighted for Bobby to get his ninth goal of the season.’
Adding.
‘It was a fantastic delivery from Callum O`Dowda for the winner. It was a ‘come head me in ball` – that`s what we call it. It`s the kind of goal fans love; the big centre-forward coming in to head it home. Fitness-wise Milan is still catching up but as an ex-midfielder myself, he`s the kind of forward you want to play with. You can trust him to hold the ball up for you bring people into play. The way he peeled off his man to score shows everything that he`s about.’
With Nathan Baker being substituted with a recurrence of his recent knee injury, whilst a full assessment was required, Johnson was hopeful it wouldn’t be too serious.
Having scored the winner that took us to our first win in Sunderland for 18 years, Djuric was also briefly interviewed following the game for his thoughts, and he felt we were deserved winners.
‘It feels very good. This was a massive win for us; we believe in this win and I think we deserved it and we’re all very happy about it. It was a fantastic ball from Callum. The delivery was very good for me and I struck the ball with my head, scored and this was a fantastic sensation. I’m very happy about it because this goals means three points. It was perfect. The windy conditions made it difficult for everyone. When the goalkeepers plays a long ball, sometimes it goes long, sometimes it goes short, so this is very difficult to play in, but we won and it’s fantastic. I think it was a difficult game. We started well but we conceded at the end of the first half and it was a difficult finish, but we started the second period very well and I think we deserved this win.’
With Fulham next in midweek, he went on to say.
‘Tuesday is a good opportunity for us. We need to win all of our matches and I think this year we are ready to stay in the top six in the league. It’s another big game for us and we want the three points.’
