Bristol City assistant manager Dean Holden has said that spirits in the camp are extremely high after our efforts in the League Cup and he wants the side to take that into the Championship campaign.
Well known Ian Holloway heads back to Ashton Gate this weekend with Queens Park Rangers and they are our first match since the Manchester City tie and Holden is hoping to see our spirit and togetherness come back into the Championship campaign now so we can kick on again in the league.
Speaking to the Official Site with our cup run high in the thoughts of everyone, he explained.
‘Going as far back as the first round against Plymouth Argyle, we have used many players in the squad. We’ve beaten four Premier League teams and have gone to-to-toe with the best team in Europe Manchester City. Ultimately we’ve been knocked out by two late goals. The lads, for the way they have approached every game in the competition, deserve a lot of credit. The club and our fans have been talked about on a global scale, which has been great. Being from Manchester myself I know a lot of Manchester City fans have talked about the semi-final first leg (2-1) and they said they hadn’t felt an atmosphere like that at the Etihad Stadium for quite a few years.’
Holden went on to say.
‘It’s done now. We can look back on it with pride but now we have a massive three-and-a-half months ahead of us to make sure we have nights like that every other week here at Ashton Gate. It creates a spirit we might not have had without it; the results, the emotion and some of the incidents we have had along the way, the players really felt the love from the fans.’
Sitting fifth in the table, Holden also knew that the season was far from over and we had to readjust our targets once again as the Play Offs are still to be secured.
‘The focus now has to stay on the league and that’s the challenge for the players. We expect them to fully focus on QPR, which will be a tough game at the weekend and Mr Holloway is coming back here so there will be added spice to that. The place will be rocking and it’s up to us to get back to winning ways in the league and that’s what we want to do quickly. Going out of the cup now, even though it was just one more game to go, it gives everyone the chance to have an extra couple of days between fixtures to fully focus on the next game. We’re on an even keel now with the rest of the Championship. We have the same preparation time as them now so that’s a positive.’
Holden also confirmed that Frank Fielding remains out following the groin injury he picked up against Derby County. He was withdrawn on his old stomping ground at half time after picking up the issue and he’s likely to be out for three weeks.
‘Frankie is going to be out for anywhere between ten days and three weeks. It`s difficult to put an exact timescale on it because everyone heals differently. If Frankie and I both had the same injury, it doesn`t mean we`d both be fixed in the same amount of time. We just have to the medical team do their work with Frankie and hopefully he`ll be back as soon as possible.’
In other injury news he confirmed Famara Diedhiou could be ready to start again now following his substitute appearances after returning from a knee injury and Nathan Baker has shrugged off his ankle problem.
