Bristol City brought the curtain down on pre-season with a victory over Dutch club FC Twente.
Eredivisie winners as recently as 2010, under former England boss Steve McClaren, Twente were beaten 2-0 at Ashton Gate on Friday evening.
Having taken a first half lead when Marlon Pack headed in Jamie Paterson’s freekick only the woodwork denied summer signings Eros Pisano and Famara Diedhiou from scoring too to extend the lead.
The second did come after the break though when Joe Bryan curled home a freekick on an evening that didn’t give the 63 travelling Twente fans much to cheer.
Bristol City: Fielding, Pisano, Wright (Flint 46), Hegeler (Magnusson 46), Bryan (Kelly 70), Brownhill (O’Dowda 46), K.Smith, Pack, Paterson (Morrell 81), Reid (Engvall 63), Diédhiou (Hinds 81).
Commenting on the Official Website after the game Lee Johnson, pleased with Bristol City’s progress so far, admitted it can be tough when facing foreign teams as the level of opposition can be questionable at times.
However, having finished seventh in Holland last season they were a decent opponent but the boss ultimately knows the real test of how far City have come in pre-season will be known in the coming weeks when the Championship season gets underway.
‘It`s always difficult when you play a foreign team because you`re not quite sure what the standard is,’ said Johnson. ‘But we know the Eredivisie is a good league and they finished mid-table last season. There were a few nice things that we did, but the real acid test is coming next week and we`ll go from there.’
Adding: ‘I`m delighted with where we are at this point. We`ve been intense in every game we`ve played and tonight we could`ve won by a couple more goals against good opposition who were in Europe not so long ago. It went a little bit stale in the last 15 minutes when we needed to play forward a bit earlier, but I can`t grumble too much.’
Johnson does feel City have improved during the summer though and are a better side than the one seen last season and the Robins can be a match for all in the Championship on our day.
‘I genuinely feel we`ve improved. You see things and read things that make you think ‘no one really fancies us`, but I feel the players we`ve brought in are not only good players but good team players, which gives everyone else that extra one or two per cent,’ added the boss. ‘If we can keep the morale and keep the team spirit, and if the fans can get on board with what we`re trying to do, we`ll be a match for anybody in this tough division.’
