[themaclad]

It's a Saturday afternoon, it's 3 pm and its a team we rarely play Bristol City

Doesn't seem two minutes since the miracle of Ashton Gate can't see it being as warm as it was gthat Saturday

https://www.bcfc.co.uk/

MANAGER

Gerhard Struber (born 24 January 1977) is an Austrian professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of EFL Championship club Bristol City.[2]



FORM GUIDE



MYSTIC MACS FORM GUIDE

PNE 12 BRIZZLE 11

Did watch their hapless display last Sunday against Oxford, awful at the back and our ex Riis had a shocker

NEWBIES AND HOT SHOTS



T'OTHER GAMES



Team News

Brad Potts has stepped up his return by taking part in full training on Thursday, but manager Paul Heckingbottom said he'll look to give the midfielder minutes in reserve and U21 matches before he comes into contention.

Lewis Gibson has recovered from the neck injury which forced him off in the win over Derby County and he'll be available this weekend.

There are no fresh injury concerns, although Jordan Thompson, Robbie Brady and Will Keane are still ruled out.

The Visitors

After making it into the top six last season, Bristol City saw change at the top as Liam Manning departed and in came former Barnsley and New York Red Bulls boss Gerhard Struber.

The Austrian has enjoyed a positive start to life at Ashton Gate, accumulating 11 points from their opening six league matches, sitting third in the table going into the weekend’s round of fixtures.

Anis Mehmeti has been the Robins’ main source of goals so far this season, while former North End striker Emil Riis has netted three for his new club.

Match Officials

Referee: Bobby Madley
Assistant Referees: Emily Carney and Carl Fitch-Jackson
Fourth Official: Zac Kennard-Kettle

Experienced official Bobby Madley will take charge of Saturday’s match.

It’ll be the first time he’s refereed PNE since New Year’s Day, while his previous visit to Deepdale was the remarkable 17-16 penalty shootout victory over Fulham last September.

So far this season, Madley has shown 21 yellow cards and one red in five matches.

Madley, a woman and the off spring of Trevor Kettle, may the Lord have mercy on our souls

[themaclad]

Attendance: 15,295 (1,334 Bristol City fans).

Referee: Bobby Madley.

ITV were there yesterday, never a good sign for us, don't think we have won a match when we have been main game, yesterday was no different. Should probably have lost this but City's inability to hit a cow's arse with a banjo cost them a victory, although when they did get it on target they were denied by the Dane between the sticks.
Two smart saves in the first half, however those saves were dwarfed by an outstanding save in the 95th minute, Mehmeti a country distance City's outstanding outfield player, weaved his way past two defenders, left a third on his arse, and curled the ball past Iversen on the way to the back of the net, well it would have been but for a fingertip save from the Dane which pushed the ball around the post. Truly outstanding.
The visitors also had two other efforts, Twine scuffed horribly wide from about 10 yards, the aforementioned Mehmeti also given acre of space advanced on goal, one on one with the keeper, shot went past the left hand post.
City played well denied us space, but just couldn't score.
Although City looked the more likely side, Vitek at the other end made a double save from Gibson the first was a non too shabby, halfway through the first half we broke at pace(yes us) Dobbin to Osmajic clean through on goal but his first touch was woeful tosay the least, chance gone, also scuffed one wide in the second half.
So points shared thanks to the Dane with the gloves

HECK

Paul Heckingbottom was full of praise for goalkeeper Daniel Iversen for his huge last-minute save in the draw against Bristol City.

The goalkeeper had come up with a few decent stops to keep the visitors at bay in the stalemate at Deepdale, but in the fifth minute of added-time it looked for anything like Anis Mehmeti was going to snatch all three points for the Robins.

From just a few yards out, the forward shaped up and took aim, only to see the Dane come up with a remarkable save to keep his clean sheet intact.

Hecky said: “That's why we wanted him here. He makes big saves and they do win you points. You might be three up and they make a save so you were getting the points anyway, but when the game’s as finely balanced as that, you can see both teams are going at it trying to get the winner. Your head’s in your hands a little bit when it's that late and you see him through because you know there's no defenders around him and we really were relying on Dan there.

“The defenders have protected him so well at the beginning of season and he's come up with a big, big save today to get us the point.”

Aside from that save, it was a second half which didn’t see too much action in either box. Milutin Osmajić had North End’s clearest opening of the day in the first half, although was let down by a heavy touch which saw the ball run through to the goalkeeper, while Lewis Gibson came close with a couple of efforts.

Hecky said: “It's a good point. That's a game we weren't taking anything from last season. Our draws last season were frustrating. We were the better team in most and only coming away with a point.

“Today, that save at the end from Dan is the one that's got us the point. We knew it was going to be a tough game. We knew what their threats were and they were set up really well defensively and also happy for us to have the ball, particularly in the first half, and then they're dangerous when you first lose it and in transition with the front three and how they set up.

“We knew what the game would be like, it was exactly that and the only thing that was going to change the pattern would have been a goal.”

Herr Struber

Bristol City boss Gerhard Struber told BBC Radio Bristol:

"I think performance-wise it was really good. The boys realised in the end we had really good chances to win the game. I thought we had many battles on the field, which is what we would expect.

"In the end we were not so lucky today. I think we invested a lot in both directions. We invested so much in the opponents' half.

"In the end we deserved much more than one point but that's sometimes football and we have to accept that."

[themaclad]