Bristol City back on top with 5 games to go!

[sephjnr]

After being cruely denied last week against Baaaadiff Stevie Brooker finally gets his goal, a last-gasp strike against Norwich sending City back up top with a handful of games to go. We've never won many games comfortably this season but somehow we've got the results we needed, and boy did we need this one! Fully in command in the first half (with Adebola furthering his goal count), fully out of gas in the second.

Andy D'Useless was absolutely attrocious as referee today, giving Norwich 90% of the decisions, one of the worst for a throw-in presented the Canaries the opportunity to level things after 70 minutes. We made damn hard work of counter-attacking until REALLY, REALLY late on when Brooks latched onto the ball after a few crazy hits in the box. The sheer roar of relief was immense!

There aren't (m)any easy games left, and next up are Southampton- we beat them convincingly at the Gate last autumn and they're in an even worse spot now. If we can win that one and do well against Wolves at home the following week it'll be a ton of momentum to take to Stoke in a few weeks. That's going to be HUGE.

[glennaldo_sf]

Your right... it'll be a huge match tonight. Problem with BC is their run in... only 2 home games left.. and they are against Wolves & Preston (the former promotion chasers themselves)... then is Stoke, Sheffied Utd and todays Southampton game away. I'm rooting for BC but its going to be tough. Good luck!

[monop_poly]

How can they be tops with goal differential of zero? An amazing close to the Championship season!.

[glennaldo_sf]

How can they be tops with goal differential of zero? An amazing close to the Championship season!.

I think it's minus two now. :o

[art]

How can they be tops with goal differential of zero?

Because the Championship sucks this year. Whomever goes up will almost surely do a Derby next year, hate to say.

[el-capitano]

How is Nicky Carle going over there? We've heard some good things about his performances- can some one give me an update! Cheers.

[Wezza]

Good win by Bristol today over Crystal Palace. 2 more wins to the premiership, sounds easy enough! ;)

Nick Carle had a good game today, set up both goals for Bristol. Played pretty deep though, hopefully they play him further up the park in the return leg.

[glennaldo_sf]

Beautiful goals today! Deserved win Crystal Palace looked toothless for some reason or another. I really want to see a Bristol City vs. Hull playoff final.

congrats!

[NapoliSupporter]

Increadible goal by Noble!

Do they use the away-goal tiebreaker after 180 minutes in the playoffs?

[Wezza]

Beautiful goals today! Deserved win Crystal Palace looked toothless for some reason or another. I really want to see a Bristol City vs. Hull playoff final.

congrats!
Yeah i hope it's Hull v Bristol City playoff final as well!

Increadible goal by Noble!

Do they use the away-goal tiebreaker after 180 minutes in the playoffs?
Apparently away goals don't count for anymore in the playoffs.

[EagleAce]

Yeah, no away goals rule for the Playoffs, luckily.

We got outplayed, and they were more hungry, simple as that. Now bring on Ashton Gate.

[sephjnr]

Bring on Ashton Gate indeed :D

A draw will do it but I've a feeling the boys will want to do the double owing to their new-found confidence. Aimless lobs hoping to catch out Speroni were sparse compared to the wasteful efforts in the regular games; We've shown we can make shit up on-the-fly and not resort to panicking when it counts, and for better (or worse, Colin :P) our superior size and physical strength will be more than enough to hold them off.

As for Hull (likely), that'll be a different story when (not if) we come to it.

[John K]

Because the Championship sucks this year. Whomever goes up will almost surely do a Derby next year, hate to say.

All 4 teams in the playoffs are better than Derby. Watford being the worst and they got 30 points in the Premier league last year.

[sephjnr]

We've done it!

To be fair the 90 minutes was a catastrophe of happenstance; Palace got right back into it with a chip that confused the hell out of Basso and McCombe. Following the goal was a heart-wrenching hour of near-misses, dilly-dallying and pressured attacks until FT where everyone was on their feet roaring City on.

13 minutes into Extras that faith paid off as Lee Trundle finally nailed Speroni's pelt onto his own net from just outside the 18-yd box, the killer punch we needed to get back ahead. That pretty much did things from there but Michael McIndoe made doubly sure from a free kick in the second period. Moments later the ref blasted for full time and thousands of City fans poured onto the pitch to celebrate, Neil Warnock leaving under police protection.

Tomorrow we wait for Hull City to finally eradicate the woefully-underachieving Watford from the proceedings, and can look forward to Wembley Stadium, the waiting room of the football Gods.

[nathanakata]

im thinking its Bristol ct vs Hull NO DOUBT
would be a tough one..

my bet is on bristol ct..
EPL here we come!!!

[glennaldo_sf]

im thinking its Bristol ct vs Hull NO DOUBT
would be a tough one..

my bet is on bristol ct..
EPL here we come!!!

I thought Liverpool were already in the Premiership?

:confused:

[Terim is a legend]

Man what a night that wa,s atmosphere incredible, two great goals.

Also suggests that standing at football is safe because I sit in the Atyeo and I remember standing for the last 10 mins of extra time and only sat down for 2 mins of the 2nd half of extra time and I did not feel unsafe. Apparently, the Dolman Stand was moving, literally not exaggerating.

As for the cynics on the points about the low goal difference, well we just got thrashed on a couple of occasions which ruined it:

4-1 at WBA, a 2 goal loss more apt, 3-0 at Barnsley, again 1 goal or 2 goal margin may have been more apt, and we have dominated matches where we have only won by one goal. Oh yes, and a 6-0 loss at Ipswich in which everything went wrong, player sent off, best defender injured at 2-0 and went gung ho at the end and seemed to give up. And Ipswich were excellent, again 2-0 or 3-0 may have been more of a normal score in the event of things not going disastrously wrong. Last but not least, Plymouth when they came, we had 24 shots and scored one goal and lost which beggared belief and we could had one or two things been different had a goal difference of +10 instead of +1.

Never mind, we're off to Wembley which nobody would have predicted last August on our long awaited return to this League and we beat the favourites for the play offs home and away.

[UShornet]

Congrats to WBA and Stoke.

Bristol City and Hull to fight it out, gluck to both.

So long as Wolves and Palace didn't go up. I only give WBA a chance to stay up next season but we'll see.

[RichardL]

As for the cynics on the points about the low goal difference, well we just got thrashed on a couple of occasions which ruined it:

had one or two things been different had a goal difference of +10 instead of +1.
.

The worrying thing would be that a goal difference of +10 is still pretty poor for a team looking to go up. And if you are getting thrashed in the championship, it doesn't bode too well for the division above.

I think talk of "Doing a Derby" is mislplaced as Derby were quite exceptional, posting statistically the worst season ever since the league started in 1888, but Watford style seasons should be a big worry. It's a shame. It's bad enough that a few years back, fans of promoted teams realised they were as likely as not to go straight back down, without now having to worry about whether they can expect a humiliating season as well.

It's a different world, and unless clubs can get two or three wins under their belts early on, it'll be a very hard season.

[glennaldo_sf]

Oh well guys tough luck. Some losing finalists in the past like Preston and Leeds have declined but some - like WBA, West Ham, etc. have come back up the following season, so I'm sure Bristol City can build on this season. Great fight back at the end of the game. Unlucky