The Guardian & Bristol Post : Bristol City v Cardiff City

The Guardian Report: ' Bristol City v Cardiff City '


Saturday 4th November 2017

Bristol City delight in Severnside honours as Aden Flint sinks Cardiff

Bristol City recorded the sweetest of victories over 10-man Cardiff City in a feisty Severnside derby, a spicy match that was never short of drama, to move to within a point of Neil Warnock’s side. In the buildup, Lee Johnson had warned supporters this may not be the spectacle they have come to expect in recent months but this proved a priceless first win over Cardiff in five years. Johnson had urged his players to make themselves heroes and it was Aden Flint who popped up with a second-half winner after goals by Joe Bryan and Cardiff’s Omar Bogle, who was given a straight red card for an unsavoury lunge on the Bristol City midfielder Marlon Pack.

This match-up was never going to be short of needle. Warnock enjoyed a rivalry with Gary Johnson when the father of the current Bristol City manager, Lee, was in charge of the Robins, which stemmed from Freddie Sears’s disallowed “ghost goal” for Crystal Palace at Ashton Gate in 2009. Warnock said he was “cheated” that day. These days, Warnock is a foe of Johnson Jr. While in charge of Rotherham United in April 2016, he took exception to Johnson’s “disgraceful” pre-match comments in April 2016, adding that he had “never had a hot shower” at Ashton Gate. Before this fixture, Warnock laughed off comments made by Leroy Rosenior that suggested the Cardiff manager was “detested” by Robins supporters. “I wouldn’t use a word as nice as that,” Warnock said, smiling. He certainly relishes his role as the pantomime villain in these parts.

Johnson was forced into three changes, with Jamie Paterson and Eros Pisano missing through injury while the captain, Bailey Wright, was serving the first of a two-match ban after being found guilty of simulation against Fulham on Friday, much to the bewilderment of the Robins, with the chief executive officer, Mark Ashton, confirming the club will consult their legal team after receiving the full written evidence from the Football Association next week. Warnock, meanwhile, made one change from his side’s win over Ipswich Town, with the former Bristol City midfielder Lee Tomlin dropping to the bench. Tomlin, who scored against Cardiff last season, was sentenced at Leicester crown court on Friday after admitting affray following a brawl in January, while the player was still at Bristol City.

Warnock was not the only person inside Ashton Gate to enjoy the spice of this encounter. For the hosts, a pair of Bristolians and academy graduates, Joe Bryan and Bobby Reid, again dovetailed superbly to play starring roles here.

It was Bryan, who joined the club aged eight, who fed O’Dowda for the opener after 20 minutes. The versatile midfielder drove forward with gusto from the left before picking out the Republic of Ireland winger, who jinked inside before wrapping his left boot around the ball and beyond Neil Etheridge in the Cardiff goal. Moments later, Etheridge denied Milan Djuric from close range after the giant 6ft 6in striker flicked O’Dowda’s low cross goalwards at the front post. After 33 minutes, there was a warming applause for Darren Hawkins, the former Bristol City academy player who died aged 33 last week.

A key moment as Omar Bogle is sent off.
A key moment as Omar Bogle is sent off. Photograph: Evere/Huw Evans/Rex/Shutterstock
Cardiff’s pace in wide areas continued to cause the hosts problems, though, with Junior Hoilett twisting and turning before Frankie Fielding gathered. Then Bogle saw an effort trickle towards goal. City did not act upon those warnings, though, with Hoilett bamboozling Hordur Magnusson the byline before cutting the ball back for Bogle who did the rest, drilling home his second goal in five days after 41 minutes.

Perhaps it went to his head a little. After the break, Reid tried and failed to hoist Bogle up off the floor as play continued. Bogle’s next contribution was a two-footed lunge on Pack, which left the referee, Mike Jones, little choice but to send the Cardiff striker off 10 minutes into the second half. Barely 60 seconds later, Craig Bryson flew in on Bryan, earning a booking for his troubles. As both teams turned up the heat, the flow of the game dwindled.

Nothing could stop Flint’s powering – and ultimately match-winning – header a few minutes later, however. When Magnusson’s long throw from the right looped into the Cardiff area, an onrushing Flint sent his header arrowing into the top corner for his fourth goal of the season. He cupped his ear in celebration – mirroring the reaction of Scott Murray (now the Robins’ kit man) at Ninian Park in 2001 – before holding aloft a shirt on the touchline, in reference to Ben Pritchard, a youngster the players recently visited at a Bristol children’s hospice. For the hosts it doesn’t get much better than this; Josh Brownhill struck a post late on for them but it was already a case of job well done.





Aden Flint of Bristol City celebrates what proved the winner for Bristol City against Cardiff.

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Bristol City beat Cardiff City for first time since 2012 thanks to goals from Flint and O'Dowda -


Bristol Post


Saturday 4th November 2017


Bristol City won the Severnside derby after a pulsating match was played out at Ashton Gate on Saturday afternoon.

A close range header from Aden Flint following a Hordur Magnusson long throw won the game for the hosts in a 2-1 victory.

Before that Callum O’Dowda had curled in a magnificent opener before Omar Bogle equalised for Neil Warnock’s side.

Bogle received a red card halfway through the second period for a lunging two-footed challenge and from then on it looked a big possibility that Lee Johnson’s side would take the win. So it proved.

Aden Flint celebrates his goal for Bristol City
Bristol City were forced into three changes from the mid-week win against Fulham. Bailey Wright’s late suspension, Eros Pisano’s bad thigh injury and a tweaked hamstring for Jamie Paterson meant that Milan Djuric, Hordur Magnusson and Nathan Baker came into the side.

Cardiff made one change as Craig Bryson made a start, with former Robin Lee Tomlin instead beginning on the bench.

And a high-octane opening few minutes saw either side tested to the utmost. An early booking for Lee Peltier who blocked off O’Dowda from attacking down the right set the standards for referee Mike Jones, and several crunching challenges set up the initial attacks.

First Reid tried to release O’Dowda before Cardiff lost the influential Mendez-Laing to injury, replaced by on-loan midfielder Liam Feeney, before the first goal came.

Callum O'Dowda
After Brownhill had failed to pick out a team-mate from a good crossing position and Warnock’s side had laid siege to the Bristol City penalty box with several set-pieces, O’Dowda produced some magic by cutting in from the right after Bryan’ crossfield pass.

The Irishman curled in his second goal of the season for the Robins and his first in the Championship as Ashton Gate erupted, with 20 minutes gone.

Thereafter Lee Johnson’s side played the better with several half chances falling for Reid and a Magnusson free-kick deflected wide.

And the home side held out until four minutes before half-time as Omar Bogle drilled through Frank Fielding’s legs on 41 minutes after collecting a neat cutback from Junior Hoilett, the Canadian winger escaping the close range attention of Hordur Magnusson.

Omar Bogle celebrates his goal
Moments before the equaliser Bogle had messed up a great one-on-one opportunity as he broke the offside trap. There was no second reprieve for Flint and co however.

After the break the even contest continued until Bogle went from hero to villain.

The 24-year-old former Wigan forward looked to be frustrated after not being awarded a free-kick in the middle of the pitch and suddenly launched a two-footed tackle into Marlon Pack.

Unfortunately for the Bluebirds’ striker it was right under the nose of referee Mike Jones who promptly brandished a red card.

Another yellow minutes later as Craig Bryson caught Joe Bryan late was followed by the Robins taking the lead again.

Hordur Magnusson launched a long throw from the right and there was Flint, soaring high, to head in powerfully past Etheridge on 66 minutes.

Aden Flint celebrates after scoring his goal
The Bristol City talisman’s fourth league goal of the season was marked by the defender unfurling a Bristol City shirt dedicated to Ben Pritchard, a youngster at the nearby Children’s Hospice.

A late cameo by former Robin Lee Tomlin (who received a mixed reception from the home crowd), Josh Brownhill smacking the post from wide on the right and a late flurry of close-range free-kicks for Warnock’s team ended the game.

But it’s Johnson’s team who continue their march up the Championship table.

Bristol City: Fielding, Flint, Baker, Magnusson, O'Dowda, Brownhill, Smith, Pack (Taylor 67’), Bryan, Djuric, Reid (Woodrow 81’).

Unused subs: Steele, Vyner, Bakinson, Leko, Eliasson

Cardiff City: Etheridge, Ecuele Manga, Morrison, Bamba, Paterson, Bryson (Tomlin 84’), Ralls, Peltier, Mendez-Laing (Feeney 7’, Ward 55’), Hoilett, Bogle

Unused subs: Halford, Connolly, Damour, Murphy

Referee: Mike Jones

Attendance: 21,692 (3,068 away)

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