There was a feeling amongst Saints supporters before this game that Bristol City were a bit of a bogey side, as they had won 3 and drawn 1 of their last 4 games against us, but in the end it wasn't a problem.

At the final whistle it was a comprehensive result but it wasn't till the last 10 minutes that the game was truly put to bed.

In fact the early stages of the game saw the visitors in the driving seat and it took a superb save from Daniel Peretz,a spectacular goal line clearance from Keven Schlotterbeck and Tolaj had a header from a corner headed off the line soon after to keep the scores level and it looked like it may be heading that way at half time, before the game exploded into life in the 38th minute.

It was Finn Azaz who again provided the assist for the goal, passing the ball to Cyle Larin who then hit a great shot from the edge of the box into the top corner to leave the keeper no chance and open the scoring.

City still fancied their chances and you felt a second goal was needed and that came on the hour when again it was Larin the scorer who pounced on a loose ball this time from close range.

You felt now that we were in the driving seat, but City had other ideas and just 5 minutes later they had halved the deficit and again it was a lapse in concentration from Saints to push out and leave Tolaj to stab the ball home from close range, the crowd felt that it was offside, but he was clearly being played on.

The mood was getting tense now, but Saints held firm and as it went into the final 10 minutes you felt that there was another goal in the game and it came when Finn Azaz laid the ball across to Kuryu Matsuki to fire it past the keeper to make it 3-1.

Now it was surely over, certainly the travelling City fans thought so as many started to leave and their decision was vindicated when Divin Mubama won a battle on the half way line and headed towards goal and laid the ball through to Finn Azaz who took a few strides and calmly put it past the keeper.

Nerves were now firmly back under control and City deflated.

But the score in many respects flattered Saints, although we just about shaded possession it was the visitors who dominated the stats, they had 21 shots, we had just 10, Daniel Peretz had to make 4 saves whereas their keeper made just 1, however it was the goals for stat that mattered.

Yes perhaps Saints had to ride their luck a bit in the early stages, but you felt that they controlled the game in the main and that the key players in the spine of the team once again did their jobs, Schlotterbeck looks a great find and James Ward Prowse ruled the centre of midfield, even after Flynn Downes failed to reappear after the break to be replaced by Cameron Bragg.

Ahead of them Finn Azaz had a hand in 3 of the goals, assisting on 2 and scoring 1 himself and then of course up front Cyla Larin just keeps scoring.

The pleasing point though was the substitutions, Tonda Eckert has been much maligned in the past few weeks about his changes, but in this game he got them spot on, Bragg on for the injured Downes and Tom Fellows for Leo Scienza who was having a bit of an off day.

When Cyle Larin departed on 78 minutes with the score at 2-1 many were a little worried, but in fairness David Mubama came on and showed that he has something, his contribution for the final goal by Finn Azaz showed that he has the strength.

The only thing that I expected to happen in the final minutes of the game that didn't happen was the appearance of Zach Abbott from the bench, 4-1 up and the game seemingly won, this was an ideal opportunity to give him some game time, if he is that highly rated the manager should have enough confidence in him to do so.

Let's be blunt if you aren't going to give him a run up at 4-1 up, when are you going to do so.

In truth as I have mentioned the score flattered the performance, but the sign of a good side is that they win games when they aren't at their best and Bristol City are a good side and played well, we had to dig in and grind out the result.

So we moved up into the play off spots, 7th to be exact, although with Wolves win at Sheffield United we have dropped back to 8th, however without that 4 point deduction we would now be 2nd and that is a true reflection of our performances.

We have had a difficult and uncertain summer and that has not helped our planning, but we are ahead of the game when compared to last season and from this respect even with the deduction we have more points than from the same number of games last year.

We have in 4 of them won all three points when last season we drew 3 and lost the 4th.

We will only get stronger and better as the season goes on and hopefully like last season, we can improve the side further in the January transfer window.

The only overall concern is that we are yet to win an away game of the 3 we have played, if we do that at Wrexham next week then we will truly be on the right path.

On a final note, the strangest thing of the day was that referee Sam Allison lives near Bristol and apparently he and one of his cousins actually played for Bristol City, although In Allison's case it appears to be just as a youth player.

Even Bristol City fans cannot believe that he is allowed to referee their games.

Via Reuters

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