Bristol City fan's view by Matthew Withers
HOW important Jon Stead's 90th-minute winner will prove to be, only time will tell.
There have been a lot of positive comments coming from the players in respect of Sean O'Driscoll's training methods and the way that he focuses the mind.
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Some of what has been said has also questioned the ways of previous manager Derek McInnes, with Louis Carey saying that the players have learned more in the last week than in the previous 12 months.
O'Driscoll took to centre stage for the first time at home against Ipswich and quietly walked around the side of the pitch to his technical area before the start, acknowledging the City faithful with a polite yet reserved raise of the hand.
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This demeanour is certainly different to the larger-than-life character of Gary Johnson and the energetic Derek McInnes.
There is no doubt that O'Driscoll is a thinking man and he will go about his business in his own way. If he can get the team playing some decent football and putting in 100 per cent effort then he will do for me.
New signing Brendan Moloney made his debut at right-back in a 4-4-2 formation. The former Forest man made a number of energetic runs forward and did a sound job defensively.
Though the team looked more solid, we again failed to keep a clean sheet, which is a major worry in our survival battle. While City looked more organised, there was a distinct lack of width. Liam Fontaine was culpable for the goal we conceded, looking to play offside and then not being strong enough to stand up to Daryl Murphy.
City were lucky not to go two-down when Lee Martin missed the target from inside the six-yard box with the goal at his mercy. This missed opportunity seemed to shake the City crowd into life.
Ryan Taylor was forced to leave the field with a broken collarbone, which could see the youngster miss the majority of what remains of the season.
His withdrawal saw the introduction of Steven Davies and it was City's top scorer who got his side back into the game following a clever ball from Paul Anderson.
Both sides had chances, but the game seemed to be heading for a draw until City created one more opportunity. Davies was again involved, knocking down a header into the path of fellow striker Stead. The chance seemed to have gone as Stead controlled the ball and elected to take it inside, but the former Ipswich front-man knew what he was doing and found the target.
The new head coach decided to keep his players out on the pitch to analyse some of the game and complete their warm down. It shows that even in victory O'Driscoll still thinks things through and, hopefully, we can continue the improvement tomorrow night.
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