Bristol City’s post-match plans were blown off course as their flight home was cancelled in the wake of their goalless draw with Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.
Having claimed a creditable draw on Wearside thanks mainly to the excellence of their goalkeeper Max O’Leary, who made a string of important saves, City’s players and staff had been due to fly home from Newcastle Airport.
However, high winds resulted in their flight being cancelled, meaning they had to hastily draw up new plans that now involves a 300-mile coach trip back to the south west.
Bristol City boss Liam Manning said: “Our flight home has been cancelled. It’s the wind apparently – it’s bad up here and apparently it’s quite bad in Bristol as well. We found out, as a club, at half-time, but I only found out after the final whistle.
“We’ll have to go by coach now so that’ll add about five hours to the journey home. I guess I’ll spend the time watching the game back. That’s how sad I am. I’ll stick it on the laptop, watch it back, and then use some of that in training next week.”
Manning was pleased with his side’s defensive resilience as they repelled a series of Sunderland attacks to claim a third successive clean sheet, although he admitted he was less satisfied with other aspects of his team’s display.
He said: “The result was more pleasing than the performance. It’s about getting the balance right. In the last two games, the performance and the result were exactly as we would have wanted them. Today, in terms of the performance, we know we can play a lot better.
“I thought there were little mistakes and little things not quite right. We showed a different side to ourselves though. We showed a resilience, a grit and a togetherness. People stepped up, like Max who was outstanding.
“Max made some excellent saves, especially in the first half. He was excellent, but then he has been so often for us. He’s made so many big saves for us.”
Sunderland were thrashed 5-1 by Blackburn on Bank Holiday Monday, so while he was frustrated that his side failed to take all three points, with Adil Aouchiche and Bradley Dack both hitting the crossbar, Mike Dodds was nevertheless delighted with his players’ response to their home humiliation at the start of the week.
Sunderland’s interim head coach said: “I think we had 20 shots on goal. If their goalkeeper isn’t man of the match I’ll be amazed. It was a positive reaction to the previous game, which psychologically is big for the players.
“The last performance was completely unacceptable. I’m disappointed we haven’t won because that should have been three points, and I think their goalkeeper has earned a point for them today.
“I was hoping to see a significant reaction from the players. I thought we got that and it could have been out of sight in the first half. It should have been a lot more comfortable.”
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