Bristol City boss Gerhard Struber salutes ‘big result at an important time’

Gerhard Struber hailed victory over in-form Middlesbrough as a “big result at an important time” for his Bristol City play-off contenders.

Emil Riis fired the home side in front from just outside the box after 17 minutes and substitute Rob Atkinson’s 62nd-minute header from a Scott Twine corner ensured that Kim Hellberg’s four-match winning start as Boro boss came to an end in the 2-0 loss.

City defended their lead with tenacity against impressive opponents in a thrilling match which did credit to the Sky Bet Championship, and Struber was understandably elated at seeing his side move to within two points of the top six.

He said: “Today we have played a really good team and had to change shape several times during the game to deal with them.

“Not only did the players manage that, they also defended our box outstandingly well, blocking lots of shots. The energy and spirit in our group shone through again.

“It is a big result at an important time because things haven’t gone for us in recent games and now the players can take huge confidence into the Christmas and New Year fixtures.

“They produced a fantastic team effort that again puts us close to the play-off positions going into a busy period. I’m delighted for Rob Atkinson because his goal followed a period of working extremely hard to recover from injury.”

Goalkeeper Radek Vitek, on loan from Manchester United, missed his first game of the season because of a knee injury sustained in training.

Struber said: “He just took a wrong step, but will be out for some weeks. Manchester United have been fully informed of his condition and we will talk with them again on Monday to see how to manage things going forward.

“It was a big game for Max O’Leary to come into and we need to help him grow in the coming weeks. Today was the first step and the clean sheet will give him a boost.”

Hellberg was far from downhearted about his first defeat as Boro boss, rightly pointing out that his team contributed much to a match packed with fast attacking football.

He said: “You always want to win and I am very disappointed to come away with no points. But in terms of performance it was a very good one away from home.

“I loved the energy of the players and how they fought throughout the game. There are things we can improve on and we will work to do that, but a lot of our football was very good.

“So it’s a weird feeling of being frustrated at losing, but proud of how we played. Our supporters showed by their reaction at the end how much they appreciated the efforts of the players and that was a special moment for me.

“We had a lot of opportunities to score against a really good team. I love the way Bristol City play. They are well coached and are brave in the way they press.”