Away-day success pleases Nigel Pearson

Bristol City boss Nigel Pearson was pleased to see his team win 3-1 against what he feels is a “good home side” in Rotherham.

The Robins ended a hoodoo at Rotherham that had seen them winless there since 1995.

Victory also saw them go above the Millers in the Championship table and get their first win in the league since mid-October.

The Robins went ahead on 14 minutes when Wes Harding turned Nahki Wells’ cross into his own net.

Rotherham managed to level on 25 minutes with Chiedozie Ogbene perfectly placed to nod in Brooke Norton-Cuffy’s backpost cross.

The visitors regained the lead with 30 minutes gone after Joe Williams prodded in from close-range after Tommy Conway had found space to cross down the left flank.

Cameron Pring’s first ever goal for the club secured victory on 73 minutes as he clinically headed in from Alex Scott’s whipped delivery.

Rotherham kept going until the end but City goalkeeper Max O’Leary was in good form and denied substitute Georgie Kelly a consolation goal deep into injury time.

Pearson said: “These are always going to be tight games and I suppose we caused them similar types of problems to what they normally pose to their opponents.

“All three goals came from a ball from a wide area and that is encouraging for us.

“We are blessed with a bit of pace up front. The strikers (Wells and Conway) ran themselves into the ground. Neither were on the scoresheet but they were very much involved in the game.

“It was important to try and start quicker than them. They score a big proportion of their goals early in games and I think they are a very good home side.

“We always feel that we have got goals in us. We have not always had enough goals from midfield but Joe has popped up with one.

“It was a decent performance. I thought we managed the clock very well, to the extent that it irritates the crowd, which always amuses me. We have had it done to us so many times. It’s interesting to observe that we can do it, but I still think we could have run the clock down more efficiently.”

Rotherham manager Matt Taylor was critical of his side’s defensive performance.

He said: “It is really tough to take. Those goals came from the middle of the pitch and we had a poor day defensively.

“We are better defensively than we showed today. I hope it’s a one off from a defensive aspect.

“They were basic delivery in behind our backline – we could not deal with it. We tried to shore that up second half and chase the game but our execution and quality started to let us down.

“Second half we didn’t create enough chances. They sat a little bit deeper. We did not beat enough players one-versus-one and there was not enough quality.

“We were a little bit slow and stodgy and we did not work the goalkeeper enough.

“Where we need to be as a team, defensively, we weren’t. Conway and Wells really hurt us.

“Today was a really big missed opportunity because we think we are well-matched with Bristol City.

“We should have had more to show at half-time.”