Published: 15:57 BST, 20 September 2020 | Updated: 16:03 BST, 20 September 2020
Lee Johnson always had Bristol City there or thereabouts when it came to the Championship play-offs in the last three seasons – even if they never quite got over the line.
Though it’s early days yet, there are some encouraging signs that Johnson’s former assistant Dean Holden may finally get them there.
They had an impressive hold on this contest, claiming a deserved three points. Most importantly, it is four wins from four in this fledgling season.
Nahki Wells scored on the stroke of half-time after Bristol dominated the opening 45. The way in which they shut down the game in the second-half was equally as impressive and Andreas Weimann capped a fine afternoon’s work by scoring late on to seal it.
But there are alarming signs that Stoke face a repeat of last season’s relegation strife. They may well have shocked Wolves in the Carabao Cup in midweek but they’ve scored just once in four matches now.
Worse still, the Potters didn’t muster a single shot on target here and Michael O’Neill doesn’t have to search too far to diagnose the malfunctions within his team.
The Northern Irishman looked thoughtful as he chewed gum in his technical area, mulling on a dearth of creativity and probably little chance of rectifying it now on the club’s shoestring transfer budget.
It could well be a long winter and had the Stoke fans been here, there would surely have been vocal frustration at such a toothless performance. You imagine Weimann’s second would have sparked a mass exodus.
By contrast, early round Carabao Cup successes against lower league opposition and last weekend’s league win over Coventry have afforded a bit of early momentum for Holden and his team.
And the visitors wasted little time getting on the front foot here. Stoke boss O’Neill had spoken about wanting to restore the element of fear Premier League sides used to feel coming here and that presumably didn’t mean offering the opposition gifts.
Captain Sam Clucas misplaced an early backpass woefully, giving it straight to Wells who really should have finished but saw his shot blocked by keeper Adam Davies at point-blank range.
Stoke’s Jacob Brown tries to win the ball from Bristol City’s Jack Hunt during Sunday’s game
Bristol continued to swarm forward with the lively Weimann skewing an effort high and wide before Jack Hunt’s strike from outside the box whistled over the bar.
Stoke City (3-4-1-2): Davies; Chester, Batth, Martins Indi (Tymon 80); Smith, Mikel, Clucas (c), Fox; Powell; Brown (Campbell 65), Vokes (Fletcher 46)
Bristol City (3-5-2): Bentley; Vyner, Moore, Mawson (c); Hunt, Paterson (Brunt 76), Bakinson, Weimann, Rowe; Wells (Diedhiou 82), Martin (Semenyo 76)
With Stoke struggling to gain any kind of foothold, often struggling to play out from the back, Weimann charged forward through the middle unchecked.
Eventually, Nick Powell slide challenged him but the ball popped out to Chris Martin who hammered wide.
Just before half-time, Weimann’s vicious whipped shot from 25 yards needed a touch over from Davies but the away side would ultimately gain the goal their first-half control merited.
Hunt powered a long diagonal from right-back that Martin, a summer arrival to Ashton Gate following his release by Derby, did brilliantly to knock down while sandwiched between two defenders.
Wells still had plenty to do but with his back to goal and keeper Davies looming, he adroitly hooked the ball over his shoulder while swivelling and found the top corner, opening his scoring for the season.
Stoke needed some spark from somewhere and O’Neill introduced summer signing from Sheffield Wednesday Steven Fletcher for the ineffective Sam Vokes up top.
But it just didn’t happen, with Bristol largely comfortable in the second-half without creating the chances of the first.
The final 10 minutes saw a belated flurry of pressure. Tommy Smith curled an effort that was deflected over but Stoke’s attackers really need to do better and the visitors duly broke to settle it.
Weimann applied pressure on Danny Batth and won the ball, leaving Stoke exposed with just one defender as the Austrian and Antione Semenyo advanced. Semenyo squared to an unmarked Weimann to sweep home.
Share what you think
The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.
We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook.
You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.
