Bristol City returned to Championship action with a 3-1 away win over Rotherham United to end their six-match losing run, thanks to goals from unlikely sources Joe Williams and Cam Pring on top of a Wes Harding own goal.
Pring, who spent time on loan at Cheltenham Town during the 2018/19 campaign making eight appearances in League Two returned to his more natural left-wing back position and manager Nigel Pearson believed it to be his “best performance” in a City shirt so far.
“I’m pleased for him today,” said the former Leicester City manager.
“He was very positive in and out of possession against a tough opponent so a good all-round performance from him.”
There was yet another new look backline alongside Pring, with Andy King and George Tanner in combination with the returning Kal Naismith making his first appearance since suffering a calf injury against Coventry City in October. But the 30-year-old defender didn’t look as though he’d missed a minute of action.
Keep up with all today’s sports news here
“He’s a player that is really positive,” identified Pearson.
“Sometimes he’ll misplace a pass, but I think being out for two months and coming back in and really picking up where he left off is testament as much as anything to his professionalism. I thought the other two back there were really good too, Andy King showed his professionalism and George Tanner was competitive as well.”
City had started the season with defensive frailties but as a free-scoring outfit and it looks as though the World Cup break has allowed the Robins’ forwards to return to their early season form, but Pearson is keen as ever to remain realistic.
“Our achilleas heal that we can’t find a level of performance that gets us wins often enough,” he explained.
“We always feel that we’ve got goals in us. When you’ve got the likes of Nahki (Wells), Andi Weimann, Tommy Conway, Chrissy Martin, Sam Bell. They’ve all got their strengths in terms of scoring goals.
We’ve not always had enough goals from midfield, but you look at Joe (Williams), he pops up with a goal today. Those are the elements we need to try to improve over a sustained period of time to make us a more efficient team.”
The Robins will be hoping to make it back to back wins for the first time since August when they welcome Stoke City to Ashton Gate on Saturday, their final game before Christmas Day.
