Liam Manning simply had to come out on top against his former side Oxford United yesterday.
There was a lot of talk about Oxford and Manning before the game, with the U’s supporters finding it hard to forgive Manning for making the move to Ashton Gate last season.
The Championship new boys’ 2023/24 season could have been derailed by his departure, but Des Buckingham was able to build on Manning’s work and guided them to promotion from League One, via the play-offs.
And Oxford have made a very respectable start to this season, with wins against Norwich City, Preston North End and Stoke City allowing them to build up enough points to secure a place in the top half of the second tier for now.
| Championship table (8th-10th) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (As of September 22nd, 2024) | P | GD | Pts | |
| 8 | Watford | 6 | 1 | 10 |
| 9 | Oxford United | 6 | 2 | 9 |
| 10 | Derby County | 6 | 1 | 9 |
The Robins, before yesterday’s game, desperately needed more points on the board following a fairly underwhelming start to the 2024/25 campaign.
And the pressure on Manning was cranked up a notch when Oxford fans arrived in tow
The U’s away fans gave him a lot of criticism both before and throughout the game, and Ruben Rodrigues took advantage of Sinclair Armstrong’s lost opportunity to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.
Just before halftime, Siriki Dembele, who was impressive again yesterday, nearly doubled their lead by rattling the crossbar of the Robins.
Overall, Manning had a terrible first half as his team missed opportunities and gave up while standing in a lot of rain.
Liam Manning has Mark Harris moment to thank for Bristol City’s win v Oxford United
Dembele’s thunderbolt can’t be seen as a sliding doors moment, because it was always going to be difficult to score from there and the fact he managed to hit the crossbar is impressive.
Mark Harris, who has been in excellent form this season and has scored four goals in the U’s first six league games of the 2024–25 season, was responsible for the sliding doors moment.
A neat Oxford move early in the second half gave Harris the opportunity to tap home Ruben Rodrigues’ low cross from a few yards out.
He somehow failed to hit the goal, and shortly after, Sinclair Armstrong gave the home team an equalizer at Ashton Gate.
