Bristol City 0 - West Bromwich Albion 2

Brendan Clegg:

Cracking away victory that. We bossed it but were reliant on a couple of big Palmer saves.

Corberan made some sensible changes to bring back the balance that was missing against Cov with Mulumby in for Rogic.

I think for what’s looking like our strongest 11 I’d have gone TGH over Mulumby, BTA over Dike and this is probably the game I’d have got Semi back in for Pieters but no qualms overall.

After an early scare and a big Palmer stop we began to threaten and in no time Phillips put us one up after a great pass from Townsend and some odd defending by Bristol.

And after that we were well on top with Okay and Molumby dominating the centre but we didn’t make it count - I thought Dike still looked rusty and predictable and Wallace had an inconsistent evening with his final ball.

So despite being on top we relied on more solid goalkeeping and defending, and a bit of luck, to survive 2 woodwork rattles and go in a goal up.

Second half was more of the same and as the game stretched a bit Corberan made his subs and got them right. BTA for Dike looked a menace straight away and then Rogic for Swift shortly after. They combined for Rogic to weight a great pass in and BTA finished outstandingly on his wrong foot.

It was a lovely goal from a player who looked full of confidence and more and more like an absolute bargain.

That was that really and it allowed us to get a few more players some minutes, with us looking most likely to score the game’s third goal.

Encouraging as we moved within a win and a set of results going our way of the play-offs and another open play clean sheet.

If the division had more strength I’d fancy us for the autos but it would take a lot for Sheffield and Burnley to chuck so many points away - and which team would take those points off them?

Nevertheless we look really good on the pitch… very welcome after the disturbing financial reports off it. We need to go up, somehow.

• Palmer - 8 Has been top class for us and was at it again here. Big saves to get these clean sheets.
• Furlong - 7 Full bodied game, effort and determination.
• O’Shea - 7 Good game. Leader. Good change of pace to beat the press.
• Pieters - 7 Did a good job again and is calm on the ball.
• Townsend - 6 Big part in the goal and loads of running.
• Okay - 8 Really finding form with fitness. Had the ability for the level above so no surprises here.
• Molumby - 7 Never lets you down with effort. Some driving runs too.
• Wallace - 6 Usual shift but over hit a couple of crosses.
• Swift - 6 I think the the call to start him over Rogic is right because of his defensive discipline. Decent game.
• Phillips - 7 Good goal, solid and reliable.
• Dike - 6 Plenty of running and the odd flash but a little slow to read situations.

• BTA - 7 Strong, quick and getting a good habit of scoring goals.
• Rogic - 7 At the moment he’s a potent weapon off the bench with 25 to go. Good enough to pick up the pace of games and find holes to exploit.

Grady, TGH and Grant all did okay but it’s telling how few minutes Grant is getting and our results without him.