Bristol City Home Won 4 – 1
It may have been the third game in eight days but the only change in the team to face Bristol City was Matsuki in for Fellows and that’s pretty well business as usual anyway. The Robins showed early on that not only would they be a harder nut to crack than Swansea in midweek, but they posed a considerable threat as well. Knight soon forced Peretz into a flying save, then we had an even more dramatic moment when Ballard (who was to be amongst his team’s first substitutions) beat the offside trap and lobbed the ball over Peretz, only for Schlotterbeck to get back to effect an acrobatic goal-line clearance. We needed something to keep City occupied at the other end, and we have a man in form to do that: Azaz played the ball forward to Larin who seemed well marked, but the leading scorer made space for a left foot shot that flew into the top corner. Downes picked up a nasty injury and had to be replaced by Bragg at half time, and it took a while for Bragg and Ward-Prowse to work out their roles so a second goal was particularly welcome. Scienza was the architect, finding himself on the right and setting up Ward-Prowse for a close range chance that was blocked, only for Larin (again) to follow up. Perversely, seeing the game out safely is always a more attractive option than an exciting finish, but it rarely seems to happen! On 66 minutes, Cardine tried a shot that was going wide until Tolaj stuck out an opportunist’s foot to make it 2-1. At present, though, Saints are scoring well at home so a welcome third gal arrived with eight minutes of the 90 remaining: Azaz played in Matsuki who still had to provide a nice finish. Mubama replaced Larin, and the move paid off when the young forward bullied Eissat off the ball and kept his composure to set up Azaz who was well-placed for an easy fourth. 15 for, 4 against in our home games so far – I wonder who’s next?
Three LSSC Man of the Match candidates to choose from:
9. Cyle Larin, still celebrating being August Championship player of the month in style.
13. Kevin Schlotterbeck. We needed to do a lot of defending for a 4-1 win and for once the number 13 just made the one obvious error (none would be better though!).
27. Kuryo Matsuki, his goal being a reward for another industrious performance.
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