26th December 2014

Town made the short trip to Ashton Gate to take on league leaders Bristol City and returned empty handed.

Goals in either half from Matt Smith and a penalty by jay Emmanuel-Thomas were enough to secure the spoils for the men in red, despite a late strike from Ben Nugent.

The home side also missed a first half penalty when Kieran Agard’s spot kick was well saved by Jed Steer.

Manager Gary Johnson made two changes from the defeat to Colchester United at Huish Park.

Sam Hoskins missed out through injury and Nana Twumasi dropped to the bench to be replaced by James Hayter and James Berrett.

The hone side could have opened the scoring after just two minutes when former Town player Kieran Agard found himself unmarked in the area. His header from Cunningham’s free kick luckily fell into the hands of Steer in the Town goal.

Just after the 15 minute mark City should have taken the lead. On loan striker Matt Smith received a through ball to round Steer. But the big striker some how put his shot wide of the target, when he really should have done better.

The game got it’s first real talking point on 25 minutes when Agard and Moloney battled for the ball in the area. The former Town striker went down under pressure from the former City defender and referee Johnson had no hesitation in pointing to the spot.

Agard dusted himself down to take the penalty. He stepped up confidently but saw his effort well saved by Steer, much to the delight of the Town faithful behind his goal.

 On the half hour mark City again missed a great opportunity to take the lead. It was that man Smith who wasted the chance. The Fulham man somehow shot over from just six yards out when he had the whole goal at his mercy.

With the home fans calling for the manager to replace Smith after his two misses the home side took the lead.

After a jinking run on the left by Joe Bryan, the City winger managed to cross and this was met by the head of Smith, who made no mistake from six yards out.

At the half-time break Town made their first substitution with Moloney being replaced by Twumasi.

After a slow start to the second half Town started to get back into the game causing the home defence a few problems from set pieces. Town had a penalty shout waved away when Korey Smith seemed to have handled in the area.

The home side doubled their lead just after the hour mark. Referee Johnson gave Town a free kick for a foul on Edwards, only to change his mind and award the home side the kick instead.

From the resulting free kick the ball made it’s way to Freeman in the area, who went down under pressure from Nathan Smith and referee Johnson had no hesitation in awarding a penalty kick to the home side.

Substitute Emmanuel-Thomas stepped up to send Steer the wrong way and make the score 2-0.

With ten minutes remaining City keeper Fielding had to be on his toes when Flint diverted a Eaves cross towards his own net.

With the clock running down Town pulled a goal back, Defender Nugent picked up the ball 40 yards from goal. He unleashed a wicked left footed strike that went into the net via the upright.