An Aaron Wilbraham brace was enough to give Bristol City the victory over visitors Colchester. Bristol City were far from their best, and George Moncur took advantage of poor defending in the Robins’ box. Sean Clohessy was the provider for Moncur, who calmly placed it in the bottom left corner after just nine minutes. City got back on terms after just 52 seconds of the second half. After some well worked football, Cunningham crossed along the floor and Wilbraham tucked it into the corner. The winner came halfway through the second half. A corner from the right hand side from Wade Elliott saw Colchester keeper Sam Walker wrongly predict the destination of the corner, which left Wilbraham’s near post flick to float home.
Bristol City
| Frank Fielding – Very little to do for the majority of the game, goal wasn’t his fault. | 6.5 |
| Mark Little – Defended his flank well alongside Ayling but struggled to create much | 6.5 |
| Luke Ayling – City’s best defender, also looked good at times running through the middle | 7.0 |
| Aden Flint – Another solid performance from the tall centre back, controlling the back 3/5 | 7.0 |
| Derrick Williams – Looked slightly nervous on the ball, but dealt with what was necessary | 6.5 |
| Greg Cunningham – Although he assisted City’s first, his failed clearance led to Colchester’s opener, also seemed to be out of the game when City went forward | 5.5 |
| Korey Smith – Dropped deep very well in the first half, doing what he could on Ibehre. Went forward and looked creative after the departure of Freeman | 8.5 |
| Wade Elliott – Lacked a final product and found himself too deep to have his preferred impact on the game | 6.5 |
| Luke Freeman – Seemed sharp, but his general last ball was poor, came off with a groin injury | 6.0 |
| Sam Baldock – Looked as if he was lacking match sharpness | 6.0 |
| Aaron Wilbraham – Linked the midfield and strike pairing well, contributed with his brace | 9.0 |
Substitutions
| Adam El-Abd – Relatively faultless game other than a couple of lose passes | 6.0 |
| Marlon Pack – Looked creative from deep for City, consistently found his target | 7.0 |
| Scott Wagstaff – Not on long enough to have an impact | 6.0 |
Colchester United
| Sam Walker – At fault for the second goal, very few saves to make otherwise | 5.5 |
| Sean Clohessy – Assisted the Colchester goal and generally looked capable of troubling Cunningham | 7.0 |
| Frankie Kent – Allowed Wilbraham to win too many headers which let City keep possession | 6.0 |
| Tom Eastman – Kept last seasons top scorer quiet | 7.0 |
| Ben Gordon – The Robins failed to get any attacks going down the right hand side thanks to Gordon. | 8.0 |
| Alex Gilbey – Colchester generally bypassed the two central midfielders, looking for Ibehre, but Gilbey when needed linked play well | 6.5 |
| Marcus Bean – Didn’t have much of an impact on the game | 6.0 |
| Freddie Sears – Gave Cunningham and Williams problems in the first half but lacked a final product and disappeared in the second half | 7.0 |
| George Moncur – Scorer of the first and popped up all over the pitch | 7.5 |
| Gavin Massey – Much like Sears; Massey looked capable of causing problems but never had a final ball | 6.5 |
| Jabo Ibehre – Won a few headers over Flint at the start, but was silenced for the most part | 6.5 |
Substitutions
| Sammie Szmodics – Seemed to slow down Colchester’s play, poor distribution | 5.5 |
| Dominic Vose – Looked bright but didn’t get many chances to do anything in City’s half | 6.0 |
| Dan Holman – Colchester failed to get many attacks going after he came on, little impact | 6.0 |
Man of the Match
| Aaron Wilbraham yet again showed his lethal touch inside the box adding two goals to his one from Bramall Lane last weekend. Not only his goal contributions, he linked up play well, dropping deep and playing quick, one touch passes with the midfield | 9.0 |
