Lee Johnson has called on his promotion-chasing squad to bounce back on Saturday after they fell to a “disappointing” 2-1 defeat at home to Millwall.
The Robins had been unbeaten at Ashton Gate in their last eight games but Tuesday’s defeat saw that run come to an end.
Speaking after the game, Johnson told Robins TV: “I Naturally I am disappointed. I wasn’t expecting such a lull in terms of the first half display. Millwall did a good job on us, they came and sat in that 5-4-1 and hit us on the counter-attack.
“The possession stats were probably north of 60 per cent. But as we know from our performance at Fulham, possession doesn’t necessarily convert into goals and it’s a really poor goal to give away in the first half.
“At that point Millwall get their sails up and really defended well and it wasn’t until the last 15-20 minutes that we had nearly enough box entries and looked like we were going to score and in one sense it was too little too late.
“It was never ever going to be a game that was easy – it was always going to be difficult. They are a good side and have got really good players.
“Jed Wallace is probably up there with the best in the division but still we had a plan to stop him and implement our game-plan on them and we didn’t do it enough today. That’s the bit where you feel a bit disappointed. But it’s an honest group and we have got to bounce back because we have another quick turnaround ready for Saturday.”
The defeat enabled Middlesbrough and Preston to make ground on Bristol City and Johnson says his side must bounce back against Blackburn on Saturday.
He added: “It’s the Championship and you have to dust yourself down and go again and go for wins. There are a lot of draws this year in the Championship. The top two look a long way away at the moment so it’s about consistency of performance and mental state to start the game and I wasn’t sure we had enough switched on in that first 25 minutes.”
