Deputy George Earthary equalized a 10-minute second half double when Bristol City came from behind to jump into the play-off seats with an exciting 2-1 victory over Middlesbrough at Ashton Gate.
The West Ham borrower, a 63rd minute replacement for Anis Mehmeti, fired in from Cam Prings cross nine minutes later and then knocked on rebound when Scott Twine’s 82 minute free kick came back from the cross bar.
Boro had seemed to end their losing series when Tommy Conway scored against his old club after 37 minutes and went into an unguarded net after goalkeeper Max O’Leary had pared Kelechi Iheanacho’s shot into his way.
But the visitors came under Cosh in the second half and there was no doubt about the city’s right to the points.
Both sides created openings in a smooth first 20 minutes. Twine fired narrowly to the city after a 5th minute free kick was played into his path, 25 meters out.
Neto Borges came close to Boro’s first target attempt when his 12th minute shot was deflected in O’Leary’s arms and – seven minutes later – O’Leary saved again from Delano Burgzorg’s low drive.
Mehmeti fired narrowly for the hosts with a 20 -minute shot from inside the box, and Twine had another bet blocked before Sinclair Armstrong’s curling long -range chance just cleared Boro Crossbar after 31 minutes.
Max Birds 25-Yard shots were rescued at full stretch of Middlesbrough goalkeeper Mark Travers, but at the other end Burgzorg should have done better when he loses his efforts widely into a Borges junction.
Conway celebrated his goal in front of the city fans who had fucked him from kick-off. But it should have been 1-1 during the break as Bird’s Shot brought a reaction, saved from Travers and Twine somehow strived to put rebound wide.
Boro Defenders put their bodies on the line to withstand vigorous urban pressure at the start of the second half, where a good example was Rav Van den Berg’s brave 56 minutes’ block on Twine’s close-up shot.
But goalkeeper Travers were needed after 62 minutes when Armstrong burst out on a long ball out of defense and saw his shot from an angle paired by the visitor ‘keeper.
The city’s main coach Liam Manning then made a triple substitution that sent down -to -earth, Yu Hirakawa and Pring to Mehmeti, Mark Sykes and Haydon Roberts.
Hirakawa had almost an immediate influence and drove wide from a tanner cross. And moments later, another Hirakawa cruisance led to starting down to earth for the equalization.
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George earthy scores from a rebound from Scott Twine’s free kick as Bristol City takes the lead toward Middlesbrough
It was the whole city when Travers went full length to save from Twine’s 25-yard shot. And after Earthy’s winner, the busy Boro stopper had to dive to the left to palm out of another garnish, as they held on for maximum points to move to the sixth.
The leaders
Bristol City’s Liam Manning:
“Nothing will change because we have reached the top six. As always we will enjoy the victory for a few days and then it is back to more hard work.
“It’s been the mentality for a long time now and is the way we control the growing expectations among our fans. The most exciting thing for me is the undoubted progress we make.
“We have a group of players who respond positively to any setback. I am very fond of George Earthy tonight because he summarizes the work ethics of the troop.
“He’s on a loan from a Premier League club, but yet there’s not the least ego about him. This is not the first time he has had the influence of the bench.
“I thought the team was very good throughout the match. In the first half we just lacked the bit of quality in the opposition box. There was an element of frustration at half -time but not much necessary to change.”
Middlesbroughs Michael Carrick:
“We’ve been ahead in many matches and get away with nothing. That’s what hurts us.
“Their first goal changes the game, and the second from the free kick was totally the wrong decision from the referee. Their player was looking for contact.
“The situation we are in, we need things to go our way to give us a bit of a leg-up. Instead we got a bad decision.
“It’s not a good race at all, but things could have been very different. Professionally, I’ve got a huge amount of pride. I care for the club, care for the supporters and nurture the players.
“We are really bad at the moment, but we have to fight our way out of it.
“To stay together is not the problem. In terms of effort, use and willingness to do the right thing, that’s all, but the results are not.”
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