City Preview

Yet another make-or-break game this evening. A win will keep us on the tails of the top four and may give us something to go for on Saturday as another three points at the Valley against Preston might lift us above Watford or West Brom and likley narrow the gap on the those above us. Lose this evening and any lingering hopes of automatic promotion will be gone. City are acutely aware of this and we have had quotes to that effect from their manager Gary Johnson and midfielder McCombe who hit their winner on Saturday. Expect a very tight game from City who would settle for a draw now if they could take it.

Dele Adebola has reinforced their attack and relegated Darren Byfield to the bench. Another ex-Millwall man, Marvin Elliot is starring in midfield with Michael McIndoe and Ivan Sproule. Having named them though, it's not exactly a line-up to strike fear into you. Their back-line is also missing any former top-flight names and you can't help concluding that the sum of the parts is better than their individual worth. So, we have a genuinely decent team that is well-motivated by their manager.

Having said that, they come here knowing we beat them at Ashton Gate and possibly carrying a minor inferiority complex. I might be over-playing this but if we come out and get at them as we have done more recently at home we might catch them cold. If we score first, I think we can get another and win the game. The longer the match goes on, the more they will settle and feel confident of holding us or even nicking a second-half lead which they are more than capable of defending.

Hopefully we won't be playing under any pressure having already "blown it" at Blackpool. I am going for 2-0 and will take Luke Varney (again) to score and possibly a contribution from the wing - thereby giving myself four options (Sam, Cook, Sinclair or Thomas). As I have said before, I think it's really important to finish well if you make the play-offs because you need the confidence going into them and you need your fans to really believe you are going to win them. I am not sure our fans are in that frame of mind right now based upon the glass chin we have been sticking out so frequently this year.

C'mon you Reds!