City must maintain cutting edge from Middlesbrough win after ‘too many draws’

The Robins are now ten games into the Championship season

Bristol City’s 2-0 success over Middlesbrough saw the Robins reach the first seasonal landmark with club’s now hitting the ten-game milestone of the 2024-25 Championship campaign and assistant boss Chris Hogg believes the Robins still have work to do if they are to improve this year.

City registered their first away win of the season on an emotional afternoon in the North East where tributes were made to head coach Liam Manning and his family before and after the game after the tragic events of last week.

But following results earlier in the day, City kicked off at the Riverside 17th in the Championship table, just three points above rivals Cardiff City in the bottom three, before a spirited away performance saw the Robins leap into the top half and just four points from the play-off places through the opening 10 games.

Managers, players and fans alike often use the much-heralded ten-game mark as the first yardstick of a season to determine how well, or not, the new campaign may go.

But while there has been a series of distractions in City’s season-to-date, with two international breaks and the awful news which hit the club and head coach Manning recently, assistant boss Hogg believes there have been positives to the Robins’ season before admitting there remains plenty of room for improvement, with City having drawn five of their opening 10 fixtures – the most in the Championship.

“We’ve drawn too many games,” Hogg told BristolLive following the club’s 2-0 win over Middlesbrough.

“Some of the performances have merited a draw, where you come away from it, analyse it and accept we have to be slightly better in moments. But there have also been some really good signs and some really good performances, and some of the data backs that up.

“You saw the ruthless edge we had [against Middlesbrough], where we actually scored from the chances we got, which hasn’t been the case at times this season and has meant we’ve drawn too many games.

“It’s something we’ve spoken about as a group; when you are on top and you get moments to change momentum, we have to be a bit more ruthless.”