Pearson celebrates Bristol City ‘important’ away win

Nigel Pearson praised an “important” Bristol City win as the Robins came from behind to stun Stoke 2-1.

Nick Powell handed the in-form Potters a first-half lead as the hosts looked to extend their five-match unbeaten run in the Championship.

But Zak Vyner’s looping header – the Robins’ first goal on their travels in over seven hours – levelled the tie to set up a grandstand finish.

And the visitors completed the turnaround when January addition Anis Mehmeti struck in the 85th minute.

In the process, Bristol City ended their three-match winless run and secured their first away victory since February 4.

“It’s important for us to win a game like that,” Pearson said.

“When we’ve had an off day, we’ve not been able to find a way of getting back into a game and going on to win, so that’s pleasing.

“In the first half, we were awful, we just couldn’t settle on the ball, and we looked nervous.

“Interestingly enough, we still had the best chances of the half even when we weren’t playing particularly well.

“It was very frustrating because we were causing ourselves a few problems. It felt uncomfortable.

“We gave ourselves a lot to do but the response in the second half was very good. The players having a bit of an off day really turned it around.”

Pearson paid special tribute to match-winner Mehmeti, who notched his first goal since a winter switch from Wycombe.

“Not starting today helped him,” Pearson added.

“He’s been putting himself under a lot of pressure and he’s so critical of himself.

“He’s impatient for success and he wants to do well for the team. He’s a likeable lad and he’s very ambitious.

“To come off the bench and have that type of chance for his first goal, it’s taken a lot of stress away from him as he was punishing himself.

“He’s one for the now and the future, so I’m more patient than he is.”

Stoke slumped to a first defeat since February as they failed to take advantage of their early control.

Boss Alex Neil said: “We played well for large parts of the first half and particularly the start.

“We scored a really good goal and should have scored more, but in the second half I thought they were better than us.

“They weren’t going to be fearful of us because they’ve got nothing to lose and nothing to play for.

“It was individual duels that were going to determine the match, and in the second half, we didn’t do that well enough.

“That’s the first time I can say that in quite a long time. They got the better of us for long spells and I’ve got to give them credit.

“It shows that we’ve still got work to do. There’s been a lot of players who have been excellent and some of them were under par today.

“I’m disappointed and the lads are disappointed, but they played better than us and we’ve not said that a lot.”