Tommy Conway scored against his former club to put Boro in front but Bristol City substitute George Earthy hit a late quickfire double to secure all three points for the hosts.
Here’s the talking points to emerge from the game:
CARRICK ADMISSION MAKES LACK OF ACTION ALL THE MORE BAFFLING
Michael Carrick knew the question was coming.
“You’re probably getting on to why I didn’t make changes,” he said, when initially asked by BBC Tees’ Mark Drury about the impact of Bristol City’s substitutes.
Earlier in the interview he’d told about the “change of mood” in the stadium after Bristol City had equalised – an admission which made the lack of reaction and movement on the Boro bench all the more baffling.
Boro were clearly tiring fast, had lost control and a second Bristol City goal felt inevitable.
Carrick and his players needed to take the sting out of the game and at the very least a substitution would have bought Boro a minute or two to gather their thoughts and to slow City down.
It felt similar to the defeat at Leeds United back in December. And at Ashton Gate, as was the case at Elland Road, by the time Carrick acted it was too late.
Carrick did have Finn Azaz and Samuel Iling-Junior ready to come on but when Bristol City scored their second he sat the latter back down again.
Boro’s game management has let them down on countless occasions this season – on the pitch and in the dugout.
ALARMING STATS
Boro have taken the lead in 21 of their 33 Championship games this season – and yet only won 12 of them.
Only Sheffield United (26), and Leeds and Sunderland (25) have scored the first goal on more occasions. But consider the difference with what followed after those teams got themselves in front. The Blades have won 22 of the 26 games, Leeds 21 of 25 and Sunderland 17 of 25.
From winning positions this season, Boro have drawn five and lost four games. All opportunities missed. And that doesn’t include games like Norwich where Boro conceded the first goal but led 3-1.
What is that down to? Is it the game management referenced above? Is it naivety? A lack of leadership? A concentration issue?
The above question also stands for another damning stat.
Only Sheffield Wednesday have conceded more goals than Boro in the last 15 minutes of games this season.
Between the 75th and 90th minute, Boro have let in 14 goals – that’s almost a third of the total number of goals they’ve conceded this season.
In recent weeks alone, Boro conceded one against Bristol City in that period of the game, one against Sunderland and two against Sheffield United.
Again, why?
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DECISIVE PERIOD IN BORO’S SEASON
With 25 minutes to play at Ashton Gate, it felt like what followed in the final stages of the game could be decisive in Boro’s season.
Had Boro been able to weather the Bristol City storm and seen it out, it would have been such a confidence building victory.
Instead, the belief that Carrick admitted had been dented takes another major hit.
“It’s tough to get out of it but it doesn’t mean you can’t,” said the head coach on Friday night.
“It doesn’t last forever and it can change. We can do something about it”
What can he do about it?
“We did a lot of good tonight,” he said.
“We were dangerous at times.”
CONWAY POSITIVE
“A lot of good” is stretching it. Boro had spells in the game but Bristol City were the better team and a point was the very least they deserved.
In terms of positives for Boro, a first goal since his return from injury for Tommy Conway was the obvious plus point. In the week that Conway told of his hurt at the recent slump, the striker was Boro’s best outfield player and made a nuisance of himself against his former club.
He had Kelechi Iheanacho to thank for his goal but that was a rare spark from the January signing, who again looked off the pace for the most part. It was Iheanacho who conceded the soft free-kick that led to the winning goal. Carrick fumed at what he felt was the “totally wrong decision” but Iheanacho’s race looked to have been run long before that incident and he should have been replaced.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Mark Robins is what’s next. And that’s hardly ideal for under-pressure Carrick, who has failed on six occasions to beat the now Stoke boss.
Carrick faced Robins six times while he was in charge of Coventry, losing four and drawing two.
There’s no getting away from the fact Robins had Carrick’s number when he was in charge of the Sky Blues.
And although the squad he has inherited at Stoke is not as good as the one had had at Coventry, the Potters have lost just two of their last nine prior to Saturday’s trip to Norwich City and only Leeds have won at the bet365 Stadium since the end of November.
