A late rally led by Josh Magennis’ penalty wasn’t enough to earn a result as two second-half Bristol City goals saw City lose for the first time this pre-season.
Following a tight first half, Harry Cornick scored twice from the right-hand side of the penalty area to give the Robins a 2-0 lead, before a hand-ball in the box following a Tom Dean shot allowed Magennis to half the deficit with a late penalty.
At a sun-kissed Bristol City High Performance Centre, Vincent Harper made his first appearance of the summer for Gary Caldwell’s side, while Jack McMillan showed his versatility by starting in the central midfield.
Joe Whitworth was the first goalkeeper called into action just minutes into the game when Sam Bell broke free on the right side of the box and unleashed a fierce half-volley. The Palace loanee responded with a sharp save, parrying away from danger.
City began to find their rhythm, pressing smartly to win possession off high up the pitch against their Championship opponents.
However, they had to remain vigilant about the Robins’ quality, as on 15 minutes Ross McCrorie out-jumped Whitworth, who had come out to punch a corner. Luckily for City, McCrorie’s header struck the crossbar, and the follow-up effort was headed over the bar.
As the first-half progressed the game settled into a pattern: the hosts dominated the ball but City remained a threat over the top with passes aimed at Harper, Millenic Alli and Ilmari Niskanen, but on separate occasions all three players were caught offside by the red backline.
Alli had City’s best chance of the half just before the break. Pierce Sweeney’s clearance bounced all the way to him in the box, but with defenders either side, Alli could only shoot into the keeper’s arms.
It was the hosts who finally broke the deadlock 58 minutes in. Half-time substitute Raekwan Nelson burst down the left-hand side before delivering a cross into the box. The ball found an unmarked Harry Cornick eight yards from goal, who calmly slotted it underneath Whitworth.
Cornick doubled his goal count and the Robins’ lead 10 minutes later, when again the City backline couldn’t deal with a cross from that left wing. Yanic Wildschut misread the ball into the box and it bounced over him and Jack Fitzwater, landing at Cornick’s feat who blasted the ball home.
The Grecians nearly responded immediately through Josh Magennis, but as he controlled the ball with his chest inside Bristol’s six-yard box the assistant’s flag went up for offside.
Whitworth was determined to keep Bristol City’s goal tally at just two with a superb stop to deny Nelson, with Cheick Diabate then making an important block to deny the follow-up goalbound effort.
City pulled one back with ten minutes to go from the penalty spot. Tom Dean’s goalbound shot appeared to hit a Robins’ defender’s arm, and Josh Magennis stepped up to cooly roll the penalty home into the bottom left corner, sending the keeper the opposite way.
Magennis almost brought the match back onto level pegging moments later when Wildschut was released down the wing. His delivery found Magennis, who Cruyff turned away from a defender and sent a curling shot towards the far corner, which was pushed away at full stretch by the diving keeper.
Despite the late push, City couldn't find an equaliser, and the referee blew for full-time at 90 minutes. It was a solid workout but ultimately fruitless on the scoreboard for the Grecians in Bristol.
Gary Caldwell’s men return to the pitch next Tuesday in a double-header, first against Brentford B behind closed doors before travelling down to Torquay United that evening. Click here for tickets for Torquay.
City XI: Whitworth, Niskanen (Dean), Sweeney © (James), Fitzwater (Diabate), Purrington (Yfeko), Harper (Wildschut), McMillan (Woods), Richards (Cummins), Francis (Borges), Aitchison (Watts), Alli (Magennis)
Substitutes : Watts, Woods, Wildschut, Dean, Magennis, Borges, Cummins, James, Diabate, Yfeko
Bristol City XI: Bajic, McCrorie, Vyner (Wood), Naismith (Benarous), Campbell-Slowey, Williams (Backwell), Gardner-Hickman, Cornick (James), Stokes, Bell (Nelson), Mayulu
Substitutes: Thomas, Benarous, Morrison, Wood, James, Nelson, Backwell
Attendance: N/A