Gerhard Struber admits Bristol City players did exactly what he wanted v Portsmouth amid Fratton Park concerns

Gerhard Struber hailed his Bristol City players after they raised their game to inflict a Fratton Park defeat on Pompey on Saturday.

The Robins boss was delighted with his side’s efforts on their latest visit to the south coast, with the Austrian acknowledging it was going to take something special to return home with a positive result.

Promotion-chasing City went into the match on the back of a midweek defeat at the hands of Wrexham, which threatened to derail their quest at the top end of the Championship table.

Struber wanted an immediate response from his side against a Pompey team also hurting from their middle-of-the-week exploits at Sheffield United. And that’s exactly what he got as the visitors dominated the first half hour at PO4.

Their reward was a goal from Anis Mehmeti on 17 minutes as the Blues struggled to match their opponents.

And while Pompey did respond and created golden opportunities for both Josh Knight (2) and Colby Bishop to improve their situation at the bottom of the standings, they were unable to break the Robins’ resolve and really give visiting keeper Radek Vitek anything to worry about.

In the end, Mehmeti’s first-half header past Nicolas Schmid proved enough to win the contest. Yet Struber said the impressive performance levels recorded by his players justified a win in a stadium he was concerned about pre-match.

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Struber: I’m really pleased

Speaking to BBC Radio Bristol at the final whistle, the former Barnsley boss said: ‘I think we prepared a really good atmosphere for ourselves today, that we go in a game with a completely different understanding, with a different face, like in Wrexham.

‘When you want to pick up points here in this stadium, you have to come on a really good level performance-wise, and the boys, I think, they did it on a really good level today.

‘The aggression, the intensity, the distances, but also in on-ball moments, clear, clean decision-making, everything on a level that they (Pompey) in the end have problems.

‘Yes, I would say (that’s the best we’ve started a game this season).

‘I know this place is really good, really, really difficult, and how we dealt with the atmosphere, with the game from them (Pompey), was on a really high level, so I am really pleased how we did it.’

When asked if the 1-0 scoreline was closer than what he had hoped after such a bright start to the game, Struber responded: ‘Yes, of course, I think to win here in the end, you need every single player.

‘Of course, this is part of the game here, to win you need every single one, and in the end we defend our goal with everything what we have in the tank, and yes, a really, really good win, a big win, a massive win for our confidence. ‘

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