Sunderland demand made as Bristol City boss reveals 'hurt' in Pompey defeat

Liam Manning's Robins lost 3-0 to Portsmouth on Saturday

Bristol City boss Liam Manning is eager to see a response from his side when they take on Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on Tuesday evening.

The Robins head into tomorrow's encounter off the back of suffering a 3-0 defeat at Portsmouth on Saturday, with the hosts moving off the bottom of the Championship table with their victory at Fratton Park.

The result leaves Manning’s side 12th in the division, on 25 points from 19 matches played so far this term, and the Robins’ boss wants an improved performance from his team against the Black Cats.

“We just have to respond, I think that’s the biggest bit,” the head coach told his club’s website. “We know we’ve got a heavy period coming up, the lads have hit a really consistent level. It hurts, it’s frustrating, it’s disappointing, the lads feel the same. We’re all the same, we’re all in it together, and it’s then about how you now respond on Tuesday.”

Reflecting on what went wrong in Saturday’s loss, Manning added: “Quite a lot. I thought we were second best in too many areas. The conditions made it difficult, but ultimately they played it a lot better than us. We didn’t win enough duels, not enough first or second balls, we didn’t control space well enough. Ultimately it wasn’t good enough.

“The lads have been great for so long, we’ve really hit a level of consistency, so when we perform like today, it’s a little bit out of the blue. The players in there were the first to put their hands up, and staff included, we’ll look at ourselves. It wasn’t good enough today, and I don’t want to replicate this too often.”