Brett Pitman and Keith Millen - I’m Back

One thing that most fans can’t stand is a prima donna. Often when a player signs in a big money deal his ego gets in the way and he starts sulking or sniping at the manager – not so Brett Pitman.

Pitman, 22, is a likeable lad who recognizes that – despite being star man by scoring 28 goals for Bournemouth last season – he must adapt to a new club in Bristol City and raise his standards.

On Saturday he started doing that with his first goal for the club and I feel his honest and unassuming character will ultimately see him become a hero at Ashton Gate.

After the win against Leicester he said:

“I haven’t played every week which I’d have liked, but hopefully that will get me a start next week and hopefully I’ll keep scoring and, more importantly, the team will keep winning.

Since I’ve come here I’ve found it a big step up from what I expected and it’s been difficult. The pace of the game is a lot different from League One, but I feel each game I play I’m getting better and better, so I was pleased to get 45 minutes.

Working off the ball defensively is something I’ve had to work on. It wasn’t something I did naturally and I feel like I’m getting better at it. I feel I’m adapting to the pace of the game a lot better now. Technically I have no worries about playing in the Championship – I’m confident in my ability.

I think playing up front is more difficult than playing anywhere else. You’re up against better defenders and the pace of the game is quicker and you have to do more defensive work than you have to in the lower levels, but Nicky (injured striker, last season’s top scorer and former Crewe player Maynard) adapted well and hopefully I’ll follow him.

You don’t get the five or six chances you’d get in League One or Two. You’ll get maybe one or two chances in a game and so you’ve got to be more clinical. Now I’ve adjusted to the [pace I feel a lot more confident going on to the pitch. I should hopefully push on from here.

He had a fantastic season last season and I remember playing against him when he was at Crewe. He was always a very good player and I’m sure he’s improved a lot. It will be a nice headache for the gaffer to have when everyone’s fit because we’ve probably got six good strikers now. If everybody’s fit it’s going to be a selection headache for him which I’m sure he’ll want.”

And getting that first goal was a relief. He said:

“The shot crossed the line quite easily (despite Ritchie Wellens’s attempted clearance). I’d have taken any type of goal. Clarky’s (fellow sub David Clarkson) come on and scored a fantastic goal which has made the last few minutes a lot easier than what they might have been. I’ve not seen him do that before, but I don’t think that’s something you’d do every day – maybe he’ll try it again now!

It’s nice to get off the mark, but I knew it would come and now I can just concentrate on playing and winning games.”

Robin’s boss Keith Millen was upbeat after City’s second half performance and in particular his two goal scorers. He said:

“I’m really pleased for him (Pitman). He’s been patient; he’s worked hard in training. We know he’s a good finisher and we know Clarky’s a good finisher and both of them went on and scored.

We had to change it. Jon Stead’s ankle’s been playing him up for a while now. He got another whack on it and he’s struggling to move so I put Clarky on because I felt him and Brett would try and hold the ball up as I knew we’d be under a little bit of pressure and I also know that if chances drop to them, more often than not they’ll hit the target.”

Millen could afford to make light of his goal keeper’s gaff in giving away the penalty and grinned:

“David James gets a telling off for giving the penalty away, but he redeemed himself with a great save. I’ll have to see it again, but it looked as though the lad made a good run in the box and Jambo’s made the decision to come out and the lad’s got there first, so no complaints that it was a penalty. He’s made up for it with a great save.”

Bristol are now moving up the table and Millen said:

“It’s a nice feeling to be out of the relegation zone and what it does is give us a chance now with that to grow if you like with two back-to-back wins with another home game next Saturday. If you do that you suck a lot more teams closer to you.”

On tactics and the second half revival, he said:

“That’s what I’m paid to do. You analyse Leicester and I felt the players were in the right positions, but we never got on the ball. We never got the ball wide, we never got any crosses in the box and we weren’t good enough on the day to pass the ball through the team like Leicester did so I changed it. It was unfortunate for Johno (Lee Johnson who was subbed at half time) as he didn’t do much wrong in the game. I just felt Skuse (Cole) and Marvin’s (Elliott) legs would be important and put another centre forward on to give us an attacking option.

Certainly in the first half we didn’t play like a home side and one of the reasons we set up like we did was I felt we could pressurize Leicester and stop them playing. And I felt we could get close to them, win the ball and then, with our legs and energy, go and give them trouble. But it didn’t pan out like that in the first half.

We’re pleased with the response from the lads. That’s their character they’ve showed there because the pressure was on at half time. The fans weren’t happy, the players weren’t happy and I wasn’t happy, but they responded in a good way.

The penalty save was the turning point, but quite often in Championship games things like that are the turning points. Goals change games and James didn’t have to make that many good saves today, but the one that mattered – the penalty save – kept us in it.

It shows the quality of our squad. We know Brett and Clarky can score goals. I thought Brett came on and held the ball up well at times, won some flick-ons.”

As for the injured Stead, Millen said:

“The trouble is that when players aren’t training every day, after a while it catches up with you and we’ll have to assess Steady’s ankle on Monday. He’s an honest lad who keeps working his socks off and if he’s not fully fit we’ve got a good squad and players who can come in and replace him.”