Players and staff from both the Bristol City and Millwall benches came together in a melee after the Robins’ defeat at Ashton Gate

18:41, 06 Dec 2025Updated 20:59, 06 Dec 2025

Gerhard Struber has offered his perspective on the brawl that broke out between the Bristol City and Millwall benches following the Robins’ defeat to the Lions, with the head coach of the opinion the decision to disallow Zak Vyner’s late leveller kicked off the altercation.

City missed the chance to register back-to-back Championship wins as they were left frustrated in their 1-0 defeat at Ashton Gate on Saturday afternoon. Ultimately, Mihailo Ivanovic’s second-half strike proved to be the difference between the two sides.

The 21-year-old broke the deadlock with just under an hour played as he smashed a right-footed effort beyond Radek Vitek in the Robins’ net from close range, after the Manchester United loanee had twice saved from Femi Azeez in quick succession.

READ MORE: Bristol City 0-1 Millwall live: Robins fall behind in second-half as Ivanovic scores for Lions

OPINION

In the moments after the full-time whistle, an altercation broke out between members of both benches and players, with Alex Neil suggesting he was pushed by Jason Knight after Struber took his hand away from an offered handshake. However, the Austrian refuted the Lions boss’ claim.

“It’s a big joke, it’s a really big joke,” the head coach laughed in his post-match press conference. “Two times I tried to give my hand, and he goes away from me.

“This is, of course, two football styles come together today with a lot of pressure, first duels, second ball fights and in the end, the kick-off was a wrong decision. Of course, this starts with them a little bit more and more, and then the coach gives me no, in this moment, the hand. I don’t know why? I ask him now: ‘Why you give me not your hand?’ And he goes, ‘Why you give me not the hand?’

“This is crazy, I look in his eyes, and I give him my hand, but he goes two times away. I hope we find pictures, I hope that. It’s so crystal clear, and this is an understanding of that. I cannot say why the emotion goes over, but I would say – and this, I think, is important- that we speak about the game.”

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For much of the contest, the Robins were the team in the ascendancy. Having been unable to make their dominance count in the first half, City saw three separate penalty shouts turned down by referee Ed Duckworth after the restart.

Even with luck seemingly against them, the Reds came remarkably close to a leveller when Ross McCrorie was denied by a brilliant Max Crocombe save deep in stoppage time. It had looked as though that stop would cost Struber’s side, but moments later, they had the ball in the back of the net.

With seconds to play, Vyner smashed into the bottom right corner from inside the penalty area, having been picked out by a smart McCrorie nod down. Before celebrations could truly begin, the defender’s goal was ruled out with McCrorie adjudged to have drifted offside in the build-up.

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Replays suggested that the Scotsman had been played onside, a feeling Struber echoed after the full-time whistle. The Robins boss felt a game that was played with such emotion could have benefited from a more experienced official.

“In the end, we score a goal and this, of course, is a trigger point for the boys,” Struber explained. “I would say the whole league would deserve – and we have many, many experienced referees in the league – but we have also young referees. I would say in a game like that [it] would be top when we have experienced referees.

“Of course, they have to learn, they have to grow: this is with players, with coaches, it’s always the same, but I would say in a game like that, where with much pressure in the bottle [it] would be perfect when we have a little bit more experience. That we have, in the end, a wrong situation like that, this is not what the Championship deserves.

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“This has a little bit of an influence,” he continued. “The whole game was emotion in a bottle. We invest everything, and we have a little bit to understand that the emotion goes over – that we don’t want to see pictures like that, this is also crystal clear. Today, I have a little bit of an understanding [of] where the kick-off starts, and it’s not always that we can only say in the end, the players should not do that.

“Of course, they shouldn’t do it, but we cannot control always the emotion; we want to see emotion in the game, we want to see a really good atmosphere, we want to play attractive football, but we need, at the same time, a referee team on a really good level in a game like that.

“I would say I missed this [in] the one or other moment today, especially at the end. This means not – and please understand me correctly – we have the most responsibility in our game style and our investment [so] that we play attractive football. That I give, in the end, the referee is guilty in the end – from my side – I can’t do it, but he has an influence in the game, and how he decides in the end, this was, of course, a really big mistake.”

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