Bristol City kicked off their 2025/26 Championship season with a 4-1 away win over Sheffield United at Bramall LaneGerhard Struber has got off to a winning start as Bristol City boss(Image: Photo by Ed Sykes/Getty Images)

Gerhard Struber has detailed the change that his Bristol City side made at half-time during their opening-day win over Sheffield United, with the Reds boss admitting that the manner of the result was a “small surprise” to him and his staff.

The Reds kicked off their 2025/26 campaign and the Austrian’s tenure in the perfect fashion as a brace from Scott Twine, as well as goals from Ross McCrorie and Anis Mehmeti, saw City beat last season’s play-off finalists 4-1 at Bramall Lane on the opening weekend of the season.

Twine handed the Reds the lead with just five minutes played when he curled home an excellent free-kick before Tyrese Campbell levelled for the hosts nine minutes later. McCrorie then finished off a counterattack midway through the first half to restore the Robins’ advantage, which was then extended further by Mehmeti just 30 seconds into the second half.

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Twine then doubled his tally for the day when he turned home five minutes later, courtesy of a healthy deflection off of the leg of Tyler Bindon. While Struber was expecting his side to compete well with the Blades, even he was slightly taken aback by the end result.

“Of course, a really good performance from my boys today,” he told Bristol Live. “We expect today a good performance, but a result on this level against an opponent on this level is a small surprise.

“But the boys invest everything today. How we fight together to win balls in the right areas, to come in transition moments and have, in the end, at the right moment a good decision and the right pass.

“I think today, the connection between the boys in transition was on a real high level, and that creates for us, in the end, the goals.”

Although the Robins headed into the break with the advantage, they were arguably fortunate to be ahead as United had spurned plenty of chances to draw level. Radek Vitek did well to deny both Gustavo Hamer and Louie Barry, Harrison Burrows saw a shot saved by the Manchester United loanee and the Blades failed to take advantage of nine seperate corners.

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It was Ruben Selles’ side who ended the first half in the ascendancy, but that momentum was ended just moments after the interval when Mehmeti turned Emil Riis’ cross past Cooper. The Dane had got to the byline after being picked out by Twine and found the winger waiting in the box to turn home.

To the naked eye, it had looked like Struber’s side had just come out for the second half on the front foot, but the Austrian had made a slight change to the way in which the Reds operated without the ball.

“I think we were in the first half, to be honest, we didn’t always find the best triggers,” the head coach explained. “We had 15 to 20 minutes, and we also had a little bit of luck to get our goals, but we were not always clear in how we came up with our pressing.

“We changed it in the second half, we tried to do more things: close the passing lane, or realise to go into a pressing moment and nothing between.

“I could feel a few little half-pregnant moments in the first half, but we changed this completely in the second half. Then what was crystal clear for us was that everyone was on the same page, and I could see synchronised defending and pressing moments.”

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