{"id":19200,"date":"2025-04-14T12:38:13","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T12:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/19200\/"},"modified":"2025-04-14T12:38:13","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T12:38:13","slug":"marti-cifuentes-has-no-doubts-as-he-shares-bristol-city-play-off-verdict-after-reds-draw-vs-qpr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/19200\/","title":{"rendered":"Marti Cifuentes has no doubts as he shares Bristol City play-off verdict after Reds&#8217; draw vs QPR"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>George Earthy&#8217;s third goal of the season secured a 1-1 draw for Bristol City against QPR at Loftus Road<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0_Marti-Cifuentes.jpg\" loading=\"eager\"  \/>QPR and Marti Cifuentes have drawn against Bristol City twice this season(Image: EFL)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">QPR boss Marti Cifuentes has offered his verdict on <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bristolpost.co.uk\/sport\/football\/football-news\/were-ambitious-rob-dickie-bristol-9742533\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Bristol City&#8217;s play-off chances<\/a>, insisting the Robins &#8220;100 per cent&#8221; have what it takes to finish in the top six of the Championship following their draw at Loftus Road.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Liam Manning&#8217;s side came from behind <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bristolpost.co.uk\/sport\/football\/football-news\/qpr-bristol-city-live-updates-10099344\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">to draw 1-1 with the Hoops in West London<\/a> on Saturday afternoon, with George Earthy&#8217;s third goal of the season cancelling out Karamoko Dembele&#8217;s first-half opener. The 22-year-old gave Rangers the lead after 21 minutes when he ghosted between Zak Vyner and Yu Hirakawa before nodding Nicolas Madsen&#8217;s cross <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bristolpost.co.uk\/sport\/football\/football-news\/liam-manning-lifts-lid-max-9793228\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">past Max O&#8217;Leary<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">After an uncharacteristically slow start, the Reds hit back just nine minutes later when <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bristolpost.co.uk\/sport\/football\/football-news\/max-bird-bristol-city-relationships-9926283\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Max Bird and Earthy<\/a> combined to find the leveller. The former flicked a perfectly weighted pass behind the Hoops&#8217; defence for the West Ham United loanee to chase and he calmly rolled a right-footed effort beyond Paul Nardi and into the bottom right corner.<\/p>\n<p>READ MORE: <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bristolpost.co.uk\/sport\/football\/football-news\/bristol-city-face-huge-easter-10104068\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bristol City face huge Easter as top six spot in Reds&#8217; hands after potentially crucial QPR draw<\/a>READ MORE: <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bristolpost.co.uk\/sport\/football\/football-news\/bristol-city-verdict-earthy-stars-10102850\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bristol City verdict: Earthy stars again, nervy wait for Sykes but test passed with QPR draw<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">That goal appeared to breathe new life into City but they were unable to carve out an all-important winner, with <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bristolpost.co.uk\/sport\/football\/football-news\/brian-tinnion-delivers-nahki-wells-9931527\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">both Nahki Wells and Anis Mehmeti<\/a> spurning good scoring opportunities in the second-half. The point gained at Loftus Road sees the Reds remain fifth in the Championship, four points clear of seventh-placed West Brom and while his side have taken points off of the Robins twice this term, Cifuentes believes Manning&#8217;s team are more than capable of booking their place in the play-off places.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">&#8220;100 per cent, 100 per cent,&#8221; the Hoops boss told <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bristolpost.co.uk\/all-about\/bristol-city-fc\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Bristol Live<\/a> when asked if City had what it takes to finish in the top six. &#8220;I think they&#8217;ve got a good manager. They&#8217;re a very well-organised team with a clear identity. I think they&#8217;ve got good players, good players as well today from the bench as well. A good squad so the trend is there.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1744487785_996_2_Liam-Manning.jpg\" alt=\"\"  \/>Sign up for our City newsletter<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Bristol City are fighting to secure their place in the play-off places and you won&#8217;t miss a beat with our free newsletter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">All the latest news, views, interviews, gossip and analysis concerning the Robins, delivered straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">It&#8217;s completely free and you <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/communicatoremail.com\/F\/gqxNwa0hZubC9_IKKGjv78\/\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">can sign up HERE<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">&#8220;I always value a lot the teams that tend to finish in a strong way and I think they are in a fantastic moment in the right moment of the season. I cannot predict the future because Boro are there, there are other clubs as well, Coventry are in very good form, but yeah, I think they have the quality to be there.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">With four games remaining of the regular Championship season, QPR sit 15th in the table, eight points and seven places clear of <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bristolpost.co.uk\/sport\/football\/football-news\/cardiff-city-bristol-city-live-9945254\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Cardiff City<\/a> and the relegation zone. Although the Hoops have never been in serious danger of dropping into League One, a run of seven games without a win prior to last Wednesday&#8217;s victory over <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bristolpost.co.uk\/sport\/football\/football-news\/oxford-united-bristol-city-live-9908270\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Oxford United<\/a> had increased concerns ever so slightly in and around Loftus Road.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1744476931_129_0_WhatsApp-Phone.jpg\" alt=\"\"  \/>Bristol City Live on Whatsapp<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">Join Bristol City Live&#8217;s Whatsapp community for all the biggest Bristol City stories sent straight to your phone<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \"><a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bristolpost.co.uk\/all-about\/bristol-city-fc\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Bristol City Live<\/a> is now on WhatsApp and we want you to join our community.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Through the app, we\u2019ll send the Bristol City news, live match coverage, team news, transfers, fixtures, analysis and more straight to your phone.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">To join our community you need to already have WhatsApp. All you need to do is <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/chat.whatsapp.com\/GflLiLYDrCg7Ru58OCa39x\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">click this link and select \u2018Join Community\u2019.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bristolpost.co.uk\/\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Bristol Live<\/a> team.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">We also treat community members to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. If you don\u2019t like our community, you can check out at any time you like.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">To leave our community, click on the name at the top of your screen and choose \u2018Exit group\u2019.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">If you\u2019re curious, you can read our <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reachplc.com\/site-services\/privacy-policy\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Privacy Notice.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \"><a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/chat.whatsapp.com\/GflLiLYDrCg7Ru58OCa39x\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Click here to join our WhatsApp community.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Throughout the campaign, Cifuentes has pointed to the 50-point mark as the threshold to guarantee the R&#8217;s place in the second tier. With that goal met following Saturday&#8217;s draw, the 42-year-old is beginning to look up the table, rather than over his shoulder.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">&#8220;I definitely hope so,&#8221; Cifuentes replied when asked if 50 points would be enough for safety. &#8220;I&#8217;ve been talking about this 50 points as the first target. It looks good, the distance <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bristolpost.co.uk\/sport\/football\/football-news\/bristol-city-stoke-city-live-9935024\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">after Stoke score<\/a> should be eight points, plus the goal difference and it&#8217;s kind of nine but that&#8217;s all I&#8217;m going to say about this.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">&#8220;We have four games left, we need to keep pushing and you know that I tend to look more up so we are three points behind the next team in the table. That&#8217;s where my aim is, but big credit to the guys for the shift that they made, especially in a difficult week for us.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>READ MORE: <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bristolpost.co.uk\/sport\/football\/football-news\/liam-manning-points-big-positive-10102648\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Liam Manning points to &#8216;big positive&#8217; as Bristol City keep top six spot after slow start vs QPR<\/a>READ MORE: <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bristolpost.co.uk\/sport\/football\/football-news\/liam-manning-sheds-early-light-10102720\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Liam Manning sheds early light on Mark Sykes injury as Bristol City draw with QPR at Loftus Road<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"George Earthy&#8217;s third goal of the season secured a 1-1 draw for Bristol City against QPR at Loftus&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19201,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,2686,748,393,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-19200","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bristol","9":"tag-bristol-city-fc","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114336360258342269","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}