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Liam Manning and Bristol City were beaten by Luton at Kenilworth Road(Image: Photo by Paul Harding\/Getty Images)<\/p>\nLiam Manning and Bristol City slipped to a first defeat in five against Luton Town at Kenilworth RoadLiam Manning and Bristol City were beaten by Luton at Kenilworth Road(Image: Photo by Paul Harding\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Liam Manning has suggested Bristol City<\/a> were on the end of an “absolute shocker” of a refereeing decision in their defeat to Luton Town, with the Reds head coach feeling Sinclair Armstrong was “taken out” when through on goal in the second half.<\/p>\n The Robins slipped to their first defeat in five matches as they were beaten 3-1 by the Hatters<\/a> at Kenilworth Road on Easter Monday, with second-half goals from Thelo Aasgaard, Carlton Morris and Isaiah Jones ensuring George Tanner’s volley was nothing more than a consolation.<\/p>\n Aasgaard handed the home side the lead just a matter of minutes into the second half when he curled a shot from the edge of the box under Max O’Leary<\/a>. While City hit back moments later thanks to Tanner’s second of the campaign, Matt Bloomfield’s side piled on the pressure to score twice before the final whistle and boost their survival hopes.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Bristol City vs Luton Town player ratings: Sloppy second-half hands Robins first loss in five<\/a>READ MORE: Luton Town 3 – 1 Bristol City live: Hatters take two-goal lead after Tanner volley<\/a><\/p>\n Although Manning admitted his side, to a man, fell below their recent standards, he felt the Robins were on the wrong end of a crucial refereeing decision when Teden Mengi appeared to haul substitute Armstrong<\/a> to the ground late on. As the Ireland international broke beyond the Hatters’ defence, the Luton defender seemed to stop the forward’s run before he could test Tomas Kaminski between the posts but the referee waved play on.<\/p>\n “I’ll have to look at them all back, to be honest,” the head coach told Bristol Live<\/a> when asked about the goals his side conceded. “I think for me, rather than trying to blame individuals for certain bits, it’s the collective. I thought the collective needed to do better than they did today.<\/p>\n “We go one behind so early at the start of the second half and I think the group showed everything they were about in terms of the character, the resilience and the response. George scored a terrific goal, and he then had a double chance. They’ve cleared one off the line and he’s put one over which for me, he should have done better at.<\/p>\n Bristol City are fighting to secure their place in the play-off places and you won’t miss a beat with our free newsletter.<\/p>\n All the latest news, views, interviews, gossip and analysis concerning the Robins, delivered straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n It’s completely free and you can sign up HERE<\/a><\/p>\n “Again, we gave away another soft goal and then at a key moment, the ref makes an absolute shocker. I don’t want to sit here and blame the referee because we should have been better as well.<\/p>\n “I think everyone felt he was taken out,” he continued. “It’s ridiculous.<\/p>\n “Everyone apart from the referee did [feel it was a penalty]. I didn’t think he managed the game well second half. I thought he was okay in the first half, second half, yeah, a bad decision.”<\/p>\n Even with their defeat at Kenilworth Road, City remain fifth in the Championship table, one point clear of sixth-placed Coventry City<\/a> and four clear of seventh-placed Middlesbrough with their two closest top six competitors losing to Plymouth Argyle<\/a> and Sheffield Wednesday respectively on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n Join Bristol City Live’s Whatsapp community for all the biggest Bristol City stories sent straight to your phone<\/strong><\/p>\n Bristol City Live<\/a> is now on WhatsApp and we want you to join our community.<\/p>\n 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 To join our community you need to already have WhatsApp. All you need to do is click this link and select \u2018Join Community\u2019.<\/a><\/p>\n No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Bristol Live<\/a> team.<\/p>\n 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 To leave our community, click on the name at the top of your screen and choose \u2018Exit group\u2019.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.<\/a><\/p>\n Click here to join our WhatsApp community.<\/a><\/p>\n No matter City’s result against Leeds United next Monday, the Reds will be heading into their final day clash with Preston North End<\/a> in the play-off places. Although Manning feels supporters have every reason to remain excited at this stage of the campaign, he knows nothing has yet been achieved<\/a>.<\/p>\n “That’s the exciting bit right?” said the head coach when asked about his side’s league position. “It’s been a long, long time since the club’s been there so for me, the lads deserve a huge amount of credit.<\/p>\n “But we’ve not done anything yet, it’s where we sit and what position we’re in after 46. So for me, it will be no different. Suck it up today and get ready for Monday.”<\/p>\n READ MORE: Bristol City don’t need to fear top six rivals as Reds kickstart Bank Holiday weekend with win<\/a>READ MORE: Rob Dickie: Bristol City defender on Sunderland screamer, play-off race and staying ‘locked in’<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liam Manning and Bristol City slipped to a first defeat in five against Luton Town at Kenilworth RoadLiam…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38992,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,2686,748,393,4884,10583,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-38991","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-liam-manning","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114377384697839590","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38991","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=38991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/2_Liam-Manning.jpg\")
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