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Liam Manning and Bristol City have finished sixth in the Championship(Image: EFL)<\/p>\nBristol City secured their place in the Championship play-offs for the first time in 17 years as they drew 2-2 with Preston North EndLiam Manning and Bristol City have finished sixth in the Championship(Image: EFL)<\/p>\n
Liam Manning admits he is “so proud” of his “special” group of Bristol City<\/a> players after the Robins secured their spot in the Championship play-offs with a draw against Preston North End on Saturday lunchtime.<\/p>\n A brace from Ross McCrorie ensured the Reds came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Paul Heckingbottom’s side<\/a> at Ashton Gate. While the point lifted the mood around BS3, it didn’t have a major impact on the league table with City ultimately finishing two points clear of seventh-placed Blackburn Rovers.<\/p>\n Emil Riis handed the away side the lead after 28 minutes when he headed home from a Robbie Brady corner and that advantage was doubled on the hour mark when Milutin Osmajic calmly slotted under Max O’Leary<\/a>. Just as it looked as though the Robins would fall at the final hurdle, McCrorie scored his fourth and fifth of the season within the space of five minutes to bring a sense of hope to South Bristol.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Bristol City 2 – 2 Preston North End live: Ross McCrorie brace helps Robins secure play-off spot<\/a>READ MORE: Bristol City player ratings vs Preston: Ross McCrorie steals show as Reds secure play-off spot<\/a><\/p>\n Although City’s spot in the play-offs was all-but secured come the full-time whistle, the Reds had to wait on the Ashton Gate pitch for Blackburn’s draw at Sheffield United<\/a> to be confirmed before the celebrations could truly begin. While it was a moment Manning and his players will never forget, he was still feeling the effects well after the full-time whistle.<\/p>\n “It was a special afternoon,” explained the City boss. “We’ve just said to the lads in there, that football is all about memories and that at the end there was a very special memory for everybody involved.<\/p>\n “It was an exhausting afternoon but you can’t replicate that high,” he continued. “It’s such a difficult thing to do and I’m just proud of the lads.<\/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 “It is the biggest game of some of the lads’ careers today, they won’t have played in such a pressurised game. To be fair, we spoke to them before the game around there’s so much now around philosophies and identities of dominating the ball and doing this and doing that.<\/p>\n “We spoke before the game, about our identity and why we’re so strong is our attitude, our will to fight, our sticking together, the intensity we work at, and the belief we have, it’s the behaviours that are so strong for me in our identity and that’s what got it over the line today.<\/p>\n The Robins had already had chances to secure their play-off spot over the course of the last few weeks. Had the Reds beaten Luton Town at Kenilworth Road<\/a> on Easter Monday, they would have been mathematically over the line with two games to spare while the same would have been true had they beaten Leeds United<\/a> a matter of days ago.<\/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 When City fell 2-0 down early in the second half, many inside Ashton Gate would have been concerned that Manning’s side would live to regret those missed opportunities earlier in the campaign. Although the Robins boss would likely have preferred to see his players book their place in the top six in a more straightforward fashion<\/a>, he was quick to praise them for the way they bounced back, both within the game and in the last week as a whole.<\/p>\n “The lads are human, the lads are desperate to do well and they feel it,” Manning said. “Like I said, when you look at the week we’ve had, to experience what we did on Monday and have a real test of what the level looks like, to then come here and know the pressure’s on and it’s in our hands, the lads have over and over again shown how much they want it, in terms of their actions.<\/p>\n “I’m so proud of them, I’m delighted for them because they’re a special group.”<\/p>\n READ MORE: Zak Vyner: Bristol City defender on play-off final trip, learning from Leeds and top six race<\/a>READ MORE: Liam Manning shares Ayman Benarous latest after injury return for Bristol City U21s this week<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bristol City secured their place in the Championship play-offs for the first time in 17 years as they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71543,"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-71542","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\/114444750301084208","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71542","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=71542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0_WhatsApp-Phone.jpg\")
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