Millen: Poor Start And Defensive Mistakes Cost

Bristol City manager Keith Millen said after the defeat at Norwich last night that it was the poor start that contributed to their downfall.

Grant Holt's 16th league goal of the season from the penalty spot inside the opening 45 seconds sent the Canaries on their way, although there was hope of a point after Albert Adomah had levelled things in the second half.

Speaking to the Press Association, the Robins boss said: 'All your plans go out of the window when you make a start like that. It put us on the back foot, allowed Norwich to settle, and to be honest we found it hard and had to defend for our lives.

'The ball just kept coming back at us. We changed it a bit in the second half, started to press the ball higher up the pitch and began to cause them problems.

'We got our goal and at one all I thought it could have gone either way. We had our chances but we were often wasteful in good positions".

But Millen also had to admit that Norwich had enough opportunities to have become out of sight of the Robins long before they struck late in the game.

'But it's only fair to say that Norwich had a lot of opportunities too. He added.

To be honest they looked dangerous the whole night and you have got to give them a lot of credit for the way they played.

Millen was also slightly critical of his back line late on in the game who failed to hold it together as Norwich pressed for the all important winning goal.

'They are a good side who have really got a lot of self belief. The annoying thing from our point of view is that we conceded three soft goals.

'We got done by two long balls and then were punished right at the end for not clearing our lines.

'Now it's a case of putting this behind us and trying to go on another good run. That's what good sides do.'

And that new run will hopefully start on Saturday when City do battle with Burnley at Ashton Gate.

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