James’ red letter day

Photo: Picture: ALAN HOWARTH

POINT TAKEN . . . James Dayton earns Athletic a valuable draw at Ashton Gate with his second-half strike.

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Bristol City 1, Athletic 1

THE POST-MATCH showers at Ashton Gate ran cold, but at least Athletic avoided the stink of losing twice in five days against the bottom-ranked club in Sky Bet League One.

Notts County was the pits. And in that context, the gaining of a point at another side on its knees was as refreshing as a burst of icy water.

Despite James Dayton’s levelling goal, there was a lingering sense the visitors to a charming but creaky old ground should have travelled back up the motorway with more.

This Bristol City side is a ragged shambles. Despite a big budget, the culture of underachievement clearly runs deep in Sean O’Driscoll’s squad.

Athletic dominated for long stretches, passing the down-at-heel home team into submission.

But Athletic still failed to achieve where it counts — in the goal area.

While Jonson Clarke-Harris looked powerful and lively in the first half, chances he laid on a plate that would have had Emmanuel-Thomas, or City's £1million substitute Sam Baldock licking their lips, went to waste.

Dayton should have got on the end of the first, the winger denied by a superb clearance by his opposite number Scott Wagstaff on the edge of the six-yard box.

A few minutes later, a carbon copy opportunity created by Clarke-Harris disappeared when Brendan Moloney got in front of the disappointing Adam Rooney.

And Johnson was left throwing up his arms in frustration a minute later when Dayton’s lovely cross towards the far post was too far in front of Danny Philliskirk.

In all three cases, Athletic lacked the bloody-mindedness to either get bodies in front of their markers or to hammer ball, defender and all into the back of the net.

Athletic’s nature at the sharp end is too often to be reactive, not active. James Tarkowski bolstered a back-line which had proven to be so rickety at Meadow Lane but behind him, goalkeeper Mark Oxley continues to be unconvincing.

Again Athletic pressed after the interval. Rooney was slow to respond to two openings, while Clarke-Harris was booked for an obvious dive in the penalty area.

There was the danger that Athletic would again run out of steam — but up stepped Dayton.

He benefited from excellent work by the stand-out Genseric Kusunga and then Clarke-Harris to shift the ball cleverly and fire home emphatically.

The sense of relief was palpable as Dayton led the celebrations in front of 345 supporters who had made the trip south.