Johnson toasts travelling Cider Army

Praise for the fans

Johnson said: “I thought the fans were brilliant. I love them to bits because that section of away fans that we see at almost every game, whether it be when we get off the bus or in the stadium, they are so positive and I think that came across today.”

Professional performance

“I’m really proud of the boys today, of the work-rate and the effort. After the first 20 minutes, where we had to ride out a lot of possession from the opposition, if not a lot of chances, and we were a little bit scruffy and erratic on the ball. I thought for the 76 minutes after that we were really, really professional, controlled and looked dangerous on the counter-attack.”

Clean-sheet

"We wanted to win the game but a lot of the stuff we have been doing this week has been that defending mindset and getting the absolute basics at world-class level.

“Today we limited a side that had a lot of possession with a lot of forward thinking footballers, to minimal chances. I think Bents (Daniel Bentley) has made one very good save where he has punched off the line but, apart from that, we looked solid and secure. Sometimes away from home you can’t be as pretty as you want to be but if individuals do their jobs, there’ll always be an opportunity to break and to score.”

Famara Diédhiou

City scored in the 68^th and 70^th minutes and Johnson added: “Even in the first half with Famara’s volley, that’s a goal. Marley may be offside but he is 30 yards away from play. It’s an unbelievable strike and should have stood and in the second half where had the strike as well was an unbelievable save from the goalkeeper. Fam had to get through a lot of work in stopping the opposition advance and he did that really well today. I’ve been really happy with him over the last six/seven weeks and he has really deserved a goal.”

Jamie Paterson

“When Pato’s mind is right he is up as one of the best wrigglers and dribblers in the division. We had a really good chat just before he came back [from Derby County]. We met offsite and I can see with Pato that, when he has got that bit between his teeth, he is a top player and I thought he showed that. We needed the quality and the calmness that he brought. We put him on the left side and that’s always a dilemma but him and Jay (Dasilva) linked up lovely and I’m obviously happy for him to get his goal.”

Shrewsbury Town challenge 

City will await fitness updates on Josh Brownhill (bruised foot), Korey Smith (dead leg), Marley Watkins (calf) and Han-Noah Massengo (ankle) ahead of their Emirates FA Cup third round replay at Shrewsbury Town on Tuesday.

Johnson added: “We’ll have to assess the walking wounded but we’ll go to Shrewsbury and give it our very, very best for everyone.”