We Were Beaten By The Better Side - Johnson

The promotion-hunting Seagulls took a 13th-minute lead when Steve Sidwell’s audacious lob from 50 yards sailed over the head of Richard O’Donnell and into the City net.

Jamie Murphy doubled the lead after 20 minutes with a low deflected effort, giving the visitors a stranglehold on proceedings they never looked like loosening en route to an 11th clean sheet in just 16 league matches this season.

“It was a tough night against tough opponents,” the head coach told Bristol City Player HD.

“I thought we actually started alright and were on the front foot in the first five or ten minutes, shutting them down well, but the nature of the [first] goal has killed us a bit.

“It was a really poor goal to concede and we’ve been doing that too much.

“We need that to turn because we need to be stronger when it’s 0-0 – both physically and mentally. I think if we can do that, we can progress.

“They’re a good side and they showed that tonight – they were difficult to break down.

“Sometimes you’ve got to hold your hands up and say you were beaten by the better side. It’s disappointing, but they deserved it on the day.

“The lads had a go in the second half, but it was too little too late. We need to start scoring the first goal.

“We didn’t really have enough opportunities on goal and that’s what disappoints me, because I know we’ve got players who can be creative.

“We had a couple of little penalty decisions we thought we might’ve got, but maybe we’re scratching around a bit – if that’s all we had, it wasn’t enough.

“Sometimes you’ve got to give strong credit to the opposition, but tonight we’ve shown we’re not quite where we want to be yet and we’ve got to work very hard to stick in the pack.”

Johnson confirmed Frank Fielding missed out due to the injury he picked up in the latter stages of the 2-2 draw at Barnsley, which has caused the goalkeeper discomfort to his thigh/hip flexor.

The boss is hopeful the City number one will be fit by the time his team return to action against Birmingham City at St Andrew’s in two weeks’ time.