Bristol City boss Nigel Pearson wary of Blackpool's momentum heading into opening day encounter

Bristol City boss Nigel Pearson is wary of the momentum Blackpool have built up from last season's promotion.
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The Seasiders make the trip to Ashton Gate on Saturday for their opening league game of the season.

Neil Critchley's side will be looking to get off to the perfect start in the Championship having secured promotion from the third tier via the play-offs last season.

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As for Bristol City, they'll be bidding to improve on last term's disappointing 19th-placed finish.

“Blackpool were promoted through the play-offs so they’ve got a bit of momentum behind them," Pearson said ahead of Saturday's game.

“They’ve had a bit of a difficult pre-season but there are no easy games in the Championship.

“The bottom line for us is that our performances have to be what we expect them to be. The biggest problem last year was the trail-off of our own performances.

Bristol City boss Nigel PearsonBristol City boss Nigel Pearson
Bristol City boss Nigel Pearson
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“It’s very difficult to measure yourself against opponents if you always shoot yourselves in the foot like we did last year.

“But they’ll be a decent team and obviously Jerry Yates was in fine form last year, so we’ll have to wary of him.

“I don't know about it being like Christmas Day but we're looking forward to the start of it, because we've worked hard in pre-season and it's got a different feel here and the makeup of the squad is different, so we're looking forward to getting started again.

"I’m sure our fans are looking forward to coming back and we’re going to need them. It’ll be great to see them back at Ashton Gate and hopefully we can provide them with the type of football that they will get behind.

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"I think the onus is always on us to perform first and I’m sure if they see commitment from the players, they’ll get behind the team. That’s really what it’s all about."

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