All the talking points after Bristol City’s penalty shootout defeat to Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup fourth round
Agony, anguish, maybe even some anger in there because, really, how else are you supposed to feel after that ? But ultimately the abiding sensation should be one of pride in how Bristol City not just matched a Premier League outfit over 210 minutes, but actively took the FA Cup tie to them, home and away.
There also should be some regret because this encounter should have never reached the pain of penalties, it probably shouldn’t even have reached a replay after the performance at Ashton Gate, but Nottingham Forest stayed the course to break hearts.
Jason Knight’s equaliser and Divock Origi’s goal felt almost insignificant as the thrilling match descended into a shootout, considering how long it had been since Matt Turner and Max O’Leary had each been defeated.
However, there had to be a winner and a loser. Although it takes City out of the FA Cup for another year and takes away everyone’s best memories of 2017 and Manchester United in the dark, the Robins can probably learn just as much from the loss as they would have from a victory. Not in a materialistic, athletic sense, but in the insight it provided into this team’s future.
The final scene, which saw an emotional Sam Bell being comforted by Harry Cornick and Tommy Conway before being serenaded by 2,632 City supporters inside the Bridgford Stand at the City Ground, is maybe the best place to begin.
Saying that Bell will carry that moment with him for the rest of his career is not hyperbole, nor is it our intention to be cruel or profit from a man’s suffering.
He has undoubtedly experienced similar low points in the game, but they would have mostly taken place in secret and been a source of personal disappointment. This was the first of its kind in his career and was very much in the public eye. However, as Liam Manning stated last night—and as any sports psychologist would undoubtedly reiterate in far more poetic terms—using it is the key, not running away from it.
After all, hardships and bad events have a lasting impact on us just as much as happy times do. Bell’s penalty to Turner’s right was well-aimed, but perhaps a little too high for the American, who somehow outperformed O’Leary on a night both goalkeepers excelled.
That it turned out to be the lone miss out of nine attempted penalties is another crushing blow, and it also shows some excellently placed free kicks, which was astonishing after 120 minutes of intense, soul-crushing FA Cup game.
And Bell was an important player on both sides of the ball for a large portion of that enormous amount of time—Manning said after the game that, really, extra time wasn’t necessary and it should have gone directly to penalties.
It was cruelly ironic that he also had the last say in the game prior to the shootout, since if he hadn’t raced back to stop Taiwo Awoniyi from being cleared by Nuno Tavares as Forest broke from a City throw-in, the drama that followed would have
not have unfolded.
By making such an important intervention for his team to keep them in the tie, Bell then diverted his own destiny down a darker path.
Before that, he played a crucial role in Knight’s goal because he had the awareness to control Andy King’s shot, which had struck the woodwork through Turner’s hand, and then roll a pass into the Irishman. Bell has admitted to having had a few head-down situations where he chose to go for the goal over better options, but this wasn’t one of those times.
Bell put up a real fight against World Cup winner Gonzalo Montiel, especially with new teammate Haydon Roberts behind him. Bell was always trying to improve on his inside game, putting in some early dangerous crosses that Turner had to watch out for, and his attacking instincts paid off as he quickly stopped King’s shot.
He was a regular support runner for Anis Mehmeti or Conway when they burst forward, and the Albanian’s counterattack, in which he swung over a cross that would have been clear for Bell if it had been delivered with a little less intensity, should have resulted in many more.
Roberts was moved to left wing-back on minute 65 as it was evident that he was out of match fit and couldn’t keep up with the pace minutes, facing off against Neco Williams, the Welshman proved to be a formidable foe.
Rob Dickie frequently provided cover for Williams, so even though there were some scary moments when he moved past Bell, he never let his guard down or let the replacement get inside his head. He did, however, maintain his presence in the last third, acrobatically connecting with a volley that, had it been a few yards either side of Turner, would have been some goal.
During the second half of extra time, he attempted his best to set up Wells by running onto Joe Williams’ incredible reverse pass. However, Tavares’ pressure caused the Bermudan to tangle his legs, causing the ball to stay out.
Bell’s level of fitness was impressive throughout, considering the distance he had to go and the consistency of his high-intensity sprints and the level of concentration and determination he displayed in playing two positions against different opponents, both of which are full internationals.
No man is an island, so after such a varied and intense emotional evening in which Bell played the part of a hero but ultimately felt like a villain (which, let’s face it, he shouldn’t), he probably found comfort in his teammates and maybe even drew a little closer to those who understood his suffering and that feeling of unadulterated humanity in failure.
He and the club as a whole are forever changed by that event, yet despite the fact that it truly is unforgiveable, it need not be defining—at least not in the sense you might assume given the conclusion. Bell’s course should be more clearly indicated by the 120 minutes that have passed. And that’s what he did really needs to take with him from this night.
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