It's been a fantastic start to the season for Bristol City, with Gary Johnson's side currently lying in second place on the back of last Saturday's impressive 3-0 victory at Coventry. Indeed, for less than 24 hours the Robins actually sat proudly on top of the Championship only for Watford to climb above them following their last-gasp win against Southampton on Sunday. However, City, now the only unbeaten side in the division, could reclaim top spot with a victory against West Brom at Ashton Gate tonight. Givemefootball's Mark Shail caught up with skipper Louis Carey, who had good reason to enjoy that result at Coventry having had a brief spell at the Ricoh Arena a couple of years ago.
Q:YOU MUST HAVE BEEN DELIGHTED WITH THE RESULT AT THE WEEKEND?
A:It was a great result and in many ways it was the ideal away performance. They were at home and unbeaten going into that match and had also scored more goals than any other team in the division, so we knew it would be difficult. But we defended well as a unit, dug in at times, and managed to hit them on the break on numerous occasions.
Q:AND NICE TO GET ONE OVER YOUR OLD CLUB?
A:It was good to go back there but I was only at Coventry for eight months so I didn't have much time to get too sentimentally attached to the club. But it was nice to go back and see a few old friends and also show the Coventry supporters that I can do a decent job at this level.
Q:HAVE YOU BEEN SURPRISED BY THE START?
A:Given our indifferent results during pre-season, it has been a bit of a surprise but when you look at the signings the manager has made we privately thought we were capable of holding our own in this league – although we weren't going to start shouting it from the rooftops.
Q:HAVE YOU NOTICED ANY MAJOR DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE STANDARD OF THE CHAMPIONSHIP AND LEAGUE ONE?
A:Tere are a number of differences. The front hmen are quicker, stronger and have better movement for a start. Also, the balls up to them have much more quality on them so it is difficult for defenders to make a tackle. Another difference is that teams have the ability to keep the ball for longer – which means you spend longer trying to get it back.
Q:DID YOU SET A TARGET NUMBER OF POINTS THIS SEASON?
A:Initially the chairman came out and said that our aim was to stay in this division and I suppose that remains the immediate target. But we said we would look at things in blocks of ten games – because by then you can assess what is a realistic target and what isn’t. So far things have gone very well for us but it's still very early in the season.
Q:AND CITY COULD GO BACK TO THE TOP OF THE TABLE WITH A WIN AGAINST WEST BROM TONIGHT?
A:For the last three or four games we've had a chance to go top of the table but other teams have won their games and just managed to stay above us – although we were top for a few hours at the weekend. But, with no disrespect to Coventry, we expect this to be a more difficult game tonight because all the stats indicate that West Brom keep the ball very well and we know they score a lot of goals. It will probably be our toughest test so far.
