Bristol City coach shuts down Tommy Conway reunion talk amid glowing Middlesbrough assessment

Bristol City assistant head coach Chris Hogg admits it will be a difficult day for his players at Middlesbrough in the context of the absence of manager Liam Manning. But he insists the Robins will be as prepared as ever and focused to try and get a positive result at the Riverside.

Manning won't take charge of his side on Saturday against Boro after taking an absence of leave following the tragic death of his young son Theo. Instead, Hogg, who was born in Middlesbrough before starting his playing career at York City, will take charge of the Robins.

Hogg said: "In terms of after the week we’ve had, to go there to try and express ourselves and try and compete and be hard to beat, and go and do what we do, really - and go and get back to showing what Bristol City can be all about: Together, fighting to win a football game, but trying to do it our way, which is the challenge.

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"The lads will be focussed, they’ll be fine. We’re prepared, we’ve done everything this week that we normally would. The beauty of how Liam and myself work is that the week (preparation) is already done, so my job really is to make sure it runs how we intended it to before the weekend. We’ve planned, we’ll be prepared and we’re ready to go"

That said, Hogg is under no illusion of the size of the task facing him and the Robins players at the Riverside. He continued: "It’s not going to be an easy one, that’s for sure,” he said. “They are a good team. They’ve added well to the squad over the last 18 months or so, with really consistent messages from the manager.

"In my opinion, he is going to be a top manager and a top coach. They’ve got staff there working behind them, so it’s going to be a hard challenge, but it’s an exciting challenge for us really."

As for players who Boro have added to the squad recently, the game could see Bristol City come up against their former academy graduate Tommy Conway for the first time. The striker was at the club from the age of nine until this summer when he left Ashton Gate to move to Boro. He's missed the last three games with injury but is pushing to be back for this one.

Given the context of the week in the South West, however, there has been little focus on Conway and the reunion with him. "There’s no time for that this week, to be honest," Hogg said. "It’s not been a week where there’s been too much of that type of chat from the players, not in front of me anyway."

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