Bristol City boss Steve Cotterill praised his players' 'magnificent' showing against QPR
Saturday 19 December 2015 20:46, UK
Steve Cotterill hailed his Bristol City side as "magnificent" as they fought back to take a point against QPR.
Things looked bleak for the hosts when Junior Hoilett produced a quality finish from outside the box after running onto Sebastian Polter's pass.
But Robins skipper Aaron Wilbraham grabbed a deserved 80th-minute equaliser, sliding in at the far post to convert substitute Joe Bryan's low cross, and Cotterill felt it was the least his team deserved.
He said: "I thought my players were magnificent. They really showed what we are about today.
"It was a great team goal to equalise after Rangers had taken the lead against the run of play and I am absolutely convinced we deserved to win.
"Their keeper Rob Green was man-of-the-match because he affected it more than another player. How he stopped Jonathan Kodjia scoring a couple of goals only he will know.
"I made changes against Derby in our previous game and today we saw the benefit of having a fresh Wilbraham and a fresh Kodjia.
"They caused a lot of problems and I am delighted Aaron got his goal because he gets through so much work for us."
Rangers boss Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was full of praise for his goalscorer Hoilett and was also encouraged by his team's second-half display.
He said: "Junior is getting back to where he used to be. He is a confidence player who needs someone to believe in him.
"We definitely do. He is a player who can create as well as score and he did that brilliantly for us today.
"Charlie Austin had a little tweak in a hamstring during training so we didn't want to risk him in this game.
"We have to trust in our squad, rather than the same 11 players and the ones who had a chance today did very well. Bristol put us under pressure in the first half, but we were a lot better after the break.
"There were a lot of positives for us to take from the second half. I thought we were the better team after the interval and their keeper has made some good saves."
