Football Struber explains why he's being careful with Knight's fitness

ASON Knight was left out of Bristol City’s matchday squad against Portsmouth in order to manage his load, Gerhard Struber has confirmed, with the head coach clarifying the Robins captain’s situation after his side’s impressive win at Fratton Park.

- Dan CARTER

City bounced back from their disappointing midweek defeat at Wrexham to secure a first three points away from home in four matches with a 1-0 win over Pompey on Saturday lunchtime. In the end, Anis Mehmeti’s sixth goal of the campaign proved to be enough for City to come out on top.

After an electric first quarter of an hour from Struber’s side, the Albanian winger opened the scoring on 17 minutes. Having been picked out in the Portsmouth penalty area by a superb Neto Borges cross, Mehmeti rose well to steer his header beyond Nicolas Schmid and into the back of the net.

In either half, the Robins had chances to further extend their advantage, but it was Portsmouth who piled on the pressure in the closing exchanges. Thanks to some brilliant defending and a handful of impressive saves from Radek Vitek, City were able to see the points home.