Blackwell buoyed by shock win

Blackwell buoyed by shock win

Published Feb. 27, 2013 1:15 p.m. ET

Jon Stead believes Bristol City can take heart from last season's great escape as they look to close the three-point gap between themselves and safety at Blackpool.

The striker, 29, who scored twice in the vital 5-3 victory over Barnsley on Saturday, netted five times during March and April 2012 as the Robins clawed their way to safety thanks to an eight-game unbeaten run.

And the former Blackburn man says the class of 2013 have what it takes to secure npower Championship football next season.

"I think we have to draw from what happened last season," he told the Bristol Evening Post. "Certainly, it would have been a different situation had things not improved for us in March and April.

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"We can definitely take the positives from that and apply them to our current situation.

"We've done it before, so why shouldn't we do it again? But we don't want this to be happening season in, season out. We need to pull out of this cycle.

"It was the same when we had our backs against the wall last season. When we really had to win games, we did, and it was the same on Saturday."

After the trip to face Paul Ince's men, City welcome Brighton and

Middlesbrough to Ashton Gate as they look to continue their 100 per cent record at home since Sean O'Driscoll took charge.

Steven Schumacher's 10th goal of the season after 21 minutes separated the sides, but Swindon failed to muster a shot on target until the late in the second half when Luke Rooney's free-kick forced Bury goalkeeper Trevor Carson into action.

Schumacher turned in a centre from Joe Skarz for his goal and twice went close to adding more.

Lethargic Swindon missed the influence of former boss Paolo di Canio. The club meet on Wednesday to discuss a replacement.

Miller, joint caretaker with defender Darren Ward, made no attempt to hide his disappointment at Swindon's second poor home result after managing only a draw with Preston.

Miller said: "It was our poorest performance of the season. We did not get going at all. We were simply not at the races.

"Maybe there was some complacency, playing at home to a team in trouble. I don't know the answer to that, but we're very disappointed with the outcome.

"There seemed to be a lack of everything in all departments so the sooner the managerial position is sorted the better for us all.

"You would not think we were second in the league going into the match and with a fantastic opportunity to go top.

"We failed to deliver and there are no excuses for slipping up in the way we did."

Steven Schumacher's 10th goal of the season after 21 minutes separated the sides, but Swindon failed to muster a shot on target until late in the second half when Luke Rooney's free-kick forced Bury goalkeeper Trevor Carson into action.

Shakers boss Blackwell admitted he had not been surprised by the way his lowly outfit had taken control of a match they had expected to lose.

"This was a fantastic performance," he said "The lads have shown what they can do and we deserved the points.

"We stuck to our game plan against one of the top teams in the league. Against Notts County recently we paid for a poor 10 minutes.

"But where we failed at Notts County, we succeeded against Swindon.

"This was a massive win for us, but anyone who has seen us recently would not have been surprised.

"Craig Fagan was awesome and led the line brilliantly from start to finish. A great performance.

"But there is still plenty of work to be done. We need to make changes and to bring in more players, but in fairness to the players already here we have been playing well for a long time.

"I watched Swindon several times lately and to get a win against them is tremendous.

"Overall I thought we outplayed and outfought a good Swindon side, so there is a lot to be proud of."

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