The midfielder received his share of the headlines with a winner against Leeds.
Bristol City’s Marlon Pack in action with Moussa Dembele
Every side has a player which offers the kind of performance which might not create a lot of headlines, but are appreciated by everyone associated within the team. The hard working Bristol City player Marlon Pack fits that description, and he explained it perfectly to the Bristol Post this week.
Marlon Pack scores the first goal for Bristol City
Pack took the plaudits after his goal claimed the three points for Bristol City in their 1-0 midweek win against Leeds at Ashton gate, their first win against the Yorkshire club in 37 years. The 25 year-old Pack won the man of the match honours, as well as a spot in the EFL team of the midweek for his performance. Afterwards, the midfielder said that he was not used to the headlines.
“I’m not one of those players who usually grabs the headlines, so when you receive them, you have to make the most of it,” the Bristol Post reported. However, Pack was slightly unhappy with one aspect of the individual performance.
“When I got my bottle of fizz it didn’t say Man of the Match, it was just blank. I don’t get too many of these awards and because it doesn’t my little boy won’t believe me when he gets older so hopefully the club can rectify that,” he said.
While that might have been said with his tongue firmly in his cheek, it is a fact that goals don’t come around often for Pack and his strike against Leeds was just his second in 53 Championship games. Pack mentioned that the goal saved him from a lecture from Manager Lee Johnson. “The gaffer doesn’t like it when I go forward like that, I had at shot at goal in the final game of the season against QPR and he hasn’t stopped going on about it,” Pack said.
Bristol City’s manager Lee Johnson
To be fair to Pack, creative play is not in the holding midfielder’s job description. Being cast in that role is one of the more thankless positions in the starting eleven. Often the player’s performance is critiqued heavily by fans, due to the fact that their job is highly important in protecting the back four and breaking up opposition attacks. Failure to do so and the finger of blame is pointed at the individual.
Pack is more focused about team success with City saying that “we played well as a team to get the three points.” City have hit a rich vein of form of late winning their last three fixtures, and are unbeaten in four games overall.
They currently sit in sixth position on 17 points and have another home fixture against Nottingham Forest today. With Bristol City in a good run of form and players like Pack playing their role to perfection, the clash shapes as a real challenge for Forest who are looking for their first win away from home this season. Aaron Wilbraham scored a double the last time these two teams met at Ashton gate, and expect a similar margin of victory for The Robins this time around.
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