“We have to take confidence from the games we had against them,” says Liam Manning as Bristol City prepare to embrace underdog status against Sheffield United | OneFootball

Liam Manning has called upon his Bristol City side to embrace their underdog status when they host Sheffield United in the first leg of their EFL Championship play-off semi-final on Thursday.

The Robins secured a place in the play-offs on the final day of the season, with Ross McCrorie’s brace against Preston North End enough to salvage a comeback after trailing by two goals with an hour played. As a result, sixth-placed Bristol City will take on third-placed Sheffield United over two legs, with the first to be played at Ashton Gate on Thursday before the Robins head to Bramall Lane next Monday.

“We don’t just want to take part in the play-offs,” Manning insisted in his pre-match press conference.

39-year-old Manning, who took charge of Bristol City in November 2023, insisted that his side will not “change how we’ve approached everything” after finding themselves in the play-offs.

“We know the level of opposition we’re up against. We know we’re the underdogs, and when you look at the pressure and the expectation on some of the other teams that we’re competing against, naturally there’s a different level of expectation. We spoke about [it] to the lads to a certain extent,” he explained.

But Manning takes confidence from the fact that “when you look at the games we’ve had against the other sides in the play-offs, we performed really well, to a really high level. It’s about knowing us, and knowing what we’re capable of. There’s always the external pressure and expectation, all that side of it – but I think if we’re clear on what we’re trying to do, if we’re strong culturally which we’ve shown, if we’re aligned in how we play, if we’ve got an element of toughness to us, that’ll stand us in good stead.”

Despite only picking up one point from the available six in their matches against Sheffield United throughout the regular season, the Bristol City boss is adamant that “we have to take confidence from the games we had against them.”

“I thought the most recent one up at their place, we performed really, really well. I thought we were excellent […] slightly probably disappointed not to get more than a point,” he explained.

At the start of the season, Bristol City weren’t expected to reach the play-offs and have, as a result, assumed the underdog status as they take on a side that finished a staggering 22 points above them in the table. While Manning accepted that form and momentum “has to go out the window” ahead of the play-offs, he joked that his side would like to “stay as the underdogs – I think we’re alright with that!”

“It’s a terrific opportunity to go and continue doing what we’ve done all year, which is create a little bit of upset, surprise a few people and do it our way.”

Bristol City host Sheffield United in the first leg of their EFL Championship play-off semi-final, with kick-off at Ashton Gate scheduled for 20:00 BST on Thursday 8 May.