Liam Manning hails Bristol City stars for helping him through tragedy of baby son's death

Emotional Liam Manning hailed his Bristol City players for carrying him through the most difficult six months of his life. Manning lost baby son Theo last October and admitted he would have walked away were it not for his tight-knit squad. But he fought back the tears at Ashton Gate on Saturday as the Robins secured a Championship play-off place for the first time in 17 years.

On a chaotic afternoon where they briefly found themselves two goals down and out of the top six, Ross McCrorie appeared twice in unfamiliar territory to earn a point against relegation-threatened Preston.

In the end the result did not determine their fate because Blackburn were unable to win at Sheffield United. Yet the manner of this comeback, the way Manning’s side roared back, meant City fans celebrated as wildly as any promoted team.

And “exhausted” Manning, craving a post-match pint, said: “I nearly cried about three times, it’s been an emotional day for me. It was such a strange feeling, a difficult day. It was a special afternoon. is about memories. That was a very special memory for everyone involved.”

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But his challenge now will be to channel that excitement into a play-off against Chris Wilder’s Blades, still smarting from their late-season fade out of the automatic reckoning.

Preston, meanwhile, arrived at Ashton Gate anxious about demotion. “We got the job done, the work starts now,” Paul Heckingbottom said, though the purse strings will remain tight at Deepdale this summer.

Results elsewhere meant they were always above the red line but the sight of Emil Riis powering home from four yards sent them into party mode from early on.

That goal temporarily bumped Preston up to 17th and when news filtered through early in the second half that Blackburn were leading in Sheffield, Bristol City began staring failure in the face.

Their task looked even more difficult when Milutin Osmajic capitalised on a lapse in concentration to make it 2-0. Yet within a minute of falling further behind, City were returned to the play-off positions because of the Blades’ leveller against Rovers – a favour from the team they must now overcome to reach Wembley.

It was unclear how much awareness the players had of scorelines at other grounds so the hosts threw everything forward.

McCrorie’s first came from a cross by striker Nahki Wells, with the wing back heading home. And he then found himself a couple of yards from goal to receive a smart through ball from Jason Knight, keeping cool to equalise.

“He’s been great for us and he turned up with the goals at the right time,” Manning added. When full-time arrived they had a two-minute wait to learn of the result at Bramall Lane. Cue pandemonium, although this may just be the start of the drama.

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