Boss Mick McCarthy felt that a draw was a fair result after the Blues’ opening game of the Christmas period ended 1-1. Derek McInnes, his opposite number, thought his side ought to have won and should have been awarded two penalties.
McCarthy said: "I think it was a fair result. I didn’t think we played particularly well, but I think they did play well and we should congratulate them, actually.
"I was glad to get in at one-each at half-time, to be honest. It wasn’t [anywhere near the Forest and Millwall performances], it would be lovely if we could get that — from the bottom of the league to every single week playing like that, it would be great. But it wasn’t going to happen, it’s never going to happen.
"Maybe these are the hardest games, against sides playing for the same thing. Expectation is high against the teams around us, but seeing the results today the league’s just bonkers and it’ll continue to be, right to the very end.
"I’ve never said anything other than that it’s going to be a bitter scrap right to the end, and that’s the way it’ll be.”
Asked whether the wet conditions reduced the quality of the match, the Blues boss quipped: "I think the two teams played their part in reducing the quality of the game!
"I thought they played well in the first half and we maybe struggled with their shape a little bit.
"In the second half we got to grips with it and I thought we had some opportunities that we could have done better with, but we didn’t.
"That’ll be the difference. The teams that finish in the top six as opposed to the ones that finish in the bottom six, they’ll be the ones that put the ball in the net. I guess they could say the same. They could have been sat here with the victory.”
McCarthy says he withdrew DJ Campbell just before the hour mark to try and make more of an impression on the five-man Bristol City backline, confirming that the on-loan QPR man hadn’t suffered an injury: "I just freshened my strikers up.
"I had Michael Chopra on the bench and I think he’s a worthwhile sub, he’s a good player and I don’t think it was happening for us up front.
"That’s what I do, change it, try and freshen it up, as it happens it didn’t particularly work that well. Daryl got a nasty knock on his knee at the end and I’m hoping that he’ll be OK.”
The Town manager, who says no one else picked up niggles, says there were positives to be taken from the match: "We took a point from a game we could have lost, we’ve not been beaten twice on the bounce, which we could have been and didn’t crumble when we could have done and we’ve got better in the second half. I think we were slightly the better side in the second half.”
Regarding midfielder Cheick Kourouma’s exit yesterday, McCarthy said: "He’s not good enough for us. I can’t dress it up any more than that.”
Robins boss Derek McInnes was disappointed his team didn’t win: "I’m a bit frustrated, truth be told, I thought we were a far better team. I thought we were very dominant in the first half.
"I thought it was a bit more even in the second half, but I still think we played with confidence and when you play as well as we did in the first half and create as many chances, there’s a frustration that we haven’t picked up all three points.”
The Scot also thought his side should have been awarded two penalties, the first when Luke Chambers blocked a shot from Paul Anderson early on and the second when Guirane N’Daw stopped a Jon Stead strike.
"My biggest frustration other than the fact that we haven’t taken some of our chances came from two really strong penalty claims,” he said.
"I thought there were two handballs, I’ve watched them again and we got punished against Blackpool a few weeks back for something which was nowhere near as evident as out there today. We’re disappointed with that.
"But you always know when you play Mick’s team that you’re going to have to battle and scrap for everything you get, and that’s what we had to do today.”