Sinclair Armstrong scored his first Bristol City goal in more than 10 months as the Robins beat Birmingham City at Ashton Gate
15:00, 27 Oct 2025Updated 15:13, 27 Oct 2025
Sinclair Armstrong has admitted that the past few months have "been so tough" and tested his faith, but the Bristol City forward was incredibly grateful for the "beautiful" reaction inside Ashton Gate after his goal against Birmingham City.
Armstrong scored what proved to be the winner in BS3 on Saturday afternoon as the Reds stretched their winning run after the October international break to three games. The Ireland international's 42nd-minute strike was his first goal of the season and Gerhard Struber's tenure, as well as his first since November of last year - when he scored the fourth in a 4-0 win over Plymouth Argyle.
Prior to the October international break, all of the 22-year-old's league minutes had come from the substitutes bench, where he had often struggled to make an impact and split the opinion of supporters - as demonstrated during the club's recent fans forum.
Since the Robins returned to domestic action against Norwich City, however, the former QPR forward has reached a new level, with his goal against Chris Davies' Blues the icing on the cake after bright cameo appearances against both the Canaries and Southampton.
Speaking to BBC Radio Bristol after the Reds' win over Birmingham, Armstrong said, “I can only thank God first and foremost. I think obviously these past few months have been so tough. I think my faith has been tested a lot, but I’m just glad that I’ve just been able to kind of persevere through these challenges.
"Obviously, it hasn’t been pretty for myself the last few months. Standards have dropped a lot, disappointing performances, but I’m just so grateful for today, and just being able to contribute to this team’s success is almost like the cherry on top.
"I can take accountability that I've been nowhere near it," the striker continued. "Maybe performances I've looked back and thought, you know what, that's not myself, and I think I get disappointed when I have a lot to give and I'm not maximising my potential that I have.
"It was just obviously very, very upsetting, but I feel like I've kind of come into my own against Norwich and Southampton - going back to how I was when I was 15 or when I first came into English football at the age of 18. Just doing what I do best: running at defences, running in-behind, holding up the ball, bringing other players into play.
"I know it's obviously only two, three games, but I think for me, it's been very, very important and momentum is building."
Having come close to his first goal of the campaign late on against Southampton on Tuesday evening, when it took a good save from Alex McCarthy to deny him from a tight angle, Armstrong made no mistake with his finish against Birmingham on Saturday.
With a matter of minutes remaining in the first half, the 22-year-old - who had held up the ball and linked play well throughout the contest - was slipped behind the Blues' backline by a well-timed Rob Atkinson pass. Despite giving Phil Neumann a slight head start, Armstrong burst beyond his marker before touching the ball into the left side of the penalty area.
As the angle closed, the Ireland international did well to manoeuvre his body to the left of the ball, before calmly sliding a right-footed shot past James Beadle and into the bottom right corner.
The Ashton Gate crowd, which had been chanting the striker's name throughout, erupted as the strike rolled into the back of the net and Armstrong raced off to celebrate with the corner flag.
When the forward was later substituted in the second half, he was greeted with a standing ovation from the home support, before being pushed in front of Section 82 by Atkinson after the full-time whistle to lead a chorus of cheers with three quickfire fist bumps.
"It's something I've been working on in training with [Alex] Bally and [Craig] Flem," the 22-year-old explained when asked about his goal. "I'm so glad it went in because I've been working on that type of finish so much in training.
"I think in the past, the goalkeeper's saved it or it's gone wide or I just haven't had the greatest of touches, but I felt like once I was in there, it was only going to go into one place and that's the back of the net.
"I had my loved ones here today," Armstrong added on the emotions of his goal. "I don't even know what to say, I'll be honest. The reaction was obviously so beautiful. I've been really, really getting the support the last two, three games, and I've really appreciated it.
"When you get that support, especially when you're down or when things are not going your way, it's nice to see. The reaction from the crowd, at the end of the day, when you score goals, you're going to get reactions like that.
On his post-match fist-bumps to Section 82, the striker continued, "I've never done that before, so I just didn't know what to do. Obviously, Rob Atkinson is the best at that, but I probably was a little bit reluctant, but I did it in the end, so all good."
Armstrong and City are next in action this Saturday when they travel to the Bet365 Stadium to face high-flying Stoke City. Mark Robins' side currently sit fifth in the Championship, a single place and point behind the Reds in the play-off places.