Nigel Pearson saluted West Brom's quality following a damaging third defeat in a row as his Robins side went down 3-0 to the Baggies on Saturday afternoon.
A stop-start afternoon saw the game delayed for 15 minutes as a home supporter needed medical attention - thankfully to be reported as in hospital and conscious and set for treatment.
A Bristol City fan needed treatment at half-time too that led to another delay to the second half too, thankfully reported to be doing better later as well, meaning that the second half did not begin until 4.33pm, with the match finishing much later than other 3pm kickoffs.
And Pearson was asked if the stop-start nature of the game had affected his side, who were roundly outplayed in the Midlands, 23 shots to seven, nine on target to two. It was a long afternoon in every way for visiting fans.
"That's nothing to do with it at all," said Pearson after the game. "At the end of the day people's health is a lot more important than starting a football match and whether there's a 10-15 minute delay that isn't relevant to it.
"It didn't stop them from starting quickly and we knew what to expect and we didn't deal with it and that's the biggest disappointment.
"The goals that we conceded in the first half were too soft, we were too passive, we couldn't sort our feet out on the ball.
"It was a bad day for us and the defending collectively wasn't good enough but having said all of that it would be ingenerous of me not to compliment how West Brom played because they played with intensity, they're very good side, they've got a really good squad of players and they got at us and made life uncomfortable and unfortunately for us we were unable to deal with it and that's the reality of the situation.
"They could have been out of sight," he added.
Nathan Baker was stretchered off after 23 minutes and that led to 10 minutes of added-on time at the end of the first half, further pushing back the start of the second period.
The central defender was taken to hospital for further tests during the game but is reporting okay and is expected to be released on Saturday evening. It remains to be seen if he will be available to face Barnsley in what looks like a must-win game at Ashton Gate next weekend.
And Baker going off meant that City were significantly hampered as they looked to defend set-pieces, with Kyle Bartley nodding in three minutes from the break to take advantage.
"They're like defending corners," said Pearson of the long throws his side faced. "In fact the delivery from the throw was probably better than it was from the corners. In terms of physicality we gave away quite a bit of height today, especially when Nathan [Baker] went off.
"That aside we weren't dealing with the game effectively anyway, I've got no complaints.
"We have the squad that we have and unfortunately for us we were not at our best today and when you're not at your best and you play a good side you're going to have a tough time and we just could not deal with the ball effectively and we struggled in the midfield area at times with potentially an overload of three-to-two.
"That shows you that we struggled really to manage the ball effectively and having to make two substitutions in the first half, albeit one was a concussion one, never helps but it wasn't a day to expose George Tanner.
"He's done exceptionally well since he's been here but I'm afraid it was a tough lesson for him today," said Pearson on taking off the young full-back on 34 minutes.
Bristol Live asked the manager for his thoughts when Danny Simpson came on and gave away the third goal, ironically with a back pass, which was one of the reasons that Tanner had been taken off originally.
The 58-year-old was philisophical about Simpson's error and says Tanner being taken off was to protect the player.
"it was the right decision to take George Tanner off because he was having a very difficult time," insisted Pearson.
"He's a young player who's made great strides and it's irrelevant what other people think. My job is to make decisions on how I protect going players and unfortunately he didn't start the game in the way he's been able to perform of late so that's not being judgemental of him, it's just a case of when the backpass happened.
"We could have been another goal down its as simple as that. Danny is aware that he's made a mistake but there you go, that's life," he added.
You can sign up to our dedicated Bristol City newsletter HERE, bringing you the latest from Ashton Gate
