Bristol City boss Sean O'Driscoll beats Watford at their own game

Head Coach Sean O'Driscoll reflected on Bristol City's second win in four days and said: "We beat Watford at their own game."

Greg Cunningham and Paul Anderson scored a goal in each half without reply as the Robins stunned the Championship's form team at Ashton Gate last night.

And O'Driscoll afterwards spoke of the game-plan he and first team coach Richard O'Kelly devised to derail Gianfranco Zola's men.

He told The Post: "I'm delighted, because they are the form  team of the division and they have been scoring goals for fun and playing in a way that makes them difficult to combat.

"They came here and started against without their strongest XI and we took advantage of that.

"We had a game-plan and we probably did something that no other team has tried to do against them. We sat in and said to them 'come and break us down', which is usually part of their game-plan.

"We did not want to fall into the same trap as some of those sides that have lost to them recently and we decided to play as a counter-attacking team.

"The results says we did it really well. But even if we had not got the result, I would still have said we did what we practiced."

City kept their first clean sheet in 32 attempts dating back to April 21 last year, but O'Driscoll refused to become carried away by the achievement.

He said: "It doesn't really mean anything. You can go through the season scoring more goals than the opposition and not keeping a clean sheet and it does not matter.

I'm not really that fussed about it, just so long as we've won the game."

Asked if being off the bottom of the npower Championship table made any difference to him, the 55-year-old Midlander replied: "Not really. Getting out of the bottom three will make a difference and this was a step in the right direction.

"We've been trying to move the club in the right direction since we came through the door and this is a positive start for us."

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Rare tornado spotted in Bristol channel as storms hit

SNOW, hail, heavy rain and thunder – the Bristol area has experienced it all over the past two weeks.

And now the wild weather has caused a spectacle in the Bristol Channel, with local people capturing a picture of what appears to be a mini tornado in the estuary.

This picture was taken by Sue Hewitt, of Downend, who spotted the event while out walking along the coastal path between Clevedon and Portishead at around 1pm on Sunday.

Mrs Hewitt, 53, a keen walker, said: "The weather was very overcast with dark clouds and it looked like it was going to rain.

"I suddenly noticed what I thought was a tornado about half-way across the channel so quickly took some pictures.

"I could see it spinning around and around and lifting up the sea.

"As it went past me towards the Severn Bridges, it got wider at the bottom and the top of the spout started to disperse so it eventually looked like a large cloud over the sea.

"It only took around five minutes from the time I first spotted it to it dispersing completely.

"The weather was dreadful on Sunday with strong winds and squally showers but I have never seen anything like this.

"I felt very privileged to see nature like this."

Met Office experts have confirmed the picture is of a waterspout and said although they are not common, around 30 to 40 are spotted on average across the UK each year.

A Met Office spokesman said: "The weather conditions required for the formation of a funnel cloud usually have to be showery, so a day when heavy showers or thunderstorms occur, and there were showers in the Bristol Channel on Sunday.

"Funnel clouds are caused by the up and down draughts that can occur within deep shower clouds called Cumulonimbus clouds.

"Certain conditions, usually a significant directional change in wind and its speed, and changes in temperature, can lead to the rotation at the base of the cloud and sometimes a funnel cloud appears.

"If this funnel cloud extends down to the ground and makes contact it is then called a tornado. Waterspouts are just tornadoes that form over the sea or lakes."

Heavy thunder and hail storms battered the region on Sunday afternoon and up to 15mm of rain was expected to have fallen across the region by the end of yesterday.

Environment Agency chiefs say they expect between 15mm and 30mm of rain to fall today at the same time as spring tides peak along the coast.

Tidal surges are also expected as strong winds whip up the tides further, giving potential for coastal flooding.

Environment Agency spokesman Paul Gainey said he expected flood warnings to be issued over the coming days.

North Somerset Council said flood defence gates at Weston-super-Mare, installed as part of a £29 million flood defence project, would be in use.

"We have not received any specific warnings from the Environment Agency, but have decided to deploy the sea defences all week to minimise as much as we can the risk of any flooding in Weston," he said.

"We will continue to monitor this situation closely, as well as across the rest of the district.

"We advise residents to follow weather and flood warnings if they are issued by the Met Office and Environment Agency.

"Our website www.n-somerset. gov.uk/flood has plenty of advice and information about flooding and what to do in the event of flooding, including ways to report it."

Rare tornado spotted in Bristol channel as storms hit

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