Bristol City vs Blackburn Rovers. Sky Bet Championship.
Ashton GateAttendance21,180.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash at Ashton Gate
Saturday 14 December 2019 18:29, UK
Bradley Johnson's second-minute goal helped Blackburn extend their unbeaten run to seven games with a 2-0 Championship win at Bristol City.
Lewis Holtby delivered a low corner into the box from the left and Johnson arrived unmarked to bury a fierce shot from 15 yards.
Blackburn doubled their advantage after 77 minutes when City midfielder Han-Noah Massengo was caught in possession and substitute Adam Armstrong raced clear to slide a low shot past goalkeeper Dan Bentley.
It was no more than Rovers deserved, having worked tireless as a team to inflict City's second home defeat in the space of four days.
The home side initially responded well to the early goal. Famara Diedhiou's ninth-minute shot took a deflection and Blackburn goalkeeper Christian Walton did well to react and tip the ball around a post.
A minute later Ashley Williams was left holding his head as his goal-bound shot was blocked by a defender.
City head coach Lee Johnson was shown a yellow card by referee John Brooks after 21 minutes for leaving his dugout to remonstrate with Blackburn staff after their physio had raced onto the pitch to treat Sam Gallagher without being signalled to do so by the officials.
Still the home side pressed for an equaliser and it should have come in the 23rd minute when the unmarked Williams headed wide after a deflected cross from Niclas Eliasson had reached him at the far post.
Blackburn looked dangerous on the break and Bentley had to react smartly to keep out Gallagher's well-struck volley from 20 yards.
Then Johnson went close to making it 2-0 when his 37th-minute shot was well saved by Bentley.
As the teams left the pitch at half time more trouble flared between Lee Johnson and the Blackburn staff, which provoked a melee in the tunnel area.
The second half began quietly and by the 59th minute the City boss had seen enough, sending on Jack Hunt and Callum O'Dowda for Pedro Pereira and Adam Nagy.
His team went close to an equaliser after 68 minutes when Hunt's low cross from the right just eluded Diedhiou, sliding in at the far post.
Both sides made changes a minute later, Johnson sending on Sammie Szmodics for Tommy Rowe and Tony Mowbray replacing Ben Brereton with Armstrong.
By the time Armstrong made it 2-0 City were looking totally frustrated and anything but play-off contenders.
On this showing, Blackburn could be just that. They looked well-organised, confident and hugely efficient from first minute to last.
Bristol City's Lee Johnson: "Passions run high in football and it was nothing too serious. I have the utmost respect for Tony Mowbray, who I believe is a class act. Unfortunately, that doesn't apply to all of his staff. The physio running on as he did was outrageous and the referee handled it very poorly.
"Conceding so early was a body blow. It was a good goal from their perspective, but we felt Pedro Pereira was blocked off as he went to stop the shot and it is up to the officials to see that sort of thing. We had chance to get back into the game at 1-0 and failed to take them. It is fine lines like that which decide Championship games."
Blackburn's Tony Mowbray: "I felt we handled them well, but I am certainly not getting carried away. It's only a couple of months ago that we were on a poor run and now that we have won five games in a short period there is no cause to get over-excited.
"We made six changes today because I think playing Wednesday and Saturday is asking a lot and I am just delighted with the players who came in."
