Bristol City vs Blackburn Rovers; Sky Bet Championship
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Bristol City vs Blackburn Rovers. Sky Bet Championship.
Ashton Gate Stadium.
Bristol City 0-1 Blackburn: Rovers goalkeeper Balazs Toth stars as Tony Mowbray's side secure hard-fought win at Ashton Gate
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Bristol City and Blackburn at Ashton Gate on Tuesday; Oladapo Afolayan's goal sealed a narrow win for Rovers on a night where goalkeeper Balazs Toth starred
Tuesday 13 October 2026 23:29, UK
A magnificent goalkeeping display from Balazs Toth inspired Blackburn to a 1-0 Sky Bet Championship victory over Bristol City at Ashton Gate.
The visitors had Toth to thank for still being in the game when Oladapo Afolayan rifled them into a 38th-minute lead with a clean right-footed shot from the corner of the box which wrong-footed motionless home goalkeeper Sam Tickle.
Toth was simply unbeatable on the night, making a string of outstanding saves, particularly in the first half. His efforts left City with nothing to show from a performance that started impressively and ended in massive frustration.
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Robins boss Michael Skubala rotated his squad, making five changes from the 1-1 draw at Charlton, while Rovers manager Tony Mowbray recalled Tom Atcheson to the starting line-up in his only change from the 2-1 win over Cardiff.
The home side dominated the opening half hour and might well have been three or four up before falling behind. Dom Ballard alone could have had a hat-trick, but for the brilliance of Toth.
City's frontman got behind Blackburn's backline after 11 minutes, but delayed his shot and saw his low effort saved. That was nothing compared with Toth's superb save four minutes later, stretching every sinew to get a left hand to Ballard's well-placed header.
The busy striker went clear again in the 23rd minute, however, tried to make too sure of scoring and had his shot blocked to safety. Two minutes later, Toth flung himself to his left to keep out George Tanner's header from a Jed Wallace cross.
A Bristol City goal looked inevitable, though, Rovers weathered the storm and, while Afolayan's strike came out of the blue, they had more of the game as half-time approached.
Skubala introduced winger Yu Hirakawa as a substitute for Sam Greenwood at the start of the second half and Toth was in action again, diving full length to keep out Scott Twine's 30-yard free-kick.
Next it was Hirawaka to be denied by the outstanding Rovers goalkeeper, who spread himself to keep out a low 54th-minute shot.
When City finally found a way past him after 75 minutes, Jed Wallace was ruled offside to increase their anxiety.
Both teams made numerous changes and City failed to repeat their first-half dominance.
Toth saved again from substitutes Tommy Horvat and Elijah Adebayo in the closing stages to complete a faultless contribution.
Adebayo headed over in stoppage time, but Rovers defended tenaciously and by then home fans had accepted it was not their team's night.
The managers
Bristol City's Michael Skubala:
"Their goalkeeper was great. We created a lot of big moments and there were some amazing saves.
"We had lots of chances, lots of box entries and it is a game we should have won in my opinion.
"You also have to keep the back door locked and we have failed to do that on one occasion, which has cost us. I looked up when the ball hit the back of the net and was surprised, although I have not seen it back.
"It was a moment out of nowhere that hurt us when we had complete control. The result is a hard one to take, but goals change games and we failed to take our opportunities.
"There are a lot of learnings to take from the game. We are still developing as a group and there were some very good individual performances.
"Dom Ballard will be disappointed not to have scored. He may not have as much time in the Championship as in League One, but he had a good game."
Blackburn's Tony Mowbray:
"Sometimes you need a goalkeeper who makes the kind of saves Balazs made tonight. I imagine Bristol City feel pretty hard done by.
"There were some amazing saves. I was behind two of them and he just got his fingertips to the efforts. It was a brilliant performance, but I always say that's what keepers are there for.
"There is more than one way to win football matches. In our last game we played some fantastic football against Cardiff, but that wasn't the case tonight and you have to give Bristol credit for nullifying us.
"They defended the areas we like to attack and got the ball forward quickly when they won it, but we defended stoutly, which hasn't always been the case.
"We take the three points and move on. We don't fear any team in the league and it's important that we have shown the resilience to win when not producing our best football."
