Sykes raises promotion hopes as Robins soar
NIGEL PEARSON dismissed talk of his rampant Bristol City team making a late surge towards the Championship play-offs after extending their unbeaten run to nine games.
The experienced manager was keeping both feet firmly on the ground as excited Robins fans celebrated a first win over the Canaries since 2009.
Mark Sykes was the 24th-minute match-winner, breaking onto a superb Cameron Pring through-ball and squeezing a left-foot shot under the body of diving goalkeeper Angus Gunn.
The home side defended their slender advantage with huge tenacity and might have extended it late on when substitute Harry Cornick broke clear, only to be denied an Ashton Gate debut goal by a Gunn save.
Pearson said: “I am not even thinking about the play-offs. All I am concerned with is winning the next match.
“We have created some momentum after a run of games which had brought some criticism. Now we have to keep heads down and continue working hard.
“What impresses me most about our current form is the collective determination to keep the ball out of our net.
“It was a good performance against tough opponents. We now have a team our fans can take pride in because of the effort they put in and the future is looking brighter for the club.”
Norwich battled hard in a game of few clear opportunities but boss David Wagner had no complaints about the result, having seen his side fail to seriously test home keeper Max O’Leary.
He said: “It was a disappointing result. We deserved it because of a poor first-half display. We took too many touches, moved the ball too slowly and played too many square passes.
“I felt there was a foul in the build-up to their goal and we had one ruled out near the end for what was a very close offside decision.
“But there are no excuses. The overall performance was not good enough to deserve anything from the game.”
BRISTOL CITY: O’Leary 7; Tanner 7, Vyner 9, Atkinson 8, Pring 7; Scott 7 (Weimann (82) 6), James 7, Williams 7; Sykes 7 (Kalas (89) 5), Wells 7 (Cornick (60) 6), Bell 7 (Mehmeti (60) 6)
NORWICH: Gunn 7; Aarons 6, Omobamidele 7, Hanley 7, Giannoulis 7; Dowell 5 (Gibbs (61) 6), McLean 6, Sara 6; Pukki 7, Sargent 5 (Idah (61) 6), Nunez 5 (Hernandez (46) 6)
STAR MAN: Zak Vyner – Rock solid at the heart of a composed Bristol City defence, keeping the Canaries at bay in a tight contest.
REF: Chris Kavanagh 8