Bristol City 0-2 Blackburn: Rovers punish 10-man Bristol City

Grant Hanley and Ben Marshall scored in the second half to give Blackburn a 2-0 Championship win over a Bristol City side who paid dearly for the dismissal of defender Nathan Baker.

The Aston Villa loanee was sent off for a second yellow card on 49 minutes, to leave his struggling side with an uphill task against Paul Lambert's improving team.

Rovers went in front 10 minutes later through captain Hanley before Marshall netted a penalty four minutes from time to seal the points for the visitors.

Blackburn looked strong all over the pitch and were well worth the points as the Robins remain on the brink of the relegation zone, while Rovers' 953 travelling fans went home thinking about a potential play-off challenge. 

Bristol City's Frank Fielding made the best save of the first half when a mistake by Kieran Agard let in Duffy only for the goalkeeper to spread himself and block the effort.

The ball broke to Hope Akpan 25 yards out and his low drive was cleared off the line by Luke Ayling.

Bobby Reid had forced a diving stop from Jason Steele after an Agard break on 17 minutes as the hosts struggled to break down a well-marshalled opposing defence.

Seconds earlier, City centre-back Nathan Baker had picked up a caution for a lunging challenge and he was lucky to avoid a second yellow card when bringing down Jordan Rhodes with a similar tackle on the half-hour.

Hanley was a giant at the back for Rovers, timing a challenge perfectly to rob Elliott Bennett as the Robins wing-back prepared to pull the trigger after cutting in from the right.

With Akpan catching the eye in midfield, Blackburn looked the more likely scorers, but the half-time whistle arrived with few clear chances for either side.

It was just four minutes after the restart when the game changed and Baker could have no complaints over his dismissal for a body-check on the touchline, having received a final warning from referee Geoff Eltringham earlier in the game.

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Hanley gave his side the lead just before the half hour mark, pouncing on a Shane Duffy knock-down to net with a close-range volley after City had failed to clear a corner.

Any doubt about the outcome was erased not long before the full time whistle when Aden Flint brought down Markus Olsson leaving Marshall to calmly send Fielding the wrong way with a low spot-kick.

City had fought defiantly with 10 men, Bennett having a close-range shot deflected wide on 81 minutes, but overall Steve Cotterill's men lacked the guile to pose many problems for a strong Rovers defence, in which Hanley and Duffy excelled.