Bristol City 1-1 Norwich: Robins deny Canaries

Bailey Wright netted his first goal for Bristol City to earn a 1-1 Sky Bet Championship draw with Norwich at Ashton Gate.

But the result did little to relieve the pressure on either home boss Lee Johnson or Canaries manager Alex Neil, with both sets of fans expressing their frustration at different times. Defender Wright scored with a low 78th-minute shot from close range after Norwich had failed to clear a Dave Cotterill corner.

The visitors had taken a deserved 39th-minute lead when Yanic Wildschut was allowed to run at Bristol City's back line and picked his spot with a low right-footed shot from 25 yards.

It took some fine saves from Michael McGovern to protect a point for Norwich as they survived heavy late pressure.

The hosts, who had announced the sacking of assistant head coach John Pemberton and the departure of head of scouting Des Taylor before the game, began with a sole frontman in Aaron Wilbraham and rarely threatened in the first half.

Steven Naismith should have put Norwich ahead on the half hour when beating the offside trap. With only Frank Fielding to beat, he slid his shot narrowly wide. Another Naismith shot was blocked by Bailey Wright and Murphy had a similar effort diverted to safety by Aden Flint. In between those chances, Flint headed over at the other end from a Cotterill free-kick.

After Wildschut's goal, Bristol fashioned their first decent chance when Callum O'Dowda controlled a Flint header on his chest only to clip the crossbar with his volley from 12 yards when he should have scored.

That did not stop home fans greeting the half time whistle with loud jeers, while the travelling Norwich contingent cheered their team to the dressing rooms.

Johnson responded by sending on a second striker in Matt Taylor for midfielder Bobby Reid at the start of the second half and immediately applied more pressure.

Flint's downward header from a Cotterill free-kick brought a brilliant save from McGovern after 48 minutes and Marlon Pack sent a volley from the edge of the box over the crossbar.

By in the 66th minute, the beleaguered Bristol City head coach had also sent on Milan Djuric for Wilbraham and Lee Tomlin for right-back Zak Vyner in a desperate attempt to pep up his shot-shy steam.

Djuric soon forced a save from McGovern with a header from a Joe Bryan cross, but might have done better. Then the Norwich keeper flew across his goal to tip an O'Dowda shot wide.

The pressure told when Wright equalised and from then on Bristol City looked the more likely winners as McGovern performed heroics again to deny Bryan.

Bristol City boss Lee Johnson:

"In the end we might have won it. I thought before the game that our substitutes would make a difference and that's exactly what happened. We paid Norwich a bit too much respect in the first half, but still had an opportunity when Callum O'Dowda hit the crossbar.

"They had a great chance too. But (Milan) Djuric caused huge problems when he came on and we could take a lot of heart from the closing stages. I know football too well to look any further ahead than our next game at Wigan on Saturday, when we hope to have Tammy Abraham back from injury, which would be a huge boost.."

Norwich boss Alex Neil:

"We have let a great opportunity slip. If we had converted even one of some great first-half chances the game would have been over. Steven Naismith has failed to score one-on-one with the keeper and we had other openings created by some really good attacking play.

"Our forwards were not as sharp in the second half and we allowed Bristol to bully us with their direct style. They changed formation several times and in the end our goalkeeper has done well for us. The players are as disappointed as I am, but there is still time to get back into the play-off picture."