Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Bristol City and Burnley at Ashton Gate on Saturday; Jaidon Anthony's goal after 23 minutes seals a narrow win for Scott Parker's Clarets.
Saturday 23 November 2024 16:08, UK
Jaidon Anthony's first-half strike proved enough for Burnley to take three points from a 1-0 victory over Bristol City in a rousing Championship battle at Ashton Gate.
The winning goal came on 23 minutes when Anthony found the roof of the net with a close-range shot after City goalkeeper Max O'Leary had dived full length to palm a Josh Brownhill shot into his path.
Burnley were the better side for an hour, but had to withstand a fired-up finale from City, who came close to rescuing a point and claimed to be denied a clear penalty.
Both sides created early chances, Burnley's Jay Rodriguez having a shot deflected for a corner and City's Luke McNally heading over from a Max Bird free-kick.
The home side had a better opening on 10 minutes, but Anis Mehmeti saw his shot from eight yards blocked after Bird had broken clear and cut the ball back from the left.
McNally was booked for a lunging 22nd-minute challenge on Hannibal Mejbri, who was causing problems with his direct running. Moments later it was Mejbri cross from the right which led to Anthony breaking the deadlock.
City responded with a Jason Knight having a shot blocked, but too often marred promising moves with poor decision making in the final third of the pitch.
It was Burnley who almost scored again on 39 minutes when Rodriguez's powerful header from a Lucas Pires corner clipped the crossbar.
City boss Liam Manning made a change at the break, sending on tricky winger Yu Hirakawa for George Earthy. But it was Burnley who continued to create the better chances and they looked certain to extend their lead on 52 minutes.
Brilliant work by Brownhill saw him burst into the box and cross low for the unmarked Luca Koleosho at the far post, but O'Leary somehow got across his goalline to dive and smother the shot, the rebound effort from Mejbri being blocked by Knight.
City were hanging on as Anthony fired inches over from distance and Koleosho had a volley blocked. The hosts lacked their first-half solidity and looked vulnerable to a succession of attacks.
But it was almost 1-1 on 65 minutes as Bird's pass gave Hirakawa a free run on goal, only for Burnley goalkeeper James Trafford to spread himself and make a crucial save.
City had weathered the storm and Burnley's Maxime Esteve, Mejbri, Trafford and Pires were booked in the space of six minutes as Scott Parker's team came under concerted pressure for the first time.
They had to survive a loud penalty appeal when a free-kick into the box skidded onto Brownhill's arm. Both teams made multiple substitutions, but it was City who finished the stronger, denied by some strong defending.
Bristol City's Liam Manning:
"As I understand the handball rules, we should have had a penalty. Their player's arm was horizontal and we had a player coming in behind him.
"I feel for the officials at the moment because no one seems quite sure how the rules should be applied. But soon after the incident Zak Vyner has hammered a ball at one of their lads from a couple of yards and a free-kick for handball was given.
"Did we do enough to win the game? Not in my view, but it wasn't down to lack of effort. Maybe a bit more quality was needed in the final third, but I am not complaining because the effort was clear to see.
"We are going in the right direction and there is greater consistency of performance. Now we have to turn more of those performances into positive results because we have drawn a lot of games.
"We started this game well and got in behind them a few times in the first 10 minutes. But as the first half went on we were not as effective.
"Max O'Leary had made a great save to keep us in it at 1-0 down in the second half and Yu Hirakawa has had a great chance to equalise, which he will take on other occasions."
Burnley's Scott Parker:
"Of course there was some relief at the end. After an international break we have come to a very difficult venue in poor weather for a 12.30pm kick-off against good opponents and come away with all three points.
"For 20 minutes in the second half we were as good as we want to be and had great chances to extend our lead. But there was a clear momentum swing after we missed the best of them and we ended up camped in our own half.
"That happens in games and you have to show the ability to grind things out, which is what we did. We defended our box really well by getting in important headers against a lot of crosses.
"We have to work on maintaining the sort of momentum we had in the second half. Some poor finishing prevented us building the sort of lead that would have made the closing stages more comfortable.
"Bristol City are a very good side and I respect the job Liam Manning is doing. A lot of teams will find it difficult to get results here this season."
