Bristol City 0-1 Brentford: Bees strike blow to Robins' play-off hopes

Neal Maupay scored an 80th-minute winner as Brentford deservedly beat play-off contenders Bristol City 1-0 in a one-sided contest at Ashton Gate.

The substitute was allowed to advance into the box and cleverly made room for a low right-footed shot from 12 yards that wrong-footed the otherwise excellent Frank Fielding.

Only the brilliance of the City goalkeeper and some desperate last-ditch defending prevented more goals on a bad day for Lee Johnson's Robins.

Brentford were the better side throughout and created the majority of first-half openings without forcing a testing save from Fielding.

Ollie Watkins was a constant threat as a lone striker, with Florian Jozefzoon pushing forward dangerously on the right flank.

Watkins thought he should have had a penalty after 15 minutes when driving between two City defenders and going down. But referee Keith Stroud was unimpressed and issued a yellow card for diving.

Fielding was brought into action after 23 minutes when Watkins produced a neat turn outside the box before sending in a right-footed shot that the goalkeeper dealt with comfortably.

Jozefzoon volleyed wide and Alan Judge fired across the edge of the six-yard box as City struggled to put their passing game together.

Watkins volleyed over from a Jozefzoon cross and there was a smattering of jeers from home supporters when the interval was reached without their side having created chance.

It was a similar story at the start of the second half after Brentford had sent on Josh Clarke for Henrik Dalsgaard.

Watkins set up Judge for a curling right-footed shot that was just too high. Then Yoann Barbet strode forward to hit a low drive from distance that was too close to Fielding.

It was all Brentford as nearly 900 travelling fans behind the goal they were attacking raised the volume. Jozefzoon had a shot blocked for a corner at which point Johnson had seen enough.

He sent on Jamie Paterson for Ryan Kent after 58 minutes with his side under the cosh, but Brentford then created the best chance of the game so far when Jozefzoon was put clear only to lift his shot over the bar.

Two more Johnson substitutions followed, as Milan Djuric and Lloyd Kelly replaced Famara Diedhiou and skipper Bailey Wright. Brentford boss Dean Smith responded by sending on Maupay and Nicholas Yennaris for Judge and Josh McEachran.

The goal Brentford thoroughly merited finally arrived six minutes later, and it should have been 2-0 soon after as Fielding produced an outstanding save to deny Maupay, whose follow-up effort was acrobatically cleared off the line by Josh Brownhill.

Aden Flint did well to block a Jozefzoon shot and Fielding produced more heroics as the visitors totally dominated the closing stages. City were booed off by their own supporters at the end.

The managers

Lee Johnson: "On the day they were much better than us. Too many of my players are a bit off their game at the moment and it makes selection difficult. We were outthought and outfought on too many occasions, but I don't put that down to lack of effort from the players. They are a group who need to be loved and there was no point in me going crazy in the dressing room. I need to galvanise them, not slaughter them.

"Having said that, they must look at themselves and decide whether they want to crank up the pressure over the remaining games by having a real go, or reduce it by falling away. We are still right in it as far as the play-offs are concerned and I, for one, will be in every day giving all I can to make sure we finish in the top six."

Dean Smith: "Other teams above us have dropped points. All we can do is keep winning and see where it takes us. We have played really well in some home games this season, not always getting our reward, but that was probably the best we have been away.

"We were denied a stonewall penalty in the first half when Ollie Watkins was booked for diving. He is not a cheat and how he can get booked for what was a moment of great skill I have no idea. I thought we were a bit sloppy in the opening 10 minutes, but from then on my only concern was whether we would take one of our chances. Frank Fielding made some great saves, but in the end Neal Maupay has come up with a good finish to cap an outstanding team performance."

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