A controversial 31st minute penalty netted by Lee Tomlin has given Bristol City a 1-0 lead over the Blues at half-time at Ashton Gate.
Mick McCarthy named an unchanged side on Thursday with the only switch in the matchday 18 Myles Kenlock replacing Teddy Bishop, who had picked up a knock, among the subs.
Cole Skuse was facing his hometown club, who he was with for 17 years until joining the Blues in 2013, for the first time back at Ashton Gate and received a warm ovation from his old fans when his name was read out.
Robins boss Lee Johnson made five changes from the starting XI which lost 2-1 at Reading last week with Adam Matthews, Scott Golbourne, Korey Smith, Luke Freeman and Aaron Wilbraham, who wore the armband, coming into the side for Joe Bryan, who was suspended, Mark Little, Gary O’Neil, Jamie Paterson and Bobby Reid with the latter trio on the bench.
Kick-off was preceded by a minute’s silence in memory of the Chapecoense players, who died in the Colombian air disaster earlier in the week, while both sides wore black armbands.
The home side had all the ball in the opening minutes against a Town team wearing their all white away strip.
The game’s first chance came in the fourth minute when Freeman crossed from the right and found Wilbraham but the former Norwich striker shot well over. The Robins captain claimed the ball had struck a defender but referee Stuart Attwell awarded a goalkick.
Wilbraham’s frustration regarding that decision appeared to boil over in the seventh minute when he lunged in on Christophe Berra well after the ball had gone with what looked to be two feet. While an angry Berra received attention, Wilbraham was probably fortunate to see only a yellow card, despite protestations at his innocence.
Town first threatened in the 16th minute when Adam Webster found Tom Lawrence out on the left with a cross-field ball. The on-loan Leicester man cut in but Matthews slid in to scramble the ball behind off the Town player.
David McGoldrick was becoming increasingly influential and in the 20th minute the Blues striker cut in from the right past two defenders and hit a shot which deflected through to home keeper Frank Fielding, just too far in front of Luke Varney.
Having started slowly Town had got on top but without creating a significant opportunity. On 17 Lawrence curled a shot well over from 25 yards after Varney had seen an effort from the edge of the area blocked.
However, the home side went in front in the 31st minute via a contentious penalty. On-loan Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham chased a flicked-on diagonal ball which looked to be running through to Bartosz Bialkowski to the right of goal and stabbed it away and out of play ahead of the keeper before going to ground.
Referee Attwell initially appeared not to be interested in the England U21 international’s protests before eventually pointing to the spot, much to the anger of the Town players. Whether there was contact or otherwise it looked very soft and a penalty very much won rather than conceded, although Bialkowki will feel he ought to have dealt with the situation.
Tomlin took the spotkick and slammed it into the corner past the Town keeper, who wasn’t too far away from reaching it down to his right.
The momentum was back with the Robins and they came close to a second in the 35th minute when Tomlin cut in from the left and hit a shot which Webster diverted over the bar.
Aden Flint, scorer of two headers from corners in last season’s corresponding fixture, claimed he had been hauled down as the first of several flag-kicks came on from the left a minute later but referee Atwell waved away his appeals.
Former Peterborough and Middlesbrough man Tomlin was booked soon afterwards for clipping Lawrence midway inside the Bristol City half.
Ward hit a low strike wide from distance on 43, then as half-time approached Abraham headed over from a Scott Golbourne cross from the left.
After a quiet start the Blues had been getting on top when Bristol City were awarded the penalty and Tomlin netted their first goal in a first half in 11 games.
Having gone behind Town struggled to impose themselves on the game with Robins looking more likely to add to their lead than the Blues were to equalise with home keeper Fielding never seriously tested.
Bristol City: Fielding, Matthews, Flint, Magnusson, Golbourne, Freeman, Pack, Smith, Tomlin, Wilbraham (c), Abraham. Subs: Lucic, Moore, Brownhill, O'Neil, Reid, Paterson, Engvall.
Town: Bialkowski, Chambers (c), Webster, Berra, Knudsen, Skuse, Douglas, Ward, Lawrence, Varney, McGoldrick. Subs: Gerken, Emmanuel, Kenlock, Bru, Williams, Best, Sears. Referee: Stuart Attwell (Warwickshire).