Goals from Josh Brownhill, Famara Diedhiou and Bobby Reid saw Bristol City to a 3-1 victory over the Blues, their first win at Portman Road in 39 years, Martyn Waghorn netting for Town. Brownhill’s deflected goal put the visitors in front in the second minute, Diedhiou doubled the lead on 31, before Waghorn pulled a goal back for the Blues four minutes prior to half-time. However, there was to be no second half comeback from Town and Reid sealed the three points eight minutes from the end.
Mick McCarthy unsurprisingly initially named the same XI which beat Sunderland 5-2 on Tuesday evening.
However, Tom Adeyemi suffered an injury in the warm-up and Tristan Nydam replaced the former Cardiff City man alongside Cole Skuse in the deeper midfield role.
McCarthy again started with Waghorn, David McGoldrick, Bersant Celina behind lone out-and-out striker Joe Garner.
Central defender Adam Webster was back on the bench after recovering from his ankle injury, while keeper Dean Gerken also returned to the 18 after missing the Black Cats thrashing due to a hip problem.
For Bristol City, who went into the game seventh, one place and one point behind the Blues, midfielder Marlon Pack, who has already amassed five bookings for the season, was replaced by Brownhill in an otherwise unchanged side.
The visitors took the lead with the first shot of the game. Callum O’Dowda cut the ball back from the right to Brownhill, who hit a shot from the edge of the box which hit Nydam in the face and deflected past the wrong-footed Bartosz Bialkowski to his right.
The Robins created another opportunity in the 10th minute with Famara Diedhiou sent away with only Luke Chambers between him and the goal but the Blues’ skipper make an important challenge.
Bristol City continued to have most of the ball and might have done better with an opening in the 13th minute but Reid eventually shot powerfully from a tight angle on the right against Jonas Knudsen with the ball ricocheting back somewhat painfully into his own face.
On 17 Knudsen was shown the game’s first yellow card for a foul on O’Dowda after the Irishman had got away from him on halfway. The Danish international subsequently underwent treatment before continuing.
The visitors were inches from doubling their lead in the 21st minute when Reid cut in from the right and smashed a powerful shot which was goalbound until Jordan Spence slid in and got enough on the ball to deflect it on to the bar. Without Spence’s touch the ball would certainly have ended up in the net.
The Blues finally started to cause the Robins backline some problems in the 22nd minute when Skuse sent Garner away towards goal but the former Rangers man was crowded out and his shot looped into the air off a defender
A minute later, Waghorn was sent away down the right by McGoldrick and cut the ball back to the edge of the area for ex-Robin Skuse, whose shot was blocked.
After a slow first 20 minutes the Blues were starting to make an impact and on 27 Garner fed Celina not too far outside the area and the on-loan Manchester City man hit a powerful shot just past Bristol City keeper Frank Fielding’s right post. Moments later, Joe Bryan was booked for wild lunge on Garner.
But the visitors quickly got back on top, Jamie Paterson wasting an opportunity when he cut in from the right and smashed a shot which flew out for a throw.
However, on 31 Paterson created his side’s second goal of the game. The former Nottingham Forest man crossed from the left and Diedhiou rose above the diminutive Nydam and nodded down and into the corner of the net to claim his sixth goal of the season, his fifth in six games.
The Blues carved out what was their best chance of the half in the 36th minute when Iorfa cut the ball back to Celina from the right and the Kosovan international diverted towards goal but Fielding saved sharply.
Bialkowski gathered low to his left from Paterson on 40, then a minute later the Blues pulled a goal back.
After good work from McGoldrick, the ball ran out to Knudsen on the left and the Danish international sent in a low ball which the on-rushing Waghorn slammed his sixth goal for Town having made only six starts into the net off the underside of the bar.
Garner and Aden Flint clashed soon after the restart, the City defender appearing to stand on the Blues frontman following a challenge on halfway. After speaking to both players after the ball had gone out of play referee Simon Hooper took no action.
Moments later, Flint’s central defensive colleague Nathan Baker caught Garner with a flailing arm as they battled for an aerial ball, Hooper awarding Town a freekick but surprisingly not showing the former Aston Villa man a card.
Bristol City threatened again in the final moments of injury time, Flint heading Paterson’s left-sided corner into the ground and Bialkowski tipping it over the bar.
Soon after, referee Hooper brought an entertaining half to a close with the Robins deserving their lead.
Lee Johnson’s men had controlled the game for the most part and could well have scored more than their two goals, Spence having got in a vital touch to divert Reid’s shot on to the bar.
Town had started slowly and didn’t really get going until the 20-minute mark when they began to have more of the ball and create one or two chances.
Waghorn’s goal gave the Blues a lifeline ahead of the second half but their performance needed to be an improvement on their first-half display if were to get anything out of the game.
Bristol City were the first to threaten after the restart, O’Dowda breaking away in the 49th minute after a Town corner and Knudsen blocking his shot.
The Blues created a chance a minute later when McGoldrick cleverly turned away from his man in the centre circle and found Garner just outside the area to the left. The former Preston striker took the ball down on his chest before hitting a well-struck shot but too close to Fielding, who batted away.
Flint shot wide for the visitors, then in the 54th minute Town switched Iorfa for Adam Webster, back after the ankle injury he sustained at Luton in the Carabao Cup in August. Webster slipped into his usual central defensive role with Spence moving to right-back.
Nydam found Garner with a cross from deep on the left on 56, the striker diverting the ball into the box but a defender clearing.
In the 62nd minute Freddie Sears replaced Celina, who had been unable to make the same impact as he had on Tuesday.
O’Dowda curled a shot wide on 66 before Grant Ward replaced McGoldrick, the Blues’ number 10 quickly making his way to the tunnel accompanied by physio Alex Chapman, although not appearing unduly hampered by injury.
Webster headed a Ward freekick over on 70, then six minutes later the visitors switched Paterson for on-loan West Brom striker Jonathan Leko.
As the game moved into its final scheduled 10 minutes Garner was booked for jumping into Flint and in the 82nd minute the visitors sealed their first victory at Portman Road since a 1-0 win in September 1978.
The impressive Reid struck a shot from 25 yards out which caught Knudsen on the way through and beat Bialkowski.
The linesman had initially flagged, presumably as he felt the ball had been turned in by a Bristol City player, but after consultation the referee awarded the goal.
The Robins swapped O’Dowda for Niclas Eliasson and then Matty Taylor for Reid, shortly after the scorer of the third visitors’ goal had been booked.
The well-organised visitors saw out the remaining minutes as comfortably as they had the rest of the half to take their unbeaten run to 10 games and to climb above the Blues up to fifth.
Town can have few complaints about the result. The visitors gained their lead when on top in the first half and prevented the Blues from making too much headway in the second with Garner’s shot straight at Fielding and Webster’s header over their only real chances.
The result sees the Blues drop to eighth ahead of the international break with a trip to Sheffield United, who are third following today’s 2-1 defeat at Nottingham Forest, their next fixture in a fortnight’s time.
Town: Bialkowski, Iorfa (Webster 54), Chambers (c), Spence, Knudsen, Skuse, Nydam, Waghorn, McGoldrick (Ward 66), Celina (Sears 62), Garner. Unused: Gerken, Connolly, Bru, Kenlock.
Bristol City: Fielding, Bryan, Flint, Wright (c), Baker, Smith, Brownhill, Diedhiou, O’Dowda (Eliasson 86), Reid (Taylor 89), Paterson (Leko 76). Unused: Steele, Woodrow, Magnusson, Hegeler. Referee: Simon Hooper (Wiltshire). Att: 15,256 (Bristol City: 623).