Bristol City 3 Wolves 1 - Report and pictures

City were 2-0 up at half time thanks to a 20-yarder from Jamie Paterson and a Tammy Abraham penalty after Matt Doherty brought down former Wolves man Mark Little.

The hosts added to their lead shortly after the break when Abraham tapped home from close range.

Wolves scored late on when substitute Jon Dadi Bodvarsson ended his 35-game goal drought to pull one back, but that was as good as things got for Paul Lambert's team.

Analysis

It had to happen sooner or later...but the manner of this defeat will have hurt Paul Lambert.

Wolves were, to put it simply, outfought as their five-game winning streak ended with a deserved defeat, writes Tim Spiers at Ashton Gate.

Yes, this game meant far more to Bristol City than it did Wolves, what with the Robins just a point before the relegation zone at kick off.

But that's no excuse for the rather anaemic performance that Lambert's team gave. Despite a promising start they were bullied into submission by their committed and clinical hosts, who won the midfield battle and were half a yard sharper than Wolves in the areas where it mattered most.

The Robins may have lost 5-0 at Preston on Tuesday but they won their last home game 4-0 against Huddersfield, and it was that team that Wolves faced.

They had no answer until the closing minutes when a moment that Jon Dadi Bodvarsson has been waiting seven months for finally arrived.

His well-taken goal, though, was a mere consolation.

So the manager of the month curse struck...as did the occurrence of a deflating defeat after one of the top Wolves hierarchy had done the media rounds saying how positive things were for the future.

For Jeff Shi ahead of Bristol City, read Laurie Dalrymple ahead of Burton Albion at the start of February.

And it's that Burton loss and subsequent run of six consecutive defeats in all competitions that means Wolves, as much as they thought they might be before today, cannot assume they are safe quite yet, although Blackburn's defeat against Barnsley meant they slipped no closer to the relegation zone here and it would take a minor miracle for Rovers to overturn an 11-point deficit with just five games remaining for them.

There was one change to the team that beat Nottingham Forest 1-0 on Tuesday, with 17-year-old Morgan Gibbs-White replacing the benched Cavaleiro for his first start for the club after five substitute appearances this calendar year.

Helder Costa was absent with an ankle injury, while Carl Ikeme was again sidelined with a hamstring problem so Andy Lonergan deputised in goal.

Bristol City made four changes from the team hammered 5-0 at Preston in midweek. Former Wolves man Mark Little started in defence, while 22-goal danger-man Tammy Abraham was up front.

Wolves arrived at Ashton Gate full of confidence after five successive wins. And that confidence was evident early on when Dave Edwards pinged a 60-yard pass to Nouha Dicko who took it on his chest and then shot from 35 yards, albeit the ball went well wide.

Lambert's team had made the brighter start and just nine minutes in they should have taken the lead. Gibbs-White slipped a lovely pass through the Robin's defence, Dicko latched onto it, advanced 20 yards but then couldn't raise his dink over smothering keeper Frank Fielding.

But Wolves couldn't build on that promising opening - and City soon began to take charge.

First Aden Flint looped a header onto the crossbar. Then Lee Johnson's side took the lead when a pedestrian defence allowed one-time Wolves target Jamie Paterson to curl into the corner from 20 yards.

Wolves needed to get a grip, but the midfield battle was being lost and it wasn't much of a surprise when the hosts doubled their lead. Doherty allowed Little to get the wrong side of him in the box, the pair jostled and Little went down, leading to a penalty which Abraham dispatched.

And that was that for the first half, a deflating one from a Wolves perspective with the visitors creating little and looking nothing like the victorious side of recent weeks, with Costa and Cavaleiro sorely missed.

Wolves, no doubt after a half time rollocking from Lambert, came out in the second half with renewed purpose and should have found their way back into the game just four minutes after the whistle.

Gibbs-White embarked on a marauding run and the ball was worked to Marshall, but his clipped effort bounced inches wide and Dicko couldn't get there in time at the back post.

Seconds later Wolves were ruthlessly punished, and it was game over. Evans gave the ball away and a cross came to Abraham who couldn't miss from six yards.

Thereafter Lambert sent on Cavaleiro and Bodvarsson to try and change the game...but it was all over.

Indeed, Wolves were indebted to a smart Lonergan save to keep the score down.

They rallied late on - Bodvarsson's goal gave the sizeable away support something to cheer and finally got the goal drought monkey off the Icelandic striker's back, before Evans and Coady both had efforts saved - but it was too little, too late.

Key moments

9 - Gibbs-White plays in Dicko - he's through on goal and should score but Fielding saves his shot.

22 - Aden Flint meets a right-wing corner with his head and nods onto the crossbar.

33 - GOAL - Jamie Paterson, just outside the box on the left, is given room to bend a great shot into the corner past a helpless Lonergan.

39 - GOAL - Doherty brings down Little in the box. Tammy Abraham steps up to send Lonergan the wrong way with the spot kick.

49 - GOAL - Seconds after Doherty spurns a great chance Korey Smith crosses for Abraham who taps home from six yards.

54 - Flint's header looks top-corner bound but Lonergan pushes it past the post.

79 - GOAL - Marshall's free kick comes out to Evans - his deflected shot falls for Bodvarsson who beats the keeper from close range, left-footed.

Teams

Bristol City (4-4-2): Fielding; Little, Flint, Wright, Bryan; Brownhill, K Smith, Pack, Paterson (O'Dowda, 85); Abraham (Hegeler, 90), Taylor (Wilbraham, 74). Subs: Giefer, Magnusson, Cotterill, Tomlin.

Goals: Paterson (33), Abraham (39, 49).

Wolves (4-2-3-1): Lonergan; Coady, Batth (c), Hause, Doherty; Evans (Saiss, 80), Edwards; Weimann, Gibbs-White (Cavaleiro, 53), Marshall; Dicko (Bodvarsson, 63). Subs: Burgoyne, Williamson, Saville, Price.

Goal: Bodvarsson (79)

Attendance: 20,323 (2,560 Wolves fans)

Referee: James Adcock (Nottinghamshire)

Position in the table

15th (51 points from 40 matches)