Bristol City 3-1 Southampton: Hosts end Saints’ 25-game unbeaten streak

Sam Bell (left) scored his fifth goal of the season but his first since September

Southampton lost for the first time since 23 September as Bristol City scored three second-half goals to end Saints’ club-record 25-game unbeaten run in all competitions.

Sam Bell, Rob Dickie and Harry Cornick got the goals as Saints’ defeat, their first in 23 Championship matches, saw them slip to third in the table.

Saints had not lost since their four straight defeats in September – but their only consolation was a late Adam Armstrong penalty as they were overtaken by Leeds United, whose 4-0 win at Swansea lifted them to second.

Liam Manning’s City move into the top half, up to 11th, after ending a run of four home games without a win to move within just four points of the play-off zone.

The home side grabbed a 52nd-minute lead when, after a neat one-two with Jason Knight on the right of the box, Albanian midfielder Anis Mehmeti crossed low for Bell to score from close range.

It was his first goal since a run of three in five games in September.

Centre-back Dickie then rose above the Saints defence to head home a Joe Williams corner from the left after 72 minutes.

Former Luton Town stalwart Cornick got the third to cap a deserved victory when he lashed home a cross from fellow substitute Ross McCrorie on 82 minutes.

Russell Martin’s Saints had to wait until stoppage time to reply when Armstrong scored from the spot following a foul on Kyle Walker-Peters, who had earlier come close to scoring himself, forcing a good save at his near post from City goalkeeper Max O’Leary.

That at least kept Armstrong’s impressive away form going, with the striker having now been involved in eight goals in his last nine league games on the road – chalking up four goals and four assists.

Who’s next?

Southampton are on their travels again on Friday night when they head to The Hawthorns to face fifth-placed West Bromwich Albion.

Bristol City return to action on Saturday at home to struggling Queens Park Rangers.

Bristol City boss Liam Manning told BBC Radio Bristol:

“I’m incredibly proud of the lads. The overall performance over the last 20 games has been high.

“In the rest of the games we’ve been close to doing this and I’m delighted for them to finally get the result they deserve. Especially second half.

“Sam Bell is massively improved. He now understands what we’re looking for. I’m delighted he got that goal.

“It’s nice to share the goals around. We carry such a threat from set-pieces.”

Southampton boss Russell Martin told BBC Radio Solent:

“I’m gutted and frustrated and it ends the run, but I’m so proud of the players and have so much love for them.

“This actually wasn’t that far away from being a really good performance. At half-time I thought we’d go on and win it as we had two better chances before they scored.

“But we conceded a rubbish goal for the first. We should have dealt with the cross better and we should have dealt with the corner for their second.

“We just need to make sure this is just a bump in the road. How we deal with disappointments and setbacks defines this group – and we didn’t do so badly last time, going five months unbeaten.”

Line-upsBristol City

Formation 4-2-3-1

1O’Leary

19Tanner26Vyner16Dickie24Roberts

6James8Williams

11Mehmeti12Knight20Bell

15Conway

Substitutes

Southampton

Formation 4-3-3

31Bazunu

2Walker-Peters21Harwood-Bellis35Bednarek3Manning

16Smallbone24Charles19Rothwell

36Brooks9A Armstrong23Edozie

Substitutes

Referee:Matt Donohue

Attendance:24,661

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