Bristol City 0-2 Cardiff City

Lex Immers celebrates his opener for Cardiff at Bristol City

Lex Immers and Stuart O'Keefe struck as Cardiff City won at Bristol City in the Severnside derby to move one place off the Championship play-off places.

Immers' close-range finish from Joe Ralls' low cross gave the visitors the lead at half-time.

The hosts put immense pressure on the Bluebirds after the break.

But the Robins could not find the target amid their desire to stay out of the relegation fight and O'Keefe's diving header put the game beyond them.

It secured Cardiff's first back-to-back wins since the summer, boosting manager Russell Slade's hopes of taking his side into the top six.

Relive Bristol City v Cardiff as it happened

Joe Ralls of Cardiff City holds off Bristol City's Marlon Pack

They beat Preston 2-1 in midweek and followed that up at Ashton Gate to rise above Birmingham in the table.

Defeat left Bristol City 19th before the rest of the Saturday's games.

Bruno Ecuele Manga was outstanding in Cardiff's defence amid Bristol City's early pressure and at the other end Immers made the most of the chance Ralls provided.

The Bluebirds dominated the opening period and deserved their lead at the break even though Jonathan Kodjia drew a good save from David Marshall from an acute angle.

The hosts changed their formation at the restart and were far more lively as they sought to level.

Lee Tomlin, who was yellow carded for dissent as he headed into the tunnel at the break, was also thwarted by Marshall.

And against the run of play, Cardiff put the outcome beyond doubt.

After home keeper Richard O'Donnell deflected Tom Lawrence's shot on to the bar, O'Keefe headed home to seal the win.

Bristol City boss Lee Johnson: "My biggest criticism is that we turned down too many chances to get crosses in. Our decision making on the day was poor at times.

"Our one-on-one defending is not good enough at times and that is something we have to work on.

"But we have to maintain positives. There are things we have to improve on, but our fans are behind us and we need to brush ourselves down and bounce back quickly."

Cardiff City manager Russell Slade told BBC Radio Wales: "I'm really pleased with the win. The performance was okay. It was good in patches.

"We've had to defend and show a different side of ourselves, particularly in the second period where we've defended our box really well.

"And we were ruthless going forward and took our chances really well.

"I see this as continued momentum. We've lost one in nine so that's important, to be hitting that type of form at this stage of the season."