Championship: Bristol City 1-0 Blackburn Rovers - Diedhiou pounces late to win it
- Published
Famara Diedhiou scored only his second goal of the season, coming off the bench to win it
Famara Diedhiou pounced late on to earn Bristol City three precious points in their Championship promotion bid by settling a close-fought encounter against fellow chasers Blackburn Rovers.
The Senegal international swivelled in the box with eight minutes to go to turn home and finally break the deadlock and lift his side into the play-off places as one of four teams on 30 points.
It was a strike which prompted Rovers boss Tony Mowbray to take out his frustrations on the pitchside water bottles, having seen his side enjoy swathes of possession and chances, but fail to truly trouble Robins goalkeeper Daniel Bentley.
Striker Adam Armstrong did test him with one shot, forcing Bentley to sprawl low to gather one drive, and Joe Rothwell also fizzed a couple of efforts over and wide.
Rovers keeper Thomas Kaminski was not unduly troubled either, as Antoine Semenyo flashed a shot wide and Nahki Wells also whizzed wide after getting in behind the Blackburn defence.
This game was billed as a shootout between two sides pushing for promotion, capable of scoring plenty of goals and entertainment - and they delivered on the latter at least.
Mowbray's Rovers showed plenty that is good about their play, the liveliness of Harvey Elliott and Rothwell, but their struggle to beat promotion rivals - Watford, Swansea, Reading and Brentford to name four others - continues to dent their progress.
Armstrong and his team-mates are the top scorers in the division but in particular the former Newcastle forward's radar was off.
City are without some key personnel in Nathan Baker, Alfie Mawson and Andreas Weimann but Dean Holden's patched-up team came up with a pivotal three points.
It was also a welcome return to home form, as they had won just one of their previous six games at Ashton Gate.
Diedhiou's goal was also a chance for him to pay tribute to late compatriot Papa Bouba Diop, lifting his shirt to reveal a message to the former midfielder, who died recently aged just 42.
Famara Diedhiou paid tribute to the late Papa Bouba Diop with his goal celebration
Bristol City boss Dean Holden told BBC Radio Bristol:
"At half time at 0-0 I thought it was a really good game, we created some really good chances and looked solid. We've kept the top goal-scorers in the division pretty quiet, Adam Armstrong had a quiet night.
"It was on a knife-edge for most of the game, we had the best chances but when you don't execute you are always one counter attack from the game getting away from you and that where we had to stay concentrated behind the ball and we were excellent.
"Fam comes off the bench and gets the winner as he did against Derby and another assist for Chris Martin, a fantastic three points great response from the weekend and a fantastic home win which was important for us."
Blackburn Rovers boss Tony Mowbray told BBC Radio Lancashire:
"I think we were off the boil really, a bit loose in our final-third play, some of the chances we've been having have been going in the net and we're disappointed.
"I didn't think we were going to lose the game, were in a position where we can come to Bristol and believe we are good enough to win these games. Credit to them, they've got some good players and had some good opportunities.
"We were in London two and a half days ago, had a four and a half bus journey back and one days preparation were three and a half hours off to Bristol. It's tough.
"We've now got two home games and can hopefully give the team a breather and a rest and get some points in those games."
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