Championship: Bristol City 0-2 Rotherham United - Smith and Wood earn Millers vital win at Robins
- Published
Richard Wood wheels away after scoring Rotherham's second to secure the vital win
Rotherham moved within three points of safety as they condemned Bristol City to a sixth successive home defeat.
Michael Smith put the Millers ahead shortly before half-time when he beat Robins goalkeeper Daniel Bentley to head in Wes Harding's cross.
They secured the vital win with 16 minutes remaining when Richard Wood headed in Daniel Barlaser's corner.
Nahki Wells and Antoine Semenyo missed late chances as the Robins' poor home form continued.
Rotherham's first league double over the Robins since 2013-14 moved them within three points of Birmingham in 21st, with four games in hand, while Nigel Pearson's Robins sit 14th after extending their longest-ever losing run at home.
The Robins had the better of the opening half and their first sight of goal came when Kasey Palmer's free-kick came back off the wall to Liam Walsh who volleyed over.
A short corner routine between Callum O'Dowda and Walsh almost created the opener for the hosts, but Wood just got a foot on the ball to clear, before Wells fired over shortly afterwards.
Rotherham, who recorded 25 positive Covid tests last week, scored against the run of play just before the break when Smith met Harding's dangerous cross to head in his ninth goal of the season.
The visitors were straight onto the front foot in the second half, Harding again combining with Smith before the latter shot into the side-netting.
City kept probing for an equaliser and went close when Wells played a nice one-two with Han-Noah Massengo, before firing a half-volley just wide of Viktor Johansson's goal shortly after the hour.
Bentley tipped over Michael Ihiekwe's 73rd-minute header, but could do nothing from the resulting corner, swung in by Barlaser, allowing Wood to head in from close range.
Bristol City boss Nigel Pearson told BBC Radio Bristol:
"It's a bit like groundhog day isn't it, in terms of our form at home and results. We knew it was going to be a tough game against a side who are physically very big and very direct as well.
"They know what they are and what I admire about them is they stick to they're about and in the first half we dealt with that exceptionally well and dominated what was a difficult game to dominate, but there's no accounting for individual mistakes.
"We came in at half-time 1-0 down when really there hadn't been a threat on our goal. We lose our way in games a bit when we have to deal with setbacks. It remains a difficult situation to resolve. We need to start winning home games it's as simple as that."
Millers assistant manager Richie Barker:
"I've told the players after the game that a lot of the other clubs battling to stay up will look at our result today and wonder how it happened. Only time will tell whether having so many games in hand will prove positive for us.
"Our training ground is going to be a happy place next week because it was a fully deserved win. I am proud of all the players. It seems unbelievable that we don't play until Easter, with so many fixtures still to fit in, but that's the situation.
"We are looking at playing virtually every three days when we start again, but we will look forward to that challenge when it comes."