Bristol City 2-1 Barnsley: Andreas Weimann double earns Bristol City vital home win
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Andreas Weimann has scored six goals this season
Bristol City came from behind to beat Barnsley and secure their first home victory since January, ending a 17-match winless streak at Ashton Gate.
Aaron Leya Iseka gave Barnsley the lead with his second goal in two matches, but Andreas Weimann turned the match on its head with two goals in five minutes just before half-time.
Liam Kitching hit the crossbar and Michal Helik had a shot saved on the line just after the hour mark for Barnsley, before Nahki Wells had the chance to put the game to bed for the Robins, but blasted the ball over the bar.
City keeper Dan Bentley saved a close-range shot from Cauley Woodrow inside a nervous finale to secure a vital win for Bristol City - the first for Nigel Pearson in front of a home crowd.
The match set up two sides in desperate need of a win. Bristol City had not won at home since January 26, a record that predated Pearson while Barnsley had not won in 12 and were on the back of a six-match losing streak.
It was evident this was a meeting of two sides who have struggled for goals this season following a cagey opening 25 minutes devoid of any real tests for either goalkeeper.
Tyreeq Bakinson had the only real chance for City, but his shot went over the bar, before City captain Bentley saved a low strike from Jordan Williams with his legs.
Leya Iseka then broke the deadlock on the half-hour mark, much to the dismay of the home fans. The Belgian, making his first away start of the season, scored in Barnsley's defeat at Sheffield United the week before and this time got on the end of a cut-back from Devante Cole to find the net.
Callum Brittain then saw a shot saved by Bentley and it was against the run of play, with Ashton Gate silenced, that Weimann broke through the middle. The Austrian was set up by Wells and he lifted the ball up and over Bradley Collins to draw City level.
Despite scoring four times this season, Weimann's last goal at Ashton Gate came in December 2019. But less than five minutes later he had doubled his tally and made it 2-1, this time being set up by Chris Martin to slot the ball into the bottom-right corner.
City have made a habit of throwing away winning opportunities at home this season, and the second half was far from one-sided.
Barnsley had a trio of chances to draw level before Wells thumped the ball high over the bar in a one-on-one with Bradley Collins.
When four minutes of added time were shown at the end of the 90 minutes, City fans could be forgiven for watching from behind their hands, but this time they withheld the late onslaught as Victor Adeboyejo headed over from in front of goal in the dying seconds.
Bristol City manager Nigel Pearson told BBC Radio Bristol:
"I think it's relief … we weren't good today. We didn't play very well and when you play against a side who are near the bottom and asks lots of questions of us ... I'm sure they came here knowing that if they put us under pressure we could crack.
"We've played much, much better here and lost games and drawn games. There is not a lot of difference between today and other days where we've not played well but we've lost. It's an illustration I think of the fragility of the mental state in terms of what anxiety does and I was as nervous as everybody else, I suppose.
"But great for the fans and I thought they were excellent in terms of turning the noise up to support the team and the players really recognised that and so did we as staff. It's about the players and the fans, the relationship between them is vital.
"So now we've got rid of that ridiculously unfathomable run of results here we've got to now turn a corner and make sure our performances match what we want to achieve.
"Today it was about the result, the performance was secondary."
Barnsley manager Markus Schopp told BBC Radio Sheffield:
"Today I think the better team lost, we gave the game away in five minutes in the end of the first half and you see that we are struggling with this bit of experience right now.
"You can't give away a 1-0 lead where you were dominating the game so easily. This is definitely a hard one.
"We are talking about individual mistakes in situations where you can't lose balls without pressure, without a situation where I think the other team was happy to get into half-time to resettle. We gave these goals away so easy, this is definitely something that shouldn't happen.
"But in the end I have to say it was a 50 minutes where I saw a Barnsley team that did everything - created so many chances - and this is something where for me we are almost there, we are almost there. The team has to understand that we have to do this for 95 minutes and not only for 88 like we did today."