Bristol City 3-2 Cardiff City: Chris Martin brace helps Robins beat rival Bluebirds

Chris Martin's 33rd minute strike was his first goal at Ashton Gate since the opening day of the season

Chris Martin's two goals inspired Bristol City as they came from behind to beat a lacklustre Cardiff City in the Severnside derby.

James Collins headed Cardiff in front, only for Martin to equalise seconds later with a fine finish after some slack defending.

Martin seized on more sloppiness from the visitors to fire Bristol City ahead in the second half with a powerful low drive.

Andreas Weimann drilled in a third for the Robins, with Max Watters' header coming too late for Cardiff.

There was a desperate late push for an improbable equaliser, but it was Bristol City who came closest to scoring in injury time when Antoine Semenyo's shot clattered into the post.

That would have been no more than the home side warranted for a strong fightback, whereas Cardiff got what they deserved for a sorry second-half capitulation.

Bristol City stay 16th in the Championship table despite a first win in five league games but they are now 10 points clear of Cardiff, whose sixth league fixture without victory leaves them 20th and looking over their shoulders at the relegation zone.

While manager Steve Morison has placed a greater emphasis on keeping possession and building up play gradually since his appointment earlier this season, it was the Cardiff of old on display for much of this encounter.

Although they had the better of the opening half an hour, the Bluebirds' best chances were restricted to set-pieces. Centre-back Mark McGuinness had two headers saved by Max O'Leary, one from a corner and the other from a Marlon Pack long throw.

There was more finesse to their opening goal. Bristol City's Han-Noah Massengo made a mess of his clearance and handed possession to Cardiff debutant Tommy Doyle, whose perfectly whipped cross invited Collins to throw himself at the ball and glance in.

Cardiff's lead - and the scenes of jubilation in the sold-out away end - lasted less than a minute.

Former Bristol City centre-back Aden Flint and defensive partner Curtis Nelson failed to deal with Weimann's run and the ball fell to Martin, who steadied himself before curling his shot into the far corner.

The hosts had barely threatened until then but, backed by a crowd which had rediscovered its voice, they finished the first half strongly and came close to taking the lead when Martin's header was cleared off the line by Flint.

It was all Bristol City in the second half and they took the lead with embarrassing ease.

Martin played a simple one-two with Semenyo, which dragged McGuinness and Flint out of possession, and arrowed a firm finish into the bottom corner.

The defending was not much better when Weimann found himself unmarked in the penalty area to add Bristol City's third.

Although Watters came off the bench to give Cardiff a glimmer of hope, their rivals were never seriously worried in the second half and saw out the closing stages to secure a memorable win.

Bristol City boss Nigel Pearson:

"Chris Martin comes in for some criticism at times, but he is a team player, who is good for us at both ends of the pitch. He took his goals really well and he deserved them for the amount of work he puts into games.

"All our front players caused Cardiff problems. There was real pace to our attacks and we looked really dangerous.

"We had to make two early changes because of injuries to Rob Atkinson and Andy King, but adapted to those setbacks really well.

"It would be nice if we could see games out a bit better at the end. But other than that, I can't have any complaints because my players gave everything."

Cardiff City manager Steve Morison told BBC Sport Wales:

"They wanted it more than us in the second half. That was probably the worst 45 minutes I have had on the touchline.

"It was frustrating and it hurt. We got outfought and out-battled. It wasn't a good second 45 minutes.

"We hit the self-destruct button a minute after we scored. I asked them to be calm and relaxed and they went completely the other way. They let themselves down in the second half.

"The players need to be better individually and take more responsibility for moments in the game."