Bristol City 1-2 Birmingham: Blues end long wait for away win at Ashton Gate

Tahith Chong (centre) had only previously scored one senior goal in a loan spell with German side Werder Bremen

Tahith Chong's first goal in English football put Birmingham City on their way to a first away win since October after closing out a 2-1 win at Bristol City.

Chong, on loan from Manchester United, tucked home from close range after only two minutes to cap an electric start from the visitors.

Confident Blues then doubled their advantage 11 minutes later when Nico Gordon marked his first Championship appearance of the season by finishing from Jordan Graham's corner.

Bristol City, lacklustre in the first half, needed an immediate response in the second and got it as Alex Scott tapped in Jay Dasilva's snaking cross.

Although Robert Atkinson headed into the side netting, Blues were always a threat on the counter and only a sharp save from Dan Bentley from Juninho Bacuna's late drive denied Lee Bowyer's side a more comfortable victory.

But a first away win in 11 games will more than please Bowyer, especially with a number of important defensive and attacking personnel absent, with Nigel Pearson's City suffering a fourth defeat in five and no clean sheet in 16 games.

Despite their poor run on the road, Blues have a contrasting record at Ashton Gate where they had won on their past three visits and Bowyer's side started like they meant business as Chong cut inside Matty James, after collecting Marc Roberts' pass from the left, and finished smartly past Bentley for his first goal since returning from a four-month injury lay-off.

Running riot in midfield, Blues continued to dominate and doubled their lead from a Graham corner on 13 minutes as Gordon lost his marker and powered a header into the net.

Bristol City struggled to get anything going in the face of the visitors' energy with shots from Sam Bell and Timm Klose that sailed wide the only moments of hope in a difficult first half.

But hope was restored three minutes after the break as Scott pounced when the Blues defence switched off and allowed Dasilva's ball in to roll across the six-yard box to the midfielder's feet.

Dasilva was at it again soon after, teeing up top-scorer Andreas Weimann who found Antoine Semenyo - whose shot towards goal was scrambled away.

But Blues' game management was spot on as they took the sting out of the home side's resurgence, and they had a chance to ease any jitters in the last minute but Bentley tipped over excellently from Bacuna's drilled effort as they sealed only a third win in the last 13 matches.

Bristol City manager Nigel Pearson told BBC Radio Bristol:

"Not good enough. Terrible really. We unfortunately have players who can't string two performances together.

"It's an irritating trend from us that we concede poor goals and whether it's a lack of quality or lack of care I don't know.

"It seems the solution to every problem is to bring someone in who's not played and that's ridiculous.

"When you're working in a team game where players in the team should be doing everything to stay there but at the minute we've got too many players who are doing everything they can to not be there, which is very frustrating and annoying."

Birmingham City manager Lee Bowyer told BBC Radio WM:

"Over the 90 minutes, I thought we thoroughly deserved to win.

"He [Tahith Chong] looked a little bit rusty at times but we have to be careful and understand he's been out a long time but for him to come back and score today - I'm delighted for him.

"I wanted to go to a back three - I can't keep playing with a makeshift back four and I feel we're more solid.

"At half time they changed things and went more direct and we have to defend better.

"It's been frustrating and tough but no one wants a decent finish [to the season more] than me."