Blackburn Rovers 0-1 Bristol City: Andreas Weimann snatches injury-time winner
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Bristol City top scorer Weimann now has 17 goals this season
Andreas Weimann scored a 92nd-minute winner for Bristol City as they beat a stuttering Blackburn Rovers to win their first away match since October.
Bradley Dack, on his return for Rovers after a year out with injury, saw a late penalty saved by Robins goalkeeper Dan Bentley.
Reda Khadra also hit the crossbar for the home side but they were made to pay by Bristol City, who snatched a goal deep in injury time to take the three points.
Blackburn remain fourth but have now failed to score in 10 of their past 14 Championship matches.
While Blackburn's poor run of form in 2022 had seen their charge on the automatic promotion places fall away, Bristol City came in to the match on a run of three defeats and having not secured a victory away from home in 11 matches.
The lack of wins for the two sides was evident in a cagey first half with little between them. Darragh Lenihan had the best chance for the hosts after 14 minutes, forcing Bentley to react quickly and dive low to deny his header.
Antoine Semenyo then scuffed a shot towards the ground as he ran on to it after being teed up in the box by Chris Martin.
Tony Mowbray's side piled on the pressure after the break. Jan Paul van Hecke and Joe Rothwell played a one-two that forced Bentley into action and Khadra sent a side-footed shot at the City goal, before he rattled the crossbar as the visitors hung on.
The biggest cheer from the home fans came when Dack was brought on from the bench - he last featured for Rovers in March 2020 having suffered a second anterior cruciate ligament injury in a short space of time.
It didn't take long for Dack to be called into action, when the referee judged Van Hecke was pulled to the ground by his shirt and pointed to a penalty. Yet a fairytale return was not to be, as his spot-kick was laboured and Bentley could deny him.
Bristol City have fallen victim to countless injury-time goals this season, but for once they were the benefactors with two of the four added minutes left to play.
Joe Williams' shot fell to Weimann, whose form has been one of the Robins' highlights this year, and his volley struck the back of the net for his 17th goal of the season.
Blackburn saw goalkeeping coach Ben Benson sent off in the aftermath and have now only won twice in their past 10 league matches.
Blackburn Rovers manager Tony Mowbray:
"The lateness of the goal, the stuff [that] went on before, the chances we had, obviously missed a penalty kick, again [for the] second time in a couple of weeks. It feels like a cruel game.
"It's hard on the group really, you can see the drive in that team in the last half hour or so, the desperation to score a goal and yes, it feels pretty cruel - but there you go. We have to take it as professionals and get on with the job. I'm not sure they deserved to score but there you go, they got one and good luck to them.
"For us, we have to live with the fact that the statistics and history books show we didn't score again for another game - and we have to take that on the chin.
"I thought the team worked really hard to try and score today. We had some chances. Lenihan had a free header from a corner; obviously we missed a penalty kick. On another day we win the game pretty comfortably but today we didn't."
Bristol City manager Nigel Pearson told BBC Radio Bristol:
"We needed a win and we got one. But unfortunately after the QPR game at home, it was all about refereeing decisions and I suppose if I'm totally in the moment I'm wondering what's happened today as well. I don't know if it was a penalty but if Han-Noah's pulled his shirt, it's a stupid thing to do. Simple as that.
"We've shown qualities today that have been in question and that is a bit of spirit and a bit of moral fibre and a desire to keep us out of the net. It wasn't pretty at times and we've played a lot better and lost, but the result was important today.
"I'd have taken a point, I'd have taken a clean sheet and a point just because when we had the chances we didn't really take them. We had a few good chances, I don't want to paint a picture that we didn't have opportunities but we did. It didn't look as though it was going to be our day but the players and the fans got the reward for sticking in the game."