Swansea City 1-2 Bristol City: Mark Sykes and Sam Bell earn Robins deserved win

Academy product Sam Bell celebrates in front of the Bristol City fans after putting his team in front

Bristol City recovered from a goal down to win convincingly at Swansea City and leave the home side still searching for their first Championship victory of the season.

Despite being completely outplayed in the first half, the Swans led as Liam Cullen finished neatly after Charlie Patino's excellent through ball.

After having three goals disallowed and missing a host of chances, Bristol City eventually equalised early in the second half as Mark Sykes cut in from the right and fired in.

Sykes then set up Sam Bell with a pinpoint low cross to put the visitors ahead and, although Ben Cabango headed against a post, the Swans were well beaten.

The margin of victory did not reflect the gulf in class between the sides, with Swansea rarely troubling their opponents.

Whereas Swans head coach Michael Duff will be disheartened as his side remains winless in the league since he took the reins this summer, Bristol City boss Nigel Pearson can take great encouragement from his side's performance at the Swansea.com Stadium.

They were dominant from the start - Sykes having a goal disallowed for offside and Jason Knight heading wide from a corner - but they fell behind in the 10th minute, against the run of play.

Swansea's goal was beautifully crafted, as Arsenal loanee Patino picked up possession near the halfway line and threaded a perfectly-weighted through ball to Cullen, who calmly finished low to his left.

The goal did not stem the flow of pressure from the visitors, who squandered two fine opportunities when Nakhi Wells shot straight at Swans keeper Carl Rushworth from close range before Knight saw a low goal-bound effort blocked on the line by Matt Grimes.

Bell then had a goal chalked off for offside and Knight had another disallowed for a push as the increasingly porous Swansea somehow held on to their lead at half-time.

Bristol City's fans were furious about the disallowed goals, booing referee Oliver Langford off the pitch at the interval, but their team's dominance eventually yielded the returns it warranted.

Swansea switched formation at half-time from 3-5-2 to 4-4-2 in an attempt to contain their rampant opponents, but the hosts were still wide open.

For the equaliser, Joe Williams switched play with a long ball to the right, where Sykes cut inside on to his left foot and finished smartly in the far corner.

Eleven minutes later, Sykes drilled a low cross to the back post where Bell fired in to give Bristol City an overdue lead.

Swansea looked overwhelmed and, after a raft of substitutions, they opted for a more direct approach with Cabango heading against the post and Harry Darling having a header saved.

Those were rare attacks, though, and Bristol City continued to look threatening whenever they pushed forward. They could not add to their advantage, but this was a thoroughly deserved second Championship win of the season for the Robins.

Swansea head coach Michael Duff:

"I thought we were poor. I thought we were slow, we were pedestrian, with and without the ball, and we didn't do the basics well enough.

"We started the game well on the front foot, went 1-0 up but then went passive. We gave two poor goals away.

"It's a difficult game if you don't do the basics properly. We didn't get on the front foot at all, we weren't aggressive enough.

"It happened in the last couple of years, it's happened with us [new coaching staff] so we need to address it."

Bristol City manager Nigel Pearson:

"We created a lot of chances and we have done in our away games so far. The goal we conceded was a sloppy one from our perspective, but Swansea didn't create too many chances in that first half.

"There were a lot of decisions which didn't go our way. It's the bane of my life, the inconsistencies for everybody is so frustrating.

"What we talked about is, if we could keep our composure, we knew that we'd continue to create opportunities. Let's use the frustration of it to perform. I think that's the big thing.

"There's no good me being in there ranting and raving because there's nothing to rant about, apart from maybe the guy out in the middle. I bit my lip. It hurts a bit now.

"But I'm just pleased that our players got a reward for their performance and it's really great to see them engaging with our fans who gave us fantastic support today."