Bristol City 1-0 Sunderland: Tommy Conway scores winner for Robins
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Bristol City had lost three and drawn one of their past four matches before the win against Sunderland
Tommy Conway's penalty ended Bristol City's run of four games without a win with a 1-0 victory over in-form managerless Sunderland at Ashton Gate.
Conway slotted in from the spot after Taylor Gardner-Hickman was brought down in the box 20 minutes in, to give the hosts the lead.
Robins keeper Max O'Leary produced two fantastic saves, first to deny Luke O'Nien and then Jobe Bellingham in the second half as Sunderland sent wave after wave of pressure towards City's goal without reward.
The win is only the second of boss Liam Manning's tenure and moved Bristol City up to 14th, while Sunderland dropped to seventh.
The pre-match build-up focused on whether Sunderland's potential new manager Michael Beale would in attendance, but he was not spotted at the game.
The Black Cats enjoyed the best of the early action, with Trai Hume getting the first shot on target, which O'Leary was able to comfortably save, and Alex Pritchard nearly scored a remarkable goal direct from a corner.
Yet it was the hosts who took the lead after Jason Knight stole possession and played in Gardner-Hickman, who was then brought down in the box by Sunderland keeper Anthony Patterson and the referee pointed to the spot.
Conway sent Patterson the wrong way to score his fifth goal of the campaign.
Less than 10 minutes later, Anis Mehmeti, who like Gardner-Hickman was back in the starting 11, almost made it 2-0 to the hosts but his shot rattled the post.
Sunderland pressed for an equaliser as Jack Clarke and Patrick Roberts both fired wide, but the Robins went in at the break with the advantage.
The one-way traffic continued after the interval. O'Nien's header was kept out by O'Leary in Sunderland's best chance to draw level, before Bellingham saw his header towards the bottom corner saved.
Cameron Pring also blocked a second attempt from Roberts that was goal-bound, as City held on for a big three points after a disappointing run of results.
Bristol City manager Liam Manning told BBC Radio Bristol:
"[We needed] spirit, fight, a desire to put your body on the line to defend the goal.
"I think a resilience off the back of a couple of frustrating results - to bounce back and not get high, not get low off the back of wins or losses - and believe in us. The behaviours they showed I thought were outstanding.
"The way we defended the box at times was terrific and then throughout the game I thought we carried a real attacking threat as well.
"[I liked] the way they were driving each other, the way they communicated, the discipline at times - they've got some real threats one-v-one when you look at Clarke and Roberts, two that can at a really high level ask questions and have done this season with anybody.
"Each and every one of the lads should be really proud of what they did today."
Sunderland caretaker manager Mike Dodds told BBC Radio Newcastle:
"I'm annoyed, frustrated, angry, disappointed. I had a real honest conversation with the players there. I think 15 minutes of madness where we don't stick to the game plan, we don't stick to the script, ultimately cost us the game.
"I know that sounds really simplistic but if you look at the first-half performance compared to the second half performance, nothing changed from a technical, tactical point of view.
"That's my anger around the result because it was just the mentality thing for me. We moved the ball much quicker, we got the ball forward much quicker.
"I said to the staff on about 70 minutes 'That's the first time they've got outside their half'. I'm angry and disappointed for the fans, the 2,500 who turned up. That's a game really we should be coming out with at least a point and there's been too many of those games this season."