Nahki Wells scored on his 200th appearance for Bristol City
Bristol City ended Norwich’s 21-game unbeaten home run with a convincing victory as the injury-hit Canaries fell to a third Championship defeat in a row.
Anis Mehmeti fired the Robins ahead early on for his second goal in two games, slotting the ball beyond keeper George Long.
Nahki Wells then all-but wrapped up the win after the hour mark with a thumping strike straight into the top corner, and while Shane Duffy's header struck the crossbar late on, Norwich offered relatively little in front of goal.
The win was Bristol City’s first at Carrow Road since February 2009 and moved them up to 10th, while Norwich drop a place to 14th and are now without a win in their past six matches.
Both sides came into the match blighted by injuries, with forward Josh Sergeant and goalkeeper Angus Gunn among the many still unavailable for Norwich, and Bristol City making three changes after Mark Sykes and Kal Naismith joined their growing injury list.
Norwich, who had not lost at home since 5 November 2023, started brightly, with Emiliano Marcondes beating Robins keeper Max O’Leary but seeing his glancing header hit the outside of the post inside the first 10 minutes.
It was Bristol City though who found the net first, on 16 minutes, when Max Bird picked out Haydon Roberts with a cross-field pass from deep in his own half.
Roberts laid it off to Mehmeti, who span away from Anis Ben Slimane on the edge of the box and sweetly fired into the corner just out of reach of a diving Long.
Norwich tried to create something to draw level before the break but did little to really trouble O’Leary, who comfortably saved an effort from Callum Doyle and a Marcondes free-kick.
The Canaries continued to dominate possession after the break - all while having little to show for it.
O’Leary dived low to keep out Ante Crnac’s strike, but when Norwich sloppily lost possession Mehmeti pounced to release Bristol City on the break.
Mehmeti found Jason Knight, who slid a lovely ball through to Wells and, on his 200th appearance for the club, he smashed the ball past Long to make it 2-0.
Norwich struck the woodwork for the second time, in the 78th minute, when Duffy’s header from a corner ricocheted off the crossbar.
Mehmeti saw his own shot blocked from close range and another deflected up onto the bar deep in added time as Bristol City deservedly took all three points.
'A lot of players are stretched to the limit' - reaction
Norwich City manager Johannes Hoff Thorup told BBC Radio Norfolk:
“It was not good enough. I think it was obvious that we lacked the rhythm and the flow and the tempo in the game and that we need to be able to create chances and score goals.
“It was a difficult one. We expected a difficult one, but I think we still hoped for a bit more than this.
“We knew that a lot of them were stretched to the limit (because of the club's injury problems) and for some of them it was not ideal to go 90 minutes again, but they had to, that’s part of the business. Sometimes all of the situations we are in are not ideal and we have to come up with what it takes still.
“It comes down to our ability to put in the desire and what it takes to compete at this level. I think we were maybe a bit behind in some of these areas today, which is natural with the situation that some of the guys are in.”
Bristol City manager Liam Manning told BBC Radio Bristol:
“It was tough to take on Tuesday [a defeat by Sheffield United] because of the performance and I thought we backed it up today with a top performance.
“In terms of the defensive side of it, the way we blocked, the way we pressed, I thought we really restricted them to very few opportunities. I thought it was a really professional away performance.
“The first goal was real quality in terms of Birdy, [Max Bird] the transition, there were a few other moments – Birdy quite pivotal in a bit of it – and a couple of nearly moments, but I thought we managed the game really well with the ball as well.
“This is a tough place to come, they hadn’t lost here in over a year, and with quite a few missing as well I thought the lads did a terrific job.
"We didn’t just see the game out, we defended really well, kept the ball when we got it, carried a threat on the counter and we had real purpose to what we did.”
Liam Manning's post-match reaction after Bristol City's 2-0 victory at Norwich
