Bristol City moments missed, deflating half-time showdown and midfielder's good day vs Norwich | Bristol Live

All the star performers and moments you may have missed from Bristol City's 2-1 win over Norwich City at Ashton Gate

Bristol City stretched their unbeaten run to seven matches on Friday night as they beat Norwich City 2-1 to remain within touching distance of the Championship play-off positions heading into the March international break.

City boss Liam Manning couldn’t have asked for a better start, with Mark Sykes giving the Robins the lead after just six minutes with an excellent left-footed finish. The Reds then doubled their advantage after 23 minutes when Nahki Wells slotted a strike into the bottom left corner of the net.

With seven minutes of regular time remaining, the Reds were given a scare when the Canaries pulled one back through Borja Sainz, but Manning’s side managed to secure all three points thanks in part to a few crucial interventions from Max O’Leary.

The victory keeps spirits high in BS3 heading into the international break. However, before attention turns to the Robins’ trip to Burnley next week, here's our take on some standout performances under the lights and a few moments you may have missed...

Good Day: Max Bird

As he did in City’s 1-1 draw away at Sheffield United last midweek, Max Bird started in a more advanced midfield position against the Canaries and had one of his best performances in a red shirt.

The midfield base of Jason Knight and Joe Williams allowed the 24-year-old to focus on driving the ball forward, which was evident in the build-up of Sykes’ opening goal. After Norwich turned the ball over, Bird was found in a pocket of space by Rob Dickie and the midfielder drove the ball into the opponents’ half before unloading to Sykes who then scored a great individual goal.

This free role tends to suit Bird as he is more than happy to take possession absolutely anywhere on the pitch and turn it into a chance with his impressive passing range. Only Sheffield United’s Gustavo Hamer has completed more successful through balls (23) than his 15 in the Championship this season.

City’s number six completed 31 of his 33 passes, six of which were passed into the final third with nine seen as progressive. These numbers took his key passes total up to 60 for a season, a statistic for which he sits in the top 10 players in the whole Championship.

Good Day: Mark Sykes

Since returning from injury in mid-January, Mark Sykes has been a real shining light in Liam Manning’s squad, scoring three times and assisting a further two goals. The 27-year-old was rewarded with a start at right wing-back after scoring a late equaliser at Bramall Lane in mid-week and within six minutes, he had another.

The Irish international showed real quality to put the Robins in front, cutting inside from the right wing and firing a curling left-footed strike into the top corner. In scoring, he managed to turn a chance with 0.04 xG into what could be a key goal in the Reds’ play-off push, 72 hours after a massive late equaliser at Sheffield United.

Sykes was influential at both ends of the pitch, with eight passes into the final third, and four blocks. The wing-back was also in the right place to pick up five ball recoveries, all whilst he was successful in three of his four attempted tackles. It may not be the former Oxford United man's natural position, but he is thriving in his almost hybrid role.

Good Day: Max O’Leary

Bristol City were able to rely on their goalkeeper to make two key saves late on, from close range, to secure a massive three points on Friday night.

O’Leary made five saves in total, statistically preventing 1.36 goals and making sure his streak of not conceding more than one goal in a match extends to 10 games. You have to look back to a 2-2 draw with Sheffield Wednesday on January 22 for the last time the City academy product conceded twice.

The 28-year-old is quietly having the best season of his Robins career, averaging a positive PSxG-GA number for the first time since taking over as the Reds’ number one shirt from Daniel Bentley in late 2022.

The statistic (expected goals based on how likely the goalkeeper is to save the shot, minus his goals allowed) shows that this is statistically his best campaign in terms of shot-stopping. His 2024/2025 total sits at +1.6 goals, which is 1.8 goals higher than his previous best from last season.

Bad Day: George Tanner

Sadly not everything was great about Friday night, as shortly before kick-off news broke that George Tanner was set for a spell on the sidelines having undergone successful knee surgery.

Tanner is set to miss a number of weeks with an issue that he picked up in the 1-1 draw with Sheffield United last Tuesday. The City defender put his body on the line to get in the way of an attempt by Jesurun Rak-Sakyi in the first half of the tie, but unfortunately sustained a knee injury in the process.

Liam Manning is hopeful that he can return before the end of the Robins’ season, but it is not a certainty. Should Tanner be ruled out the rest of the campaign, he would be a big miss, having put together a run of impressive performances after a stop-start first two-thirds of the season.

Luckily, there may be another defensive option returning after the international break as Ross McCrorie is due to ramp up his recovery, following his latest hamstring injury, this week.

Off-camera moments

Off the pitch, it was the start of the club’s Green Football Weekend in support of Green Football’s Great Save, the world’s biggest climate football campaign. The month-long campaign aims to unite the likes of fans, clubs, and schools to take action to tackle climate change and protect the future of the game.

Green Football chose this year’s theme, the Great Save, to make the football community think about extending the life of sports kits, whether it be to reduce waste, save money, or support those who may be unable to afford it.

Ahead of Friday night’s fixture, and City Women’s home game against Charlton Athletic on Sunday afternoon, the club encouraged fans to wear older, or vintage shirts and to donate, sell, or upcycle their memorabilia. The initiative extended to the media room, too, where the press were given a vegetarian meal of a spiced cauliflower pie, with potatoes and carrots, and were supplied with fewer teamsheets than normal to reduce waste.

Following Max O'Leary's smart stop to deny Emiliano Marcondes in the first-half, Zak Vyner quickly turned to the goalkeeper to stop and applaud his work between the posts as his teammates cleared the ball up-field.

As Nahki Wells wheeled away to celebrate his first-half goal in front of the Lansdown Stand, Sinclair Armstrong could be seen temporarily stopping his warm-up on the touchline with both hands on his head as if he were in disbelief at what "the veteran" had just done in the Canaries penalty area.

After the full-time whistle at Ashton Gate, O'Leary was quick to play down just how close Marcelino Nunez had come to a last-minute leveller when his free-kick drifted narrowly wide. When asked about the strike as he entered the room for his post-match press conference, the Robins stopper simply replied: "It was close but it didn't hit the post so it was alright."

Finally, a fan in the Lansdown Stand received a cheer when heading a ball back into play after 37 minutes, whilst the usual half-time entertainment of the Thatchers Apple Roll had an unexpected turn when one of the inflatable apples deflated leaving the contestant in front of the Dolman Stand at a clear disadvantage.