Lee Johnson felt Bristol City had to show all of their defensive resilience to overcome Rovers’ ‘fantastic home record’ as they claimed all three points at Ewood Park.

City became just the third team to win at Ewood this season as Eros Pisano came off the bench to score with 10 minutes to play, turning in a Callum O’Dowda corner at the far post.

That was the only goal in what was a tight game, with Johnson, whose side have now won eight games in a row in all competition, praising his central defensive pairing of Adam Webster and Tomas Kalas.

He said: “I think we showed against a very good side with a fantastic home record that we could do both sides of the game.

“First half, we were very slick on the counter from that middle third but lacked a bit of quality in the final third.

“Second half, we dug in. The pitch got churned up, they’ve got good players. I think Tony Mowbray has done a great job with the resources he’s got, and obviously getting promoted. They are honest as the day is long.

“It was always going to be a tough game. We talked before the game that defences would be important because of both teams’ attacking threat. I think that showed and we were lucky enough to earn the right to score the winner from the set-piece.

“They’re top centre-backs, those two (Webster and Kalas). We’re delighted to have them.

“We went as big as we could go to get Webster and he’s got better and better. And Kalas is well proven and enjoying his football. They are a formidable partnership.”