Match ends, Norwich City 1, Bristol City 1.
Norwich remain in a strong position in the Championship play-off race despite being held to a frustrating draw by Bristol City at Carrow Road.
The home side squandered a number of first half chances before going behind to Haydon Roberts' strike after the break.
Borja Sainz levelled minutes later, but David Wagner's side were left frustrated as a run of eight straight home wins came to an end.
Norwich are now in sixth, six points clear of Hull, who still have a game in hand, while Bristol City extend their unbeaten run to six games.
Chances were exchanged inside the first 15 minutes. Sargent struck the post from distance before Mark Sykes missed the target after a quick break by Joe Williams.
Scott Twine then hit the bar for the visitors from a free kick before he forced a save from Angus Gunn, but then Norwich began to create more chances.
Moments after Sam McCallum almost scored from Gabriel Sara's corner, Shane Duffy narrowly missed the target when he met Marcelino Nunez's kick just past the half hour mark.
Ben Gibson headed a fizzed cross wide with the half time whistle looming.
Those misses were punished 10 minutes into the second half. Williams won the ball in the middle and fed Tommy Conway, whose cross was turned home by Roberts to put Bristol City in front.
But three minutes later, Sainz restored parity. Sara found Sargent, who unselfishly laid it off for the Spaniard to finish from about five yards out,
Norwich settled back into their rhythm and almost completed a turnaround when substitute Jonny Rowe forced Max O'Leary into a save with a curling effort.
Gunn was on hand again to deny both Twine and Conway at one end, while McCallum's cross found Jack Stacey at the other.
He fired wide, summing up a frustrating afternoon for the hosts, who thought they lost it late on but Harry Cornick's strike was disallowed for offside.
Norwich manager David Wagner told BBC Radio Norfolk:
"I wasn't surprised about [Bristol City's] performance.
"I was a little bit surprised about our performance because I think energy-wise we were not on highest level and this is why we didn't look as sharp as we were in recent weeks.
"Some individuals looked a little bit tired as well.
"I think we can live with this point; before the game you would say a point is not enough but after the game when you've seen our performance and you've seen other results as well, I think you can live with this point. One individual was at their best, Angus Gunn.
"The players are human, they've been fantastic in recent weeks and months."
Bristol City boss Liam Manning:
"There were a lot of positives from the game.
"In the first half especially we took the game to them and created a lot of good chances and I suppose the only disappointment was that we failed to take them.
"This is really tough place to come but we went out and played really well against a very good side.
"I guess it says something that we have come away from here with a point and are still a little bit disappointed.
"I thought the players were excellent - they showed a lot of quality on the ball and the work-rate and commitment was there too.
"We are on a good run now, I think that's six unbeaten and we want to maintain these levels in the next two games to finish the season in the best way possible."
Line-ups
Norwich
Formation 4-2-3-1
- 28Gunn
- 3Stacey
- 24Duffy
- 6Gibson
- 15McCallum
- 26NúñezSubstituted forRoweat 56'minutes
- 23McLeanBooked at 90mins
- 17Gomes SaraBooked at 90mins
- 10BarnesSubstituted forSørensenat 85'minutes
- 7SainzSubstituted forFassnachtat 81'minutes
- 9Sargent
Substitutes
- 12Long
- 14van Hooijdonk
- 16Fassnacht
- 19Sørensen
- 21Batth
- 27Rowe
- 35Fisher
- 43Welch
- 49Serrao Montoia
Bristol City
Formation 3-4-2-1
- 1O'Leary
- 19Tanner
- 16Dickie
- 24Roberts
- 2McCrorieSubstituted forGardner-Hickmanat 85'minutes
- 12Knight
- 8WilliamsBooked at 90mins
- 3Pring
- 17SykesSubstituted forMehmetiat 67'minutesBooked at 90mins
- 7TwineSubstituted forCornickat 81'minutes
- 15ConwaySubstituted forWellsat 81'minutes
Substitutes
- 6James
- 9Cornick
- 10King
- 11Mehmeti
- 21Wells
- 22Gardner-Hickman
- 23Bajic
- 47Mebude
- Referee:
- Samuel Barrott
- Attendance:
- 26,295
Match Stats
- Possession
- Home49%
- Away51%
- Shots
- Home10
- Away13
- Shots on Target
- Home3
- Away5
- Corners
- Home8
- Away5
- Fouls
- Home13
- Away9
Live Text
Post update
Full Time
Second Half ends, Norwich City 1, Bristol City 1.
Booking
Kenny McLean (Norwich City) is shown the yellow card.
Booking
Anis Mehmeti (Bristol City) is shown the yellow card.
Post update
Anis Mehmeti (Bristol City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Post update
Foul by Gabriel Sara (Norwich City).
Post update
Corner, Norwich City. Conceded by Cameron Pring.
Booking
Joe Williams (Bristol City) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Post update
Foul by Joe Williams (Bristol City).
Post update
Angus Gunn (Norwich City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Post update
Attempt saved. Nahki Wells (Bristol City) right footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Rob Dickie.
Post update
Corner, Bristol City. Conceded by Angus Gunn.
Post update
Offside, Bristol City. Harry Cornick is caught offside.
Post update
Nahki Wells (Bristol City) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Post update
Foul by Kenny McLean (Norwich City).
Post update
Taylor Gardner-Hickman (Bristol City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Post update
Foul by Kenny McLean (Norwich City).
Substitution
Substitution, Norwich City. Jacob Sørensen replaces Ashley Barnes.
Substitution
Substitution, Bristol City. Taylor Gardner-Hickman replaces Ross McCrorie.
Post update
Joe Williams (Bristol City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Comments
Join the conversation
Thought all the players played well but got to say Roberts is looking a class act and a steal from Brighton. Knight everywhere as well, solid across the back line. The performance was 9/10.
It’s great when real fans appreciate an opposing team’s efforts.
Good luck for the rest of your season 👌🏼
🟡🟢 🟡🟢🟡🟢🟡
UTC
🔴⚪️🔴⚪️🔴⚪️🔴
Liam Manning Norwich boy very good manager of very organised professional Bristol side. Gotta beat Swansea. Total lottery what happens in playoffs but touching distance.
Need to be more on it than today though!
My prediction going by recent form 2-2
And remember real fans don’t reply to the trolls on here!!
Just ignore them.
Up The City
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OTBC
Shame the first goal lead could not be maintained!
But everyone knows how difficult Carrow Road is to get any thing
Bristol City look much improved.
We did well to get a point out of the game thanks to Angus Gunn.
Hopefully a win against Swansea next week will seal the deal 💛💚