Roberts injury proves so costly for Barnsley

Barnsley central defender Marc Roberts missed the second half at Ashton Gate after damaging his ankle (Picture: Bruce Rollinson).

The visitors lost their influential centre-back with an ankle injury at half-time and the hosts took advantage.

Heckingbottom said: “It was a match-changing injury. We had to reorganise our back-line and never looked the same team.

“But I am not going to use it as an excuse. Injuries give opportunities to other players and, in this case, they weren’t taken. We got what we deserved in the end and I learned a few more things about my players going forward.

“Roberts would have been marking Flint for his winning goal, but we needed to be better.

“It is credit to the lads that we have not been involved in the relegation battle. It was City’s day and I just wish we could have made it tougher for them.”

Lee Johnson hailed Jamie Paterson as a “£25m player” in the making as his Bristol team all but secured their Championship future.

The winger scored one goal and had a hand in the other two to help the hosts twice come from behind to beat Johnson’s former club. They are six points clear of third-from-bottom Blackburn with just two games left, while their goal difference is nine better than that of the Lancashire side.

Johnson said: “I feel like I want to celebrate, but we can’t just yet. In any case, all credit to the players for a fantastic second-half performance.

“When Jamie Paterson is at it he is unplayable. Today he looked like a £25m player and if big clubs from home or abroad were watching him that’s what they would have thought.”

It was Paterson’s superb cross-field pass on 53 minutes that allowed Josh Brownhill space to head across goal, where Tammy Abraham slotted home his 26th goal of the season. Paterson netted City’s second with a cool lob and then supplied the corner from which Aden Flint powered home a match-winning header on 74 minutes.

Barnsley broke the deadlock after 37 minutes when George Moncur fired in from 25 yards, Alex Mowatt taking the credit for a slight deflection. There was no doubt about the scorer when Moncur put Barnsley 2-1 up after 64 minutes with an unstoppable shot.

Bristol City: Fielding, Little, Flint, Wright, Bryan, Brownhill, Smith, Pack, Paterson (O’Dowda 89), Abraham, Taylor. Unused substitutes: Tomlin, Reid, Djuric, Magnusson, Hegeler, Giefer.

Barnsley: Davies, Janko, Roberts (Evans 46), MacDonald, Jones, Scowen, Moncur, Watkins, Mowatt (Bradshaw 75), Kent, Armstrong (Lee 84). Unused substitutes: Townsend, Williams, Hedges, Smith.

Referee: S Duncan (Tyne & Wear).