Bristol City 3 Hull City 0: Plenty of work to do for Pearson if Tigers are to challenge again

The Tigers ended a promising campaign with a whimper at Ashton Gate as goals from Jon Stead, Brett Pitman and Jamal Campbell-Ryce made it a happy farewell for the hosts’ outgoing chairman Steve Lansdown.

Pearson said: “What showed up is that we do not have enough players to cover when some key ones are missing. That is something I must look to put right during the close season.

“Sometimes you learn more from a performance like this than from close games. Obviously I am not happy or ready to put it down to the fact that it was our last game of the season.

“I had already pretty much made up my mind about which players we need to keep and which we should let go, but you could say that this has clarified things further. I also learned more about some of the lads than I knew before.”

Bristol City went ahead after three minutes when Jamie McAllister’s left-wing cross saw Albert Adomah set up Stead for a simple close-range tap-in.

After 14 minutes Pitman doubled the advantage, rounding goalkeeper Matt Duke before squeezing the ball home from the narrowest of angles.

Hull were defending a 17-match unbeaten record away from home, but it never looked that way as they went three down 11 minutes after the interval.

Campbell-Ryce beat the offside trap and had plenty of time and space to volley fiercely past Duke from 18 yards.

Bristol City also hit the woodwork late on through efforts from Stead and sub David Clarkson.

Bristol City: James, Edwards, Wilson, Nyatanga, McAllister (Clarkson 76), Adomah (Woolford 24), Elliott, Skuse, Campbell-Ryce (Reid 57), Pitman, Stead. Unused substitutes: Johnson, Gerken, Jackson, Amdi-Holloway.

Hull City: Duke, Chester (McShane 33), Hobbs, Gerrard, Dawson, Amoo (Cairney 46), Harper, Akpan, Koren (Mclean 34), Simpson, Fryatt. Unused substitutes: Oxley, Devitt, Cullen, Belaid.

Referee: K Wright (Cambridgeshire).

Man of the match: J Campbell-Ryce.