Scott Parker admitted an element of relief after his Burnley side had survived a late onslaught at Ashton Gate.
Jaidon Anthony’s 23rd-minute shot from close range – after goalkeeper Max O’Leary had dived to palm out an effort from former City player Josh Brownhill – proved enough to settle a hard-fought Championship clash.
But after looking the more dangerous side for an hour and hitting the crossbar though Jay Rodriguez’s 39th-minute header, Burnley had to weather a storm in the closing stages during which City felt they were denied a penalty when the ball struck Brownhill on an arm.
Boss Parker said: “Of course there was some relief at the end. After an international break we have come to a very difficult venue in poor weather for a 12.30pm kick-off against good opponents and come away with all three points.
“For 20 minutes in the second half we were as good as we want to be and had great chances to extend our lead. But there was a clear momentum swing after we missed the best of them and we ended up camped in our own half.
“That happens in games and you have to show the ability to grind things out, which is what we did. We defended our box really well by getting in important headers against a lot of crosses.
“We have to work on maintaining the sort of momentum we had in the second half. Some poor finishing prevented us building the sort of lead that would have made the closing stages more comfortable.
“Bristol City are a very good side and I respect the job Liam Manning is doing. A lot of teams will find it difficult to get results here this season.”
Brownhill received warm applause from both sets of fans when substituted near the end and Parker added: “He is so important to us as a driving force and did a great job again today.”
City head coach Liam Manning said: “As I understand the handball rules, we should have had a penalty. Their player’s arm was horizontal and we had a player coming in behind him.
“I feel for the officials at the moment because no one seems quite sure how the rules should be applied. But soon after the incident Zak Vyner has hammered a ball at one of their lads from a couple of yards and a free-kick for handball was given.
“Did we do enough to win the game? Not in my view, but it wasn’t down to lack of effort. Maybe a bit more quality was needed in the final third, but I am not complaining because the effort was clear to see.
“We are going in the right direction and there is greater consistency of performance. Now we have to turn more of those performances into positive results because we have drawn a lot of games.
“We started this game well and got in behind them a few times in the first 10 minutes. But as the first half went on we were not as effective.
“Max O’Leary had made a great save to keep us in it at 1-0 down in the second half and Yu Hirakawa has had a great chance to equalise, which he will take on other occasions.”
