Fulham’s woes continued with a dismal defeat as they played out the last half an hour with 10 men after a straight red for Aboubakar Kamara.
Home fans booed loudly when their team trooped in 2-0 down at the break and appeared to offer little sympathy for Kamara, who was punished for an off-the-ball tangle with Bailey Wright – Bristol City players indicating a stray elbow may have been involved.
By then, the task was already stiff, with the confident and energetic visitors taking the lead on 29 minutes when top scorer Bobby Reid slid home a cross from Josh Brownhill.
They then doubled it after 40 minutes when Korey Smith ended another slick counter-attack by tucking home a Callum O’Dowda pull-back.
The evening might have taken a different turn had Ryan Sessegnon’s angled drive on 22 minutes found the net rather than the top of the crossbar, following great work from Stefan Johansen.
And Kevin McDonald almost got the 10-men back in contention when he had a close-range effort kept out by keeper Frank Fielding.
But in truth, too much of Fulham’s play was ponderous and unthreatening and it is now one win in eight Championship matches at the Cottage – none since the visit of Hull in mid-September.
Fulham: Button; Fredericks, Odoi, Kalas (Norwood 46), Ream; McDonald, Johansen (Soares 67), Cairney; Ayite (Fonte 46), Kamara, Sessegnon. Subs not used: Bettinelli, Kebano, Djalo, De La Torre.
This post was last modified on 03/11/2017