Norwich stay sixth after Bristol City draw

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.

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."