CITY won for the first time in eight games on Saturday, beating Wigan Athletic 1-0 at the DW Stadium.

The victory lifts the club outside the Championship drop zone for the time being and provides a glimmer of hope that City can avoid relegation back to League One.

The win needs to be put in context, though. Wigan had only won one of their previous ten home games and lie below City in the table.

The Latics only came up to The Championship this season and look odds on for a quick return to League One.

City’s overall performance on Saturday was still far from convincing. Under-fire Head Coach Lee Johnson went with a similar line-up that finished last Tuesday’s game against Norwich so well.

The problem being that Lee Tomlin had to play on the left side of midfield, which is far from his best position in the centre.

City started the game well but Wigan soon came into the game, though both sides struggled to maintain any positive patterns of play.

The home side had the best chances of the first half, hitting the crossbar and forcing Fielding into making two smart saves.

Tammy Abraham should have done better for City when one-on-one just before half-time.

The second half was a quiet affair until the last 15 minutes when City rallied for victory.

We had a lot of decent chances but, in the end, it was centre-back Aden Flint who smashed the ball over the line from close-range following a scramble in the area from a Tomlin corner. City held out for the final five minutes for a vital win.

We still have a lot of work to do to avoid relegation and things don’t get any easier with promotion chasing Huddersfield Town the visitors to Ashton Gate on Friday (7.45pm) in a game that will be broadcast live on Sky Sports.

The Terriers have had a phenomenal season under manager David Wagner and City will have to be at their absolute best to get any kind of positive result.