Liam Manning was a proud head coach after his Bristol City side had shown quality and grit to climb into the Sky Bet Championship play-off zone with a hard-fought 2-1 victory at Ashton Gate.
Mark Sykes curled a shot beyond the reach of George Long to give the home side a sixth-minute lead and Nahki Wells doubled the advantage with a low shot from an angle after 23 minutes.
But Norwich always looked dangerous and after Borja Sainz gave them hope with a close-range shot from Callum Doyle’s 82nd-minute cross, they went close to an equaliser on several occasions in a nerve-jangling finale.
The Robins could only consider the points safe when a last-minute free-kick from substitute Marcelino Nunez flashed inches wide and Manning admitted the final whistle came as a relief.
He said: “It would have been nicer if we had not conceded the late goal, but the lads then put bodies on the line and I couldn’t be prouder of the way they have handled a really busy programme.
“They are a fantastic group. Yes, we can manage the late stages of games better, but we have a lot of young players who are still learning. They create some great moments and are prepared to fight for the team when we have backs to the wall.
“Tonight we showed some real quality at times going forward and created a lot of chances. Of course, I will look at the table and I am delighted our fans have something to get excited about.
“But it will only mean something after 46 games and my job is to keep everyone focused because only by continuing to work hard can we hope to achieve our aims.”
Norwich boss Johannes Hoff Thorup hailed “positive signs” despite a second successive defeat, which sees them sit seven points adrift of the play-off places in 12th.
“It was a strange game in many ways and the reaction in the dressing room is a lot different to when we lost on Tuesday night,” the Dane said.
“Then there was a lot of negativity. Tonight we know we created more chances than you can expect away from home and we lost because of very fine margins.
“It was more than fair that our fans criticised our performance against Sheffield Wednesday, especially the second half. Tonight they were fantastic and applauded the players at the end.
“We are probably where we should be in the league, which is mid-table. But there are really positive signs going forward.
“We seem to be punished for every mistake at the moment. But the response to conceding the goals was excellent and I see a group of players who are doing their very best.
“Our goal came a little too late. A bit earlier and I would really have fancied our chances.”
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