Bristol City failed to give new manager Nigel Pearson his first home victory when they dropped three precious promotion play-off points in a 2-1 loss to Bournemouth in the Sky Bet Championship at Ashton Gate last night.

Nahki Wells started for the third straight match since the firing of manager Dean Holden last month, but could not help City make it three wins out of three despite taking the lead in the 38th minute.

Tyreeq Bakinson broke the deadlock with a header from the centre of the penalty area into the top corner after a corner by Jack Hunt.

City were dealt two bitter blows with late goals scored in each half by Bournemouth, who got an equaliser in first-half stoppage time when goalkeeper Daniel Bentley parried a shot from Junior Stanislas from a corner into his own goal.

City were denied a share of the points in the 88th minute when Bournemouth scored through Cameron Carter-Vickers, who found the bottom corner from close range after a corner by Philip Billing.

The loss, City’s seventeenth in 34 matches, dropped them to twelfth in the standings, ten points behind the final play-off place which is occupied by Bournemouth.

City are in action on Saturday when Queens Park Rangers, visit Ashton Gate.

At the top of the table, leaders Norwich City opened a ten-point gap on Brentford when they beat their West London opponents 1-0.