Bristol City manager Nigel Pearson was full of praise for his new charges after a morale-boosting 3-1 win away to high-flying Swansea City on Saturday in the Sky Bet Championship.

The Robins endured a torrid first half in which Swansea could have been two or three goals clear, but had goalkeeper Daniel Bentley and an obdurate defence to thank for getting to the interval goalless before a change of shape.

Despite falling behind to an André Ayew penalty, Bristol City came away as deserved winners, with Bermuda striker Nahki Wells notching his ninth goal of the season and second in as many games.

“I give the players and the staff an awful lot of credit,” Pearson told Robins TV. “They have been very supportive, very helpful and I recognise how difficult it is especially after the type of change with Dean [Holden] being a very popular character here. He did a good job in his first role as a head coach, so I accept it won’t be straightforward to come in and effect the situation in a positive way.

“I have sympathy for it being a potentially disruptive change, but all I can ever do is try and be a part of a positive feel of the place, give people an opportunity to be involved and give them an opportunity to fail. It’s then about dealing with picking them up again; all these things are important aspects of how I believe is a good way to work.”

Pearson’s impact was immediate after a first half in which Swansea enjoyed 77 per cent possession and had 12 shots and six corners — not to mention at least two high-class saves forced out of Bentley.

Wells, who had ended a barren run with a goal in the win over Middlesbrough four days earlier, which ended a seven-match losing run, looked sharp throughout.

The 30-year-old striker finished smartly in the 66th minute after being set up by Zak Vyner, wiping out a lead given to the home team from the penalty spot by André Ayew 11 minutes earlier.

It was Kasey Palmer who had given away that penalty with a clumsy handball, but the midfielder redeemed himself by scoring direct from a corner in the 80th minute.

Wells almost had a second but watched horrified as his toe-poke on the stretch eluded goalkeeper Freedie Woodman but slipped past the far post.

Substitute Antoine Semenyo killed off the match seven minutes into stoppage time after he charged down a lax clearance from Woodman and gleefully followed the rebound into the back of the net.

“It was such an interesting game,” Pearson added. “We went out there with positive intentions to execute our own game plan. It didn’t materialise in the way we wanted because Swansea dominated the ball, we had to work so hard out of possession, and we couldn’t get the quality going forward.

“It was frustrating for the players but what I like about how they approached it was the desire to keep the ball out of our goal and commit to what they wanted to do.

“It wasn’t successful in the first half but for our creative and forward-thinking players to work as hard as they did, knowing that the rewards for them would be minimal, was very impressive.

“Swansea could have been out of sight. If we were two or three goals down at half-time I wouldn’t have had complaints [about the scoreline] and the strange thing is we started the second half OK and went 1-0 down.”

The result at the Liberty Stadium marked Bristol City’s second road win in four days since the sacking of Dean Holden and moved them up to eleventh place, seven points outside the promotion play-off places.

Bristol City return to Ashton Gate on Wednesday against Bournemouth, who are similarly under new management with Jonathan Woodgate in charge until the end of the season.

Swansea, who are chasing automatic promotion to the Premier League, remain fourth having wasted a chance to apply further pressure on the top three.

On the subject of the Premier League, Nathan Trott was one of two goalkeepers who were on the substitutes’ bench when West Ham United took on runaway leaders Manchester City in the Saturday lunchtime kick-off at the Etihad Stadium.

With City leading 2-1 in the second half, Trott’s heartbeat would have accelerated when West Ham goalkeeper Darren Randolph, who was starting in place of the injured Lucasz Fabianski, complained of a sore groin — a condition the club knew of as pre-existing but started him in any event.

Randolph managed to see out the 90 minutes, City won and hold a 12-point lead after the weekend’s action, and Trott’s Premier League debut will have to wait.

In non-League action, Justin Donawa played up front from the start in Solihull Moors’ 2-2 draw away to Boreham Wood in the Vanarama National League.

The visiting side got off to a dream start when Alex Gudger headed them in front in the first minute.

Kabongo Tshimanga ensured Boreham Wood got into the break on level terms with a 40th-minute penalty, and then Junior Morias put the eighth-placed club in front eight minutes after the restart.

Moors responded by whipping off Donawa, who had run his socks off, and replacing him with Joe Sbarra. The reaction was almost immediate, as Adam Rooney converted from the spot five minutes later after Nathan Cameron was fouled.

The point gained ultimately proved hard-earned, with Moors having to play with ten men after Mitch Hancox was sent off late on and goalkeeper Ryan Boot required to make at least one save out of the top drawer.

Moors will hope to improve on their fourteenth place in the table when they face Dagenham & Redbridge, eighteenth, at home tomorrow.