Nahki Wells struck his seventh goal of the season to help Bristol City clinch a 2-0 victory away to struggling West Brom in the Sky Bet Championship on Tuesday night.

City started brightly and were almost a goal up inside the first minute when Bermuda captain Wells got clear but could not capitalise, failing to get his shot away and allowing the West Brom defence to clear the danger.

The visitors were then forced to weather a period of prolonged pressure from the hosts with City defenders Rob Atkinson and Zak Vyner both making crucial interventions.

But against the run of play, City found a breakthrough in the 32nd minute when Matty James lofted a ball over the top to Wells, who picked out Jay Dasilva at the far post to cut back to Joe Williams who prodded home.

West Brom then had a golden chance to level but Matt Phillips shot over when well positioned inside the area.

Phillips was made to rue his profligacy as City doubled their advantage moments before the break. Antoine Semenyo twisted and turned before crossing for Wells who glanced his header beyond Alex Palmer into the net.

The home side felt they should have had two penalties for handball in the first 15 minutes of the second half – the first when Robert Atkinson slid to cut out Jed Wallace’s cross and then when Williams blocked a shot on the edge of the box but both appeals were turned down.

A header from Brandon Thomas-Asante hit the post and bounced back to give the visitors a further scare but the subsequent threat was snuffed out by goalkeeper Max O’Leary.

The home side continued to pour forward in search of a route back into the encounter with Conor Townsend hitting the bar with a curling long-range shot in added time.

However, City held firm in the closing stages to see out a victory which lifted them to eleventh in the table, three points adrift of the play off places.

“It was a good result for us and we needed it,” said City manager Nigel Pearson, whose side bounced back from a 2-1 defeat to Millwall at the weekend. “We showed a lot of collective discipline. We were calm and resilient and we got a lot of important blocks in.”