Nahki Wells scored his ninth goal of the season as he and his Bristol City team-mates got back to winning ways on their home patch at Ashton Gate at the weekend.

The Bermuda captain was one of two changes manager Nigel Pearson was forced to make due to hamstring injuries suffered by forward Tommy Conway and midfielder Andi Weimann and Wells grasped his opportunity after grabbing his team’s second goal in a 4-2 win over Birmingham City in the Sky Bet Championship.

Making his 26th appearance of the season, striker Wells chased down midfielder Kal Naismith’s looping header and used his strength to shrug off a challenge from Irish defender Kevin Long before slotting home.

The goal came five minutes after fellow forward Antoine Semenyo opened the scoring in the 17tth minute with his third goal in as many outings.

The Ghana international positioned himself well to chest full-back Cam Pring’s cross across the line from close range.

Birmingham finally got a foothold in the contest when striker Troy Deeney pulled one back from the penalty spot after Pring brought down Dutch winger Tahith Chong in the box.

Just as they had done in the first-half, City made a brilliant start to the second with winger Mark Sykes, the other change Pearson made to his starting eleven, scoring his first goal for the club.

Pring picked up the ball on the edge of the box, split two defenders and picked out Sykes in the area who prodded home to restore City’s two-goal advantage.

Sykes then grabbed a second to make it 4-1 with the simplest of finishes to cap off a fluent move involving Pring and Semenyo.

Birmingham pulled another goal back with just over two minutes remaining through substitute Reda Khadra who pounced on a loose ball and curled a shot past City custodian Max O’Leary.

The win is City’s eighth of the season which leaves them 17th in the Championship standings, nine points adrift of the play-off positions and six above the relegation zone.

Wells, 32, is off to a promising start to the new year after having his stay at Ashton Gate extended until the end of the 2024-25 season as reward for a string of decent performances last year.