Charlton ultimately came away empty handed from Ashton Gate on Wednesday evening; their demise coming in heart breaking circumstances- City’s winner arriving in the eighth minute of stoppage time.
The Addicks had led through a Macauley Bonne strike, but goals from Famara Diedhiou and Josh Brownhill in the last 15 minutes secured the three points for the hosts. Diedhiou was later red carded for violent conduct in a night of high drama.
Charlton lost Sam Field and Jake Forster-Caskey to first-half injuries. Field damaged his ankle or foot, while Forster-Caskey damaged his hamstring, both players are likely to be sidelined for several weeks.
With Jonathan Leko unavailable for Saturday’s game with West Brom, Lee Bowyer is now down to the bare bones.
Bowyer fielded his midweek team, but his plans were scuppered by the first-half injuries, so his team at The Hawthorns will not be as fresh as he would have liked.
Bonne’s opener came after he rounded Daniel Bennett to slot home from an acute angle however the Robins piled on the pressure after that and were rewarded with those two late goals.
Following the match Bowyer had this to say:
“I thought we should have won the game. It’s hard for the lads and, again, I can’t fault them. They give everything.
“I thought we were the better side, especially for 70 to 75 minutes. They changed their shape and matched us up and went to the diamond and even then, I thought we were still better than them.
“But I said to the lads; ‘we have to learn from this’. We have to be more ruthless.
The amount of chances that we had in the first half in so many good areas and we just didn’t punish them.
They’re a good side you know. But I thought we held our own today and we were better than them.
They’re going to have chances, they’re at home. Our keeper made a couple of good saves but so did theirs.
He made more good saves I thought. So, to come away with nothing, I’m gutted.
“In this league, this is what happens if you don’t take your chances. You always give the others the opportunity to come back into it.”
Charlton: Phillips; Oshilaja, Lockyer, Pearce, Forster-Caskey (Solly 36); Gallagher, Field (Pratley 33), Kayal (Aneke 72), Cullen, Leko, Bonne.
Subs (Not Used): Maynard-Brewer, Aneke, Sarr, Oztumer, Davison.
Goal: Bonne 65.
Booked: Kayal 14 (foul), Pratley 55 (dissent), Phillips 85 (time-wasting), Bonne 90 (time-wasting), Aneke 90+4 (time wasting).
Bristol City: Bentley; Pereira, Moore, Williams, Rowe; Eliasson (Rodri54), Brownhill, Massengo (Palmer 68). O’Dowda; Weimann, Semenyo (Diedhiou 54).
Subs (Not Used): Maenpaa, Wright, Baker, Szmodics.
Goals: Diedhiou 75, Brownhill 90.
Booked: Pereira 83 (foul), Weimann 90 (foul).
Sent off: Diedhiou 87 (violent conduct)
Referee: James Linington (Isle of Wight)
Attn: 20,960 (1,310 Charlton)