TOMMY CONWAY netted a first-half brace as Bristol City increased Blackburn’s relegation fears with a thumping 5-0 Championship win at Ashton Gate, with Irish trio Max O’Leary, Jason Knight and Mark Sykes all starting for the hosts.
Conway capitalised on a bad error by Dominic Hyam to race clear and shoot low past Aynsley Pears for his 10th goal of the season in the 24th minute.
Seven minutes later Conway sent Pears the wrong way from the penalty spot after a mistake by Callum Brittain had led to Hyam bringing down Sykes inside the box.
Substitute Anis Mehmeti capitalised on yet more weak defending by Hyam to fire in the third in the 73rd minute and another replacement, Nahki Wells, drilled home a 78th-minute penalty after Blackburn substitute Kyle McFadzean had handled.
Wells completed the rout with a stoppage-time tap-in from Harry Cornick’s cross and the thrashing left hapless Rovers just three points above the drop zone with four games to play.
City head coach Liam Manning made three changes, bringing in Ross McCrorie, Joe Williams and Conway for Matty James, Mehmeti and Wells.
They faced a Blackburn side featuring goal machine Sammie Szmodics, eager to show Ashton Gate fans his skills after a disappointing spell as a City player in 2019.
The hosts made a blistering start, Scott Twine twice going close in the opening six minutes. The midfielder shot wide from a short Haydon Roberts free-kick and then had an acrobatic volley blocked.
Blackburn flickered as an attacking force as City goalkeeper O’Leary dealt with two tame efforts from Dilan Markanday and one from Joe Rankin-Costello.
But the home side looked more threatening and Conway’s opening goal came as no surprise. They could have been out of sight at the break as Rovers continued to make sloppy defensive errors.
After the penalty, Conway was presented with a hat-trick chance by Harry Pickering’s short back-pass, but was denied by a sprawling Pears save.
Sykes had chipped wide when clear through the middle and Manning’s men looked altogether sharper than their mistake-prone opponents.
Blackburn head coach John Eustace reacted by making four half-time substitutions, sending on John Buckley, McFadzean, Andy Moran and Ben Chrisene for Markanday, Tyrhys Dolan, Scott Wharton and Rankin-Costello.
Still, the next goal effort of note came from the home side after 69 minutes when Jason Knight shot wide at the end of a slick move.
A better chance fell to Szmodics two minutes later, but he could only shoot wide after good control on the edge of the box. Manning responded by sending on Mehmeti, Wells and Cornick for Twine, Sykes and Conway.
Within seconds Mehmeti had settled any doubt about the outcome and Wells’ two late goals put the icing on the cake of City’s biggest Championship win of the season.
Elsewhere, Finn Azaz’s deflected second-half goal helped Middlesbrough claim a 2-2 draw at Hull but a point apiece does little to boost either side’s Sky Bet Championship play-off hopes.
Emmanuel Latte Lath followed up a brace in Boro’s 2-0 win over Swansea on Saturday with an early goal at the MKM Stadium but Jaden Philogene’s cross-cum-shot drew Hull level just before the half hour.
Middlesbrough goalkeeper Seny Dieng played Lewis O’Brien into trouble which allowed Jean Michael Seri to put the Tigers deservedly in the lead ahead of half-time but Azaz had the final say, albeit after his strike took a crucial final touch off Alfie Jones before nestling in the goal.
Both teams sit six points adrift of sixth-placed Norwich with Middlesbrough in ninth, one place ahead of Hull, who have a game in hand over their two rivals.
This was a missed opportunity for both sides, even if Middlesbrough extended their unbeaten run to eight matches.
Ipswich, meanwhile, missed out on the chance to take over at the Sky Bet Championship summit but did move up to second after they were held to a goalless draw at home to Watford.
After promotion rivals Leicester and Leeds dropped points on Tuesday, victory for Kieran McKenna’s men would have been the perfect tonic to Saturday’s 1-0 loss at bitter foes Norwich.
However, Tom Cleverley’s Watford proved stubborn opponents and Town had to settle for a point, which does lift them above Leeds with four games left in the battle to secure automatic promotion.
English Championship results on Wednesday:
Birmingham 0 Cardiff 1
Bristol City 5 Blackburn 0
Hull 2 Middlesbrough 2
Ipswich 0 Watford 0
Swansea 3 Stoke 0
West Brom 2 Rotherham 0
Additional reporting by Paul Fennessy
