Sinclair Armstrong scored his first goal of the season as Bristol City secured a third straight league win against Birmingham CitySinclair Armstrong scores Bristol City’s only goal in their 1-0 win over Birmingham City(Image: Photo by Rogan/Bristol City)

Gerhard Struber has challenged Sinclair Armstrong to match the level he set in Bristol City’s win over Birmingham City over “the next few months,” after the forward got his “reward” for his recent hard work against Blues.

Armstrong scored what proved to be the only goal as the Robins ran out 1-0 winners over Chris Davies’ side on Saturday afternoon. Having been slipped behind the Birmingham backline by Rob Atkinson, the 22-year-old broke into the penalty area before placing a right-footed shot past James Beadle and into the bottom right corner.

While the Reds had chances to further extend their lead, they were made to deal with plenty of pressure from the away side over the remainder of the contest. Ultimately, City held on to secure a fifth league clean sheet of the campaign and stretch their winning run to three matches.

READ MORE: Bristol City 1-0 Birmingham City live: Armstrong fires Reds into first-half lead at Ashton Gate

OPINION

Armstrong’s 42nd-minute strike was his first goal of the campaign and Struber’s tenure, as well his first competitve goal since November of last year. Having worked hard to earn his place in the starting line-up with his performances both on the training ground and from the bench in recent weeks, the striker has now been tasked with remaining at his current standard.

“Very, very blessed about him,” Struber told Bristol Live when asked if he was happy for his centre-forward. “How he deals in difficult weeks without game time; he was always ready in the training. Also for individual sessions, always ready, and now he has the reward.

“Sometimes, you need the long breath before you earn something, and I would say this is the first step; it’s not more. We need him, the next few months on this level, and not that is like a shooting star or something.

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“We have to grow and grow in a better way. Today, he has a really good impact.”

After Armstrong’s opener late in the first half, it was Birmingham who dominated the ball following the break. Both Lewis Koumas and Demari Gray popped up in some good attacking positions and were more than willing to cross into the penalty area, but Radek Vitek, Rob Dickie, Rob Atkinson, and George Tanner were able to deal with everything thrown their way.

In the end, Vitek left the Ashton Gate field having not made a single save in the contest, despite the fact that Blues had a whopping 72 per cent possession.

Although it was nowhere near as pretty as their wins over both Norwich City and Southampton since the October international break, Struber was delighted with the endeavour shown by his players to secure the three points and climb back up to fourth in the Championship.

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“We are, of course, super happy with this week,” the head coach said in his post-match press conference. “Three games, nine points, and every game shows us a little bit of a different picture and a different story.

“Today was, of course we can see, not always sexy football. Especially in the second half, it was not the football where I like it, but in the end, there was a really good defensive togetherness from our players where we brought in the end, the points home.

“I would say the whole group was really connected and invested a lot in this direction to be very close to our net and realise the one or other transition moment.”

READ MORE: Gerhard Struber sheds light on Rob Dickie’s Bristol City impact amid captain’s injury absenceREAD MORE: Scott Twine: Bristol City’s ‘free-kick monster’ on goal relief, freedom and ‘brilliant’ Struber