Ed Still stunned by Jeremy Ngakia’s ‘worldie’ winner for Watford

Ed Still was lost in wonder over the brilliant Jeremy Ngakia strike that reignited Watford’s Sky Bet Championship play-off hopes at Ashton Gate.

A draw would have been of little use to either side, but had looked the most likely outcome after Luca Kjerrumgaard’s seventh-minute close-range finish for the Hornets had been cancelled out by Scott Twine’s powerful 36th-minute header.

But in the 77th minute the ball was cleared into the path of Ngakia 25 yards out and the sweetest of right-footed strikes found the top corner, giving goalkeeper Radek Vitek no chance.

Watford leapfrogged theor opponents to move to within three points of the top six and boss Still was understandably elated with his second victory in four games since taking charge.

He said: “Jeremy’s goal was an absolute worldie. What composure to control the ball as he did and come up with that quality of strike.

“I told all the lads how proud I am of that performance. Everyone knows this is a difficult place to come and if we had a bit of luck at the end it was earned by heart and commitment.

“We’ve put a huge amount of work into attitude on the training ground and I have felt things getting better with each day.

“It’s all about winning and how best to achieve that. Now the players deserve a couple of days off to relax with their families.

“From day one when I came in there was a feeling that we could make the play-offs. We can’t promise that, but we can pledge to compete hard in every game until the end of the season and try our best to make it happen.”

Bristol City now face a run of tough fixtures, with their play-off hopes in danger of evaporating.

But head coach Gerhard Struber is not throwing in the towel, and said: “We think from game to game and the play-off race is likely to go to the final fixtures, so we are certainly still in it.

“Football is not always fair. We controlled most of this game and the boys have put in a good performance.

“We gave away the first goal too cheaply and our decision-making was not always good in the final third.

“The Championship is so close and we have to be very clear thinking when chances come along.

“That was missing from our performance tonight. Our level is good in most matches, but we have to make more of our opportunities to score.

“At the moment we are not doing well in the big moments of games at both ends. This result is a blow and we have to bounce back quickly, but we are capable of doing that.”