Full-time: Swansea City 1 Bristol City 0

From James McNamara at the Liberty Stadium

Bristol City’s unlikely hopes of a top-six finish were finally ended for definite at the Liberty Stadium this afternoon.

Gary Johnson’s side started a game they had to win to retain any faint hope of upsetting the odds and sneaking into the play-offs brightly – but were hit by a sucker punch when Swansea took the lead in the 25th minute.

Skipper Garry Monk was the unlikely scorer, evading his marker at a routine set-piece to nod home an Andrea Orlandi corner.

That proved to be the decisive moment in a fairly aesthetically pleasing game – although that will be of little consolation to Bristol City boss Gary Johnson, whose team now only have pride – and contracts – left to play for in the remaining two games of the season.

Striker Dele Adebola and midfielder Michale McIndoe had the best chances to reward City for their opening period endeavours: Adebola directing a weak header into the arms of Dorus de Vries before the goalkeeper was forced to work harder to repel a deflected McIndoe free-kick from the edge of the box.

Swansea’s opening goal brought about a short purple patch for Roberto Martinez’s team and only a smart save from Adriano Basso to deny Jordi Gomez a goal with his head and a desperate block from a City defender in the six-yard box was also enough to prevent the side from doubling their advantage.

Johnson had made two changes to the side that drew at home to Ipswich Town on Easter Monday. Defender Liam Fontaine (concussion) and Jamie McAllister (suspended) were returned to the side. Gavin Williams was relegated to the bench and Bradley Orr missed out through suspension.

Former Swansea defender Izzy Iriekpen kept his place in the side – although was switched to an unfamiliar right-back position in the absence of Orr. Johnson also tinkered with the formation by employing a narrow three-man midfield to go like-for-like against the play-off chasing opponents.

A need to claw back the deficit prompted Johnson into an attacking half-time change. Williams was introduced in place of McCombe and Iriekpen shuffled across to centre-back with Skuse taking up a berth on the right-side of defence.

Cardiff fan Williams almost made an immediate impact - despite being welcomed by a chorus of boos from the home fans - with a long-range effort that needed to be tipped over the bar by de Vries. Adebola also saw another headed effort creep just wide as Johnson switched to three at the back in a bid to chase the game.

The deficit of that chase could have been widened had Swans striker Jason Scotland managed to hit the target when offered up a presentable opportunity after Basso had shanked a clearance invitingly in his direction. The Brazilian, however, had earlier been in the right place at the right time to make sure a powerful Orlandi shot was kept out of his net.

Swansea City (4-3-3): de Vries; Rangel (Serran 78), Williams, Monk, Tate; Britton, Gomez, Allen (Pratley 55); Dyer, Scotland, Orlandi (MacDonald 71). Subs not used: Pintado, Bessone.

Bristol City (4-4-2): Basso; Iriekpen, McCombe (Williams 46), Fontaine, McAllister (Sproule 74); Skuse, Johnson, Elliott; Maynard, Adebola, McIndoe. Subs not used: Styvar, Trundle, Henderson.