Bristol City will finish the 2019/20 season in the top half of the Championship, but the club's hopes of making the top six were officially over on Saturday afternoon.
The Robins recorded a 1-0 loss at the Liberty Stadium, although with Cardiff City winning at the Riverside the result was rendered redundant anyway.
Connor Roberts' strike as the last act of the first half was enough to edge this contest, but the Robins had good chances to score in the game themselves and none better than Famara Diedhiou who could only strike the post with a second-half penalty.
It was Dean Holden's first defeat as acting head coach of the West Country outfit.
"Ultimately we've not worked their goalkeeper enough, but it's fine margins in games," said Holden after the game.
"We had a chance in the first half with a header that we put wide and they scored right on half-time, which was a poor goal for us to concede defensively.
"And the game swings on the missed penalty by Fam.
"We took plenty of risk in the first half in terms of formation and personnel changes but it was never about coming here and trying to protect a mini-unbeaten run, it was about playing with risk and trying to get the win," he said.
Holden compared the match to basketball, with chances at either end as Bristol City tried to keep alive their ambitions.
And while the endeavour was apparent - and nobody won more loose balls in the game than Jamie Paterson - with the City players dropping to their knees at the final whistle, it was not enough for the aims at Ashton Gate.
"You can see that the players are giving absolutely everything there and it was a counter-attack game," said Holden.
"It was like a game of basketball at times, and the recovery runs from some of our players... There's been a lot of games played in a short space of time this season as well, and what a funny old season it's been.
"We can't ask any more of the players but we need to keep working on that final product," he added, explaining that he was very proud of the performance despite the final result.
City roll on to face Preston on Wednesday as they bid to finish as high in the table as possible.
