There was no festive cheer on the road for the Town as they lost for the eighth consecutive time away from Kenilworth Road in the Championship.

In an otherwise poor spectacle low on chances, the Hatters’ fate was sealed by a moment of brilliance from Bristol City forward Scott Twine whose blast from the edge of the box 90 seconds into the second half gave the home side all three points.

A leveller almost came with the last chance of the game when Cauley Woodrow’s well-struck effort was stopped by home goalkeeper Max O’Leary.

Defeat left the Town without a point on their travels since the win at Millwall in September but in truth a point a piece would have been fair after this 90 minutes at Ashton Gate.

Clear-cut opportunities for both sides were a real premium in a first half that City started the brighter.

But as the half wore on, the Town grew into the game, pushing the hosts on the backfoot. On 38 minutes Elijah Adebayo used his pace and power to motor past Luke McNally and into the box. However his cut-back was swept wide of the target by Tom Krauß.

As half-time approached, Jordan Clark’s long-range curler was held by O’Leary and Twine tested Kaminski with a direct free-kick in stoppage time.

However, at the start of the second half, Twine got the better of Kaminski with an emphatic finish. City played a quick free-kick down the right and fed Twine on the edge of the box. The forward, known for his ability from range, took a touch before firing an unstoppable effort into the top corner to give the Robins the lead.

It was a goal that lit up Ashton Gate and the forward thought he should have had a penalty with 22 minutes left when going down under Tom Holmes’ challenge.

Chances in either penalty area continued to be at a premium as Rob Edwards made a number of substitutions in a bid to swing momentum into the Hatters’ favour.

That included 19-year-old Josh Phillips, a winger who scored a double hat-trick for the development squad before Christmas. And the youngster almost conjured an equaliser in the fourth minute of added time when his dangerous left-wing cross was desperately cleared by the home side.

As time ticked into the sixth and final minute of added time the Hatters had one final chance. The Town moved it patiently and accurately from the right with Joe Taylor heavily involved. The ball rolled into the path of Woodrow on the edge of the box. The forward hit a sweet effort goalwards but O’Leary was there to paw the ball away to safety.

Woodrow won a free-kick on the right flank for one last chance which saw Kaminski head into the Robins’ box – but City cleared and that was that.

Town: Kaminski, Moses (sub Nelson 79), Chong, Johnson (sub Phillips 88), McGuinness, Holmes, Mpanzu (sub Woodrow 70), Krauß (sub Taylor 88), Clark, Morris, Adebayo.

Subs not used: Krul, Andersen, Nakamba, Pieters, Hashioka.

Attendance: 21,828, including 1,037 Hatters in the away end.