FULL-TIME REPORT & VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS: Blackburn Rovers 2 Bristol City 2

The striker opened the scoring in the 17th minute after he was set up by fellow Sunderland loanee Jordi Gomez.

Fellow strugglers City turned the match on its head with two quickfire second-half strikes from substitute Jonathan Kodjia and skipper Aaron Wilbraham.

But Graham came to Rovers’ rescue when he notched his second goal of the game with 10 minutes of normal time to play.

Paul Lambert’s side pushed for a winner after Robins midfielder Korey Smith was sent off in the 86th minute for pushing Grant Hanley in the face.

But they were unable to find one and both teams had to settle for a point they would have needed to mathematically secure their survival had MK Dons managed to beat Brentford.

As it happened the Dons went down 4-1 and so will join Charlton Athletic and Bolton Wanderers in League One next season.

But there was absolutely nothing for Rovers to celebrate as their winless run stretched to six matches.

Lambert made one change to the side which had started against Nottingham Forest in midweek with Gomez replacing Darragh Lenihan.

The Rovers boss also kept faith with teenage winger Connor Mahoney who was making his first senior appearance at Ewood Park.

Mahoney and his team-mates hardly saw the ball in the first 15 minutes as City took a grip of the game.

So it came against the run of play when Ben Marshall and Matt Kilgallon combined to play in Gomez down the left.

The recalled midfielder whipped over an inviting cross to the near post where Graham flashed the ball brilliantly past Richard O’Donnell.

City tried to respond through Joe Bryan who forced Jason Steele into his second comfortable save of the contest.

However it was Rovers who went on to dominate the rest of the half with Gomez dragging two efforts wide and one over the bar while O’Donnell twice raced out of his goal to take the ball of Graham’s toes.

Steele, in contrast, did not cover himself in glory when he threw the ball straight at Bobby Reid.

The Robins striker skipped past Elliott Ward and, to the relief of Rovers goalkeeper, crashed his shot against the upright and behind.

Steele atoned for his error when he turned away a deflected drive from Reid at the start of the second half.

The action switched to the other end with Marshall side-footing wide after Graham’s backheel provided the winger with a clear run on goal.

But, with Rovers completely losing their way, the miss was to prove costly.

Having made tactical and personnel changes City were coming more and more into the match.

And in the 70th minute they restored parity when top-scorer Kodjia swapped passes with Smith and saw his scuffed attempt beat Steele.

Rovers were all over the shop and four minutes later Smith and Luke Ayling made the most of more woeful defending to tee up Wilbraham.

But the Robins’ lead lasted just six minutes with Jason Lowe standing up a cross for Graham to loop a fine header over O’Donnell and take his tally for the term up to six.

Rovers’ hopes of returning to winning ways increased when Smith was shown a straight red card for stupidly raising his hands to Hanley while he was on the ground.

But those hopes were ended when O’Donnell denied Marshall in injury-time from distance.

Rovers: Steele, Lowe, Ward, Hanley, Kilgallon, Mahoney (Conway 63), Akpan, Evans (Lenihan 86), Marshall, Gomez (Jackson 76), Graham. Subs not used: Raya, Grimes, Duffy, Bennett.

Goals: Graham 17, 80.

Bristol City: O’Donnell, Matthews (Ayling 56), Flint (Pearce 46), Baker, Golbourne, Pack, Smith, Reid (Kodjia 63), Bryan, Tomlin, Wilbraham. Subs not used: O’Leary, Freeman, Wagstaff, Odemwingie.

Sent off: Smith 86.

Goals: Kodjia 70, Wilbraham 74.

Referee: Tim Robinson.

Attendance: 12,752 (785 away).