While Bristol City returned to winning ways with a 1-0 win over Luton Town on Boxing Day, the Robins have little time to celebrate as the busy festive period is set to throw up another tricky test.

Only three days after they secured three points over Rob Edwards' Hatters, Liam Manning's side are set to welcome Portsmouth to Ashton Gate as they look to secure back-to-back wins for the first time this season.

The Reds boss himself has emphasised the importance of registering consecutive results, but City defender Zak Vyner admits that he and his teammates in the Robins' changing room aren't losing any sleep over their inconsistency at this moment in time.

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"To be honest, this is the first time I've learned that," the academy graduate told Bristol Live on Boxing Day. "No one really talks about it.

"It's something that we want to do, of course, we want to string some wins together and go on a run and push up the table. It's obviously important. Putting runs together can obviously drastically jump you up the league, but I didn't realise that [City hadn't yet won consecutive games]. It's obviously a goal to take the next game, try and win and then take the next game and try and win."

The trip to Fratton Park earlier this season was one of the most difficult of the Robins' season so far. Manning's side were backed by a sold-out away end who had made the trip to the South Coast during the middle of Storm Darragh, off of the back of a commanding 4-0 win over Plymouth Argyle.

But Bristol City never really got going at Pompey and were miles off of the pace as they were comfortably beaten 3-0 by Mousinho's side who had started the day bottom of the Championship table.

Though the Reds are not out for revenge against the current League One champions, Vyner believes Sunday's meeting in BS3 represents the perfect opportunity to right the wrongs of the defeat earlier this season.

"I know you're saying it in a way of trying to do one over them, but just for ourselves, the performance levels were not good enough that day," the 27-year-old admitted. "We want to make sure we put it right against them this time.

"At home in front of the fans, we can't have a performance like that so we need to put it right for ourselves and our own pride really."

With injuries taking their toll in the lead-up to the festive period, Vyner had had to fill in as a makeshift right-back in recent weeks while both George Tanner and Ross McCrorie continued their recovery.

The former Plymouth Argyle loanee impressed against Wayne Rooney's side at Ashton Gate and was similarly effective in City's draw with QPR, but he didn't look anywhere near as comfortable against West Brom as he struggled to contain Mikey Johnston.

While the 27-year-old remains an alternative option in that position, he believes he is better suited to a role in the back three and admitted the return of both Tanner and McCrorie would be a boost.

"I've played centre-half a lot longer in my career so naturally I'm going to say I'm more comfortable there," Vyner explained. "But I have also played right-back. Ross and George were injured so I can fill that hole and do a job there. It doesn't change too much in position with the way that we play, we roll into a three but out of possession, it is a lot different because you're defending wide and all that stuff.

"If I had to pick, I'm more comfortable central because I've done it for a lot longer. It's healthy competition. They push each other and they push all of us because they can do other roles as well so it's great to have them back. Hopefully, they can continue this, stay fit and we can keep pushing on."

With both right-backs now fit again, Manning opted to utilise a back three of Vyner, Rob Dickie and Luke McNally in City's win over Luton Town on Boxing Day. Against the Hatters' physical strike force of Carlton Morris and Elijah Adebayo, the Reds' defence won the majority of their duels to limit the away side to just a couple of scoring opportunities.

Arguably the best chance fell to Morris who saw a header from close range deflected over the bar by McNally in the closing exchanges. Though the former Burnley defender arrived with some scepticism earlier this summer, Vyner was quick to laud him for his impact at Ashton Gate.

"He's so calm," he explained. "He's such a good defender, he's calm on the ball and he's a bit of a warrior you know. He's a good player, he brings quality and he also brings a bit of healthy competition for everyone.

"We've got quality in our team and we just have to make sure that competition is pushing the best out of each other."

Ahead of Sunday's game against Portsmouth, Vyner is one of just two outfield players in the Bristol City squad to have played every minute of Championship football so far this season. Reds skipper Jason Knight is the other.

Since Manning arrived in the West Country, the 27-year-old has been close to an everpresent starter and while there will always be some who question his quality, he has proven to be a reliable and dependable member of the Robins squad.

Although the defender admits the five games in the space of two weeks over the festive period causes "chaos" in his schedule, he is relishing his role in Manning's side heading into the second half of the season.

"Everyone wants to play football," laughed the defender. "I've played every game which is brilliant for me. To be honest, I don't know what day it is, I'm just going off of games.

"That's how I kind of work with my schedule, especially around Christmas when it is chaos, but I am relishing it. I love it."

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