Wright made his return for City, only his second start of the season, in the Championship club’s 0-0 draw with Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

The Australian played for 65 minutes before being replaced.

Johnson praised Wright’s performance after the match.

“It was good: he was nice and solid,” he told Bristol Live. “He was aggressive and his communication was good. He was simple but effective on the ball and defended extremely well.

"Obviously Ameobi's a difficult player to play and unorthodox in his style and he comes quite narrow and Bailey Wright had to stand up to the challenge physically and technically.

“Sometimes Bailey Wright gets some unfair criticism from the support base - but let me tell you, he's one of the best professionals I've worked with and the best captain I've worked with and it's certainly good to see him in mind and body extremely fit.”

Wright has only played in two of City’s 17 league games this season, and has been on the bench for seven of them.

The 27-year-old, who joined the Robins from Preston North End in 2017, has been unable to get into the starting XI regularly.

“It's Bailey's task to get in the team, to keep his body right for a sustained period and then keep the shirt,” Johnson explained.

“He's captain of the football club, so he's got every chance of doing that but we've got to get results and get wins and that's what becomes important.

“And if we need to open it up and attack in a different way from different angles then sometimes it's better to have a different attribute in those types of positions.”