Orr came close to equalising for the Robins at Stoke on Saturday (Getty)

Bristol City defender Bradley Orr has insisted the team will not give up on automatic promotion despite Saturday's 2-1 defeat at rivals Stoke City.

But Orr told BBC Radio Bristol that finishing in the top two would now be a tall order for the side.

"I'm not going to say 'we can't', we'll go right to the end and see what happens," said Orr.

"We've just got to go and do the job that we can do, affect the games we can and hope other people do us favours."

He added: "We'll go right to the end and see where it takes us.

"The last two games are going to be exciting and we've got to get over this disappointment and go again."

Orr blamed City's poor first half display in falling 2-0 behind for the defeat and admitted they left themselves with too much of a hill to climb.

"It's hard to take because the second half was a total different story," the 25-year-old said.

"We've got to shake ourselves off and get on with the next game."

The result left the Robins four points behind second placed Stoke with two games left and means they must beat Sheffield United and Preston in their last two matches and hope that results elsewhere go their way if they are to have any chance of achieving automatic promotion to the Premier League.

606: DEBATE Saturday's performance was disappointing compared to the high standards we have set ourselves earlier in the season MurraysRightBoot

But even qualifying for the play-offs is by no means assured for City, and Orr knows it will be vital to turn their form around if they are to have a chance of competing.

"Come Monday, we'll sit down in training and have a meeting and go through what went well and what went badly and get on with it during the week," he added.

"Next weekend it will be forgotten about and we'll be up for the game."