Birmingham City emerged 3-2 victors against Championship leaders Coventry City in a competitive, action-packed encounter at St Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park.
Two goals from Marvin Ducksch, either side of a Lewis Koumas strike, were enough for the hosts to defeat their Midlands neighbours, who had twice drawn level through Josh Eccles and Ellis Simms, and saw Bobby Thomas sent off deep into second-half stoppage time.
The result somewhat eases pressure on Blues manager Chris Davies, giving his side their first win since the beginning of December, a run of eight league games, since a 3-0 victory at home to Watford.
Ducksch opened the scoring for the home side inside the opening six minutes, producing a fantastic volley to fire home debutant Kai Wagner’s looping cross past a helpless Carl Rushworth. Wagner’s assist was the first involvement in what proved to be a hugely impressive first Birmingham appearance for the German left-back, who was announced as having signed for the Blues from MLS side Philadelphia Union for an undisclosed fee on Friday evening.
However, Birmingham’s lead lasted less than two minutes, as Eccles curled a precise strike from outside of the box around the outstretched arm of Birmingham keeper James Beadle and into the bottom right corner.
The visitors quickly went looking for a second, as Beadle was forced into a sharp stop from a point-blank Liam Kitching header, but their defence was ruthlessly opened up by Patrick Roberts after 17 minutes. The English winger neatly combined with Jay Stansfield before producing an exquisite, expertly-weighted ball to find Koumas in behind the Coventry backline and the Liverpool loanee did the rest, producing a composed finish to round Rushworth and slot in from a tight angle for his first Birmingham goal.
The hosts could have found themselves further in front before the break, although Ducksch was only able to stab an effort wide after stretching to get on the end of Roberts’ threaded pass.
Coventry refused to buckle, however, and hauled themselves level for the second time fifteen minutes into the second half, as Simms expertly placed a strike through the legs of Jack Robinson and past Beadle for his second goal in as many games.
But it was a case of déjà vu for the Sky Blues, as they once again were unable to keep Birmingham out at the other end. In the 63rd minute, Ducksch latched on to yet another Roberts through-ball and beat Rushworth, who might have felt he could have done better, at his near post.
Frank Lampard’s side were denied a penalty in the closing stages, when Ephron Mason-Clark appeared to be wrestled to the ground by Birmingham captain Tomoki Iwata, and a disappointing afternoon for the league leaders went from bad to worse when Thomas was dismissed. The Coventry centre-back saw red, both metaphorically and literally, slapping Phil Neumann round the back of the head after the pair had exchanged words during a scuffle inside the penalty area.
Victory continues Birmingham’s impressive home form, and Davies’ side have still lost only one game at home in the league so far this season, a 3-2 loss to Hull in which Robinson had been sent off in the 59th minute. The Blues move up to 13th place in the table, albeit they still remain seven points off of the play-off spots.
For Lampard, meanwhile, the result continues a worrying run of results which has seen his team fail to win any of their last three league games and pick up only three points from their past five fixtures away from home. It is a dip in form at the wrong time for Coventry, heading into a crucial part of the season, and gives second-placed Middlesbrough a chance to close the gap at the top of the table to six points ahead of their clash against Southampton later this afternoon.
Attention now turns to the FA Cup, where both of these sides get their respective campaigns under way next weekend. Birmingham travel to League Two side Cambridge United at 17:30 local time on Saturday while, a few hours earlier, Coventry face a trip to Stoke City.
Match Officials: Referee: James Linington; Assistant Referee 1: James Wilson; Assistant Referee 2: Graham Kane; Fourth Official: Thomas Kirk
Birmingham City Lineup: Beadle; Iwata, Neumann, Robinson, Wagner (subbed for Sampsted, 71’); Doyle, Paik Seung-Ho; Roberts (subbed for Willumsson, 72’), Stansfield (subbed for Fujimoto, 93’), Koumas (subbed for Cashin, 65’); Ducksch (subbed for Kyogo, 72’) Coventry City Lineup: Rushworth; van Ewijk, Thomas, Kitching, Dasilva; Grimes; Sakamoto (subbed for Wright, 67’), Eccles (subbed for Andrews, 89’), Rudoni, Mason-Clark; Simms