Birmingham moved up into the Championship play-off places with a 1-0 win over Bristol City in an entertaining encounter at St Andrews.
In a game of many chances, the decisive moment came late on in the 82nd minute when substitute Che Adams thumped home from close range, following poor Bristol City defending. The win takes Birmingham up to an impressive 5th whilst Bristol City drop to 10th.
Birmingham dominated much of the first-half and would have felt aggrieved to have not gone in at the interval ahead. The threatening Clayton Donaldson, who was a real handful all afternoon, had the first real chance of the game when he hit the post early on, before Bristol City right back Mark Little twice had to clear the ball off the line when a goal seemed certain. Birmingham created
many more chances in the half with the likes of David Cottrell and David Davis testing Bristol City keeper Frank Fielding. The visitor’s only real first-half chance came from Tammy Abraham’s goal-bound header that was saved by Kuszczak.
The second-half was a far different affair. It was the visitors who turned on the style and looked the likeliest to score. Marlon Pack’s long range effort was well saved, and Lee Tomlin hit the crossbar from a free kick. However, they were made to pay as Adams reacted quickest to a near post header to put Birmingham in front and send St Andrews into delirium.
The drama did not end there however. Aden Flint and Bobby Reid both missed chances for Bristol City and Jonathan Spector was sent off for Birmingham for a rash challenge on Tomlin. However, Birmingham held on for a vital victory.
Elsewhere in the Championship
Newcastle continued their imperious march towards promotion with a 2-0 win at Leeds. They are now nine points clear of 3rd place and anything other than an immediate return to the Premier League would be a huge shock. Norwich’s poor form continued as new QPR boss Ian Holloways reign got off to the perfect start with a 2-1 win. On Friday night Brighton and Aston Villa played out a competitive 1-1 draw at the Amex. Brighton stay 2nd whilst Villa’s steady climb up the table continued.
Full Results
Brighton 1 – 1 Aston Villa
Leeds 0 – 2 Newcastle
Barnsley 0 – 0 Wigan
Birmingham City 1 – 0 Bristol City
Blackburn Rovers 3 – 2 Brentford
Cardiff City 3 – 2 Huddersfield
Derby 3 – 0 Rotherham
Fulham 1 – 1 Sheffield Wednesday
Preston 0 – 0 Wolves
QPR 2 – 1 Norwich
Reading 3 – 0 Burton Albion
Ipswich 0 – 2 Nottingham Forest
