Following yesterday’s clash between Birmingham City and Sunderland, here are the instant reactions from both managers.
Birmingham City hosted Sunderland at St Andrew’s Stadium for a 7.45pm kick off on Tuesday January 30, with the hosts taking a three one victory on the evening.
Birmingham opened the scoring through David Davis in the 28th minute, and Jeremie Boga doubled their advantage a minute before the half time interval. The hosts added a third through Sam Gallagher six minutes shy of the hour mark, leaving Sunderland to grab a consolation through Bryan Oviedo in the final ten minutes of the game.
With both sides struggling this year in the Championship, Birmingham improved their record with the win as they came into the game as the lowest scorers in the entire Football League and they move out of the dropzone, but Sunderland are still looking for improvements themselves.
Teams:
Birmingham:
Stockdale, Colin, Roberts, Dean, Grounds, Ndoye, Kieftenbeld, Maghoma (Jota 61), Davis (Adams 81), Boga, Gallagher (Jutkiewicz 84).
Substitutes:
Gardner, Lowe, Morrison, Trueman.
Sunderland:
Ruiter, Browning, Kone, Clarke-Salter (McGeady 65), Matthews, Cattermole, Robson, Oviedo, Honeyman, Asoro (Gooch 84), Maja (LuaLua 60).
Substitutes:
Steele, Williams, Galloway, Love.
Speaking to the BBC’s cameras a short time after match day referee Darren Bond blew the final whistle, Birmingham manager Steve Cotterill explained.
‘It was a big night, the result could have been better, I think we got a little bit sloppy towards the end. I can’t have too many complaints with the boys really, we played very well and got ourselves three in front, but the last goal is a slight disappointment for us. Our standards of late have been very good so that’s a slight disappointment for us really, because normally defending is something we’re quite good at that.’
Sunderland manager Chris Coleman in his comparative interview explained.
‘It’s unacceptable, that’s the word. We can’t even begin to accept that. All over the pitch for an hour we were second best. I don’t get it. These games are cup finals for us. You win and you lose but it was the manner of the first hour, which was surprising considering where we are and who we were playing.’
