Birmingham City 2-3 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Written By: The Bluenose Bible

Sylvan Ebanks-Blake bagged a brace to earn Wolves a vital three points in their battle for Championship survival and record a fourth victory in five matches, leaving Lee Clark frustrated with his side’s poor first half performance.

After some early chances from Blues through Nathan Redmond and Nikola Zigic, Steven Hunt capitalised on a poor clearance from Jack Butland to score the opener. David Davis took a testing shot from 20 yards which could only be palmed into Hunt’s path for the Irishmen to slot home from close range.

Within minutes of the first, the travelling side scored two more goals through Ebanks-Blake thanks to a header at the back post and a penalty following a mistimed tackle on Kevin Doyle from the Blues keeper. The former Manchester Untied striker showed bravery and coolness under pressure to give Wanderers a huge advantage at half time.

Blues came out fighting in the second half and were rewarded with a penalty after 55 minutes due to a push from Jamie O’Hara on Wes Thomas. Wade Elliott stepped up to score his fourth goal of the season and change the hostile atmosphere into one of hope and belief that a comeback was on.

The players and royal blue crowd knew a quick second would be crucial to gain a result but several wasted chance by Wes Thomas ensure that the points would be heading back to the Black Country.

In the dying embers of the game Birmingham did manage to find a second as Jack Robinson handled inside the box for a third penalty to be awarded. Wade Elliott’s penalty was well saved but the midfielder fired home the rebound.

Birmingham manager Lee Clark:

“Quite simply, without the ball in the first half we were rubbish, with it we were decent.

“With it in the second half we were decent again and without it we were good, but in the first half we were woeful.

“Three or four players weren’t at it and you can’t have that. With the ball, you can have three or four players maybe not having a great day but without it, you have to have 11 putting a shift in.

“I think we got a little bit caught up and excited about what happened on Friday, thinking we could just turn up and play our football, forgetting you’ve got to win the battles.

“It’s a very frustrating day for us when you think if we’d got three points we could have gone eighth in the table.”

Wolves manager Dean Saunders:

“It’s a massive win. I’ve got to credit the players, they’ve had a torrid time the last couple of years and we’re turning it around now.

“I just think it’s absolutely ridiculous that we’ve had to play Saturday-Monday, it’s just ridiculous. Some of the teams are playing Friday-Tuesday.

“I’m interested in the team, really. We weren’t recovered. It’s got to be looked at because it was a definite disadvantage for us today.”

Man of the match: Sylvan Ebanks-Blake