Birmingham City 2-1 Nuneaton Town

Written by: Oliver Osborn

Birmingham City have been crowned champions of the Birmingham Senior Cup following a 2-1 victory over Nuneaton Town at St. Andrew’s.

First-half goals from Wes Harding and Matt Green sealed the win for the Championship side as they picked up the trophy for the first time since 2008.

The visitors, managed by former Birmingham defender Liam Daish, did find a goal back through Joshua Rees just after the interval but were unable to take the game to extra-time despite being on top for much of the second-half.

Nuneaton have caused a couple of upsets in their run to the final against the Development Squads of West Brom and Wolves and almost got off to the perfect start through Jannai Gordan.

The West Ham loanee was played through by Robert Ogleby after the winger latched onto Mitch Hancox’s mistake, but the striker’s effort was deflected onto the near post by Wes Harding.

Leading the line for Blues was Nikola Zigic and Matt Green and the latter went close to capping his return from a long-term injury with an early goal.

The 28-year-old took a shot from close range, but the Nuneaton goalkeeper Max Crocombe was at hand to deny the striker with a fantastic reflex save.

The home side did manage to find the opener though through Harding on the quarter of an hour mark despite the best efforts of the Boro defence.

Midfielder Charlie Cooper’s corner was headed down by the towering Zigic into the path of the centre-half.

The 18-year-old headed home from close range, finding the top corner and the space just out of reach for the man on the near post.

Liam Daish’s men looked to respond and the Birmingham defence held strong to restrict the non-league side creating any clear-cut chances. Lucas Dawson had a shot from long range sail well wide of Nick Townsend’s goal.

The lead was doubled after Dacres-Cogley’s cross to the far post found an unmarked Green in acres of space and the striker calmly glanced his header into the far corner to give the side some breathing space as half-time approached.

Boro favourite Andy Brown had one last chance prior to the midway interval, but his curling effort flew wide in the final moments of the half.

Richard Beale’s men continued to dominate in the opening stages of the second-half and Reece Brown could have put the result beyond doubt five minutes after the restart.

A perfectly weighted through ball from Zigic put the midfield one-on-one with Crocombe and the New Zealander got down well to stop the youngster in his tracks.

Joshua Rees made Blues pay for their missed chances by halving the deficit after the ball was brought down well for the midfielder to smash his shot just inside the near post.

The goal seemed to give the side a new lease of life and Brown had a great chance with a volley from the edge of the area, but the shot was hit straight at Townsend and was comfortably held by the goalkeeper.

Nuneaton kept on pressing for an equaliser, creating a number of opportunities from corners and deep crosses into the area, but were unable to find the second goal they were looking for.

A cross into the area from Connor Franklin found the head of Andy Brown on the edge of the six yard box, but the target man steered his header just over the crossbar.

Birmingham managed to hold on in the final few minutes to end their winless run in the competition of seven years.

Birmingham City starting line up: Townsend; Dacres-Cogley, Harding, Bernard, Hancox; Soloman-Otabor (Cotton 78′), Brown, Cooper, Guthmy (O’Neill HT); Zigic, Green

Subs not used: Weaver, Kelly, MacFarlane

Man of the match: Josh Dacres-Cogley