Birmingham City 2-1 Watford: Blues climb to within point of Championship play-off places

Birmingham City climbed to within a point of the Sky Bet Championship play-off places with a 2-1 home victory over Watford.

The Blues earned a fourth straight win at St Andrew’s while Watford’s miserable run on the road continued despite a valiant effort in the second half.

Watford had their tails up from their positive recent form, but Birmingham had reward for their first-half patience when Paik Seung-ho put them in front before Demarai Gray doubled the lead in superb fashion before the break.

The home fans had reason for concern in the second period when Othmane Maamma’s strike brought Javi Gracia’s side back into the game, but that was not enough to stop them from losing their five-game unbeaten record.

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Match action

Chris Davies’ side ensured they returned to winning ways following a draw at the weekend and went to seventh in the table, just one point behind Bristol City in the play-offs.

The visitors almost got off to a perfect start when the ball dropped to Thomas Ince outside the area and he decided to have a crack with an effort that flew past James Beadle’s despairing dive but marginally wide of the target.

Watford allowed Birmingham to have the ball, but they were the ones looking more threatening going forward, with Beadle the first to make a save to bat Maamma’s dig from distance away from danger.

Visiting keeper Nathan Baxter was brought into action for the first time to excellently deny Phil Neumann from point-blank range after Jay Stansfield had made a clever run from a free-kick.

Birmingham made the breakthrough just after the half-hour mark.

Hector Kyprianou aimed to come away with possession but had his pocket picked by Paik, who took a couple of touches before smashing ferociously past Baxter from outside the box.

And the Blues had breathing space two minutes before the break courtesy of a piece of brilliance from Gray, who shifted the ball onto his right foot inside the area and picked out the top right corner.

Second half

Watford’s recent form showed they were not out of the contest, though, as Beadle had to fingertip Marc Bola’s close-range effort over the bar to stop them from halving the deficit.

Birmingham should have been three to the good when Jeremy Ngakia played a lazy pass straight to Stansfield in the danger zone and he set up Marvin Ducksch, who fluffed his lines from close range.

The home fans grew nervous when the Hornets chopped the lead in half.

Watford had threatened to do so on a couple of occasions but finally capitalised when Maamma latched onto Bola’s ball in before sending an effort goalwards and too hard for Beadle to stop.

Birmingham did well to stem the tide following the goal, but Mamadou Doumbia forced a third save from Beadle to let them know they were still in the contest but Birmingham held onto the three points.

Connection

Davies was pleased for his side but is keeping his feet firmly on the ground despite the Blues’ recent good form.

He said: “Excellent win. I was aware going into the game the level of opposition we were playing today. Their goal can happen, but I’m happy with our reaction.

“That’s our fourth in a row now and 14 goals in those games. It’s not normal because it’s such a tight league.

“The good thing is we love playing at home, you see some teams that struggle in front of their own fans.

“There is a connection between the fans and the team, players love playing here.

“Just because we’ve done well, it doesn’t mean we will continue to. I say to the players, ‘you have to prove it all again’, it definitely bodes well for our season.

“I tell the players to never get too fixated on the league because you can be up and down. If you worry about that, you’ll get lost.”

Exceptional

Davies hailed Paik after he scored his fourth goal of the campaign, which put Blues in front.

He added: “All the coaches will say to me, he’s such a good finisher. It was a really good goal.

“They were up against two good midfielders today; it was a good battle and I would say we got the better of them.

“To go up and win the ball is one thing, but Paik is two-footed, technical, quick, strong, strong mentality. He’s an exceptional player for us.”

Mistakes

Watford boss Javi Gracia blamed mistakes for his side’s first defeat in six and admitted they were not able to take their chances.

Gracia said: “We didn’t take the chances we had and they did two great goals. When you dominate, you have to score goals and take the chances you have. We didn’t do it and tried to the end.

“In terms of chances and possession, it was an equal game, but we are paying for our mistakes because two goals came from mistakes. It’s something we have to improve.

“We have a good squad and players. We are going to insist in our work and try to do better next time.

“I trust my players, I know they have a good attitude and something we have to manage better.”

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