Jack Currie’s early sending-off divided opinion between the two managers after Birmingham beat 10-man Leyton Orient 2-0 at St Andrew’s.
Currie’s red card in the 12th minute, for a late challenge on Tomoki Iwata, changed the game, allowing Blues to cruise for much of the proceedings.
Although the Os defended valiantly, and even entered the half-time break level, the pressure proved too much and Taylor Gardner-Hickman gave Birmingham the lead in the 53rd minute.
Blues continued to dictate play and put the result beyond doubt when Ethan Laird beat Josh Keeley at his near post in the 84th minute.
Os boss Richie Wellens could not hide his frustration over the early red card, which he believes ruined an opportunity to assess where his side are.
Richie Wellens
“In my opinion, it wasn’t a sending-off. Jack kicked the ball first…I don’t think the referee ever came to this side of the pitch near our bench, he never came to this side. There’s a reason for that,” Wellens said.
“I wanted to really see how good we were. We’ve got a load of young players playing against this club that are going to win the league. And I wanted to see how far we’ve come.
“I really wanted to see how far the players had come and test them and see what information that gives me going forward. But apart from the first 10 minutes, I didn’t get any.”
Birmingham boss Chris Davies offered a polar opposite view on the incident, as he admitted he was thankful Iwata was not seriously hurt by the challenge.
“It was a definite red card. He’s come off the ground, studs,” Davies said. “Tomoki’s just lucky that he’s not injured him badly there. If that’s in the Premier League with VAR, that’s it, he’s off, no doubt, a 100 per cent red card.”
Gardner-Hickman was in the right place at the right time to give Blues the lead at the start of the second half, and drew high praise from Davies for his performance and versatility.
“He’s done everything and he is very versatile and it was a great winger’s finish, arriving for a tap-in at the back post. Any winger would be proud of that. But I just think with Taylor, you give him a job and he’ll do it,” Davies added.
READ MORE: Birmingham extend lead at League One summit with victory over 10-man Orient
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