Report: Blues 0-2 Hull City
Blues were beaten by Hull City in the Sky Bet Championship on Wednesday night. The fixture was Wayne Rooney's first as Manager at St. Andrew's but, unfortunately, the visitors left with the points.
Birmingham City had started brightly before trailing to a Liam Delap goal, who calmly slotted home from a narrow angle.
With the Tigers eager to spoil the party, victory was wrapped up through a second-half strike by Jaden Philogene's curling effort that moved neatly around John Ruddy’s outstretched glove.
Team news: The Manager made three changes from Saturday’s trip to Middlesbrough; Koji Miyoshi, Juninho Bacuna and Oliver Burke came in for Gary Gardner, Ivan Sunjic and Scott Hogan, who all started on the bench.
Match action:
Blues found joy early on down the right-hand side and were almost ahead after two minutes, Burke picked out Siriki Dembele at the far post but the wicked delivery proved too much for the Ivorian to control.
Evidence of Rooney’s attacking style of play was clear from the off, as the home team moved the ball well through transitions, again finding space down the right through Burke, who swung a dangerous ball into Hull’s box, but Liam Rosenior’s defence proved sturdy again.
The visitors were awarded a free kick in a dangerous position shortly after ten minutes. Scott Twine tried to bend one up and under but his effort sailed over the crossbar in what was an early warning sign for the hosts.
Manchester City loanee, Delap, was eagle-eyed to anticipate an Emmanuel Longelo back pass to his goalkeeper to put the away side ahead after 12 minutes. Intercepting and taking the ball around Ruddy, the England Under-21 international squeezed the ball home from a tight angle.
Burke did well to control what looked like a lost cause down by Hull’s right-side corner flag ahead of finding Bacuna in space six yards out, but the Curacao international could not keep his effort low enough, striking a first-time volley into the Gil Merrick.
Hull were living dangerously, with their tactics to play out from the back pressured well by Blues' frontline, yet the team in black and amber were able to find an escape route on several occasions.
Chances were squandered at both ends, Philogene regularly caused Birmingham issues down the left-hand side, whilst Dembele’s shot from range was parried away by Allsop as Rooney's men continued to knock on the door with half-time looming.
Half-time: Blues 0-1 Hull City
Blues set out to start the second-half on the attack and Miyoshi’s effort deflected behind into the Tilton. The resulting corner was given away by Dembele, leading to a two-on-one counterattack, which saw Delap in space again, but he mistimed his effort to see his shot sail past Ruddy’s near post.
As Blues struggled to find possession, the Boss made a double change with 20 to go, Miyoshi made way for Gardner, who scored on his last appearance at St. Andrew's, and Krystian Bielik was also replaced by Jordan James to give the home team fresh legs.
However, before the new substitutions could settle into the game, Philogene lost Cody Drameh out left and created himself space to swing in an audacious effort from range which nestled into the bottom right corner, earning the away side a two-goal lead going into the last quarter.
16-year-old Romelle Donovan made his First Team debut eight minutes from time, providing a spark of life down the right wing, forcing a save from Allsop who got down well. The youngster's efforts were deservedly acknowledged by the home faithful.
Blues (4-2-3-1): John Ruddy, Cody Drameh, Dion Sanderson (Captain), Kevin Long, Emmanuel Longelo, Krystian Bielik (Jordan James 70), Juninho Bacuna, Koji Miyoshi (Gary Gardener 70), Siriki Dembele, Jay Stansfield (Lukas Jutkiewicz 59), Oliver Burke (Romelle Donovan 83).
Substitutes not used: Neil Etheridge, Marc Roberts, Scott Hogan, Ivan Sunjic, Emanuel Aiwu.
Bookings: Long 55, Bacuna 90+3.
Hull City (3-4-3): Ryan Allsop, Lewie Coyle (Captain), Jacob Greaves, Alfie Jones, Sean McLoughlin, Adama Traore (Greg Doherty 61), Tyler Morton (Jason Lokilo 76), Liam Delap, Jaden Philogene (Cyrus Christie 87), Jean Michael Seri, Scott Twine.
Substitutes not used: Matt Ingram, Ruben Vinagre, Ozan Tufan, Dogukan Sinik, Harry Vaughan, Aaron Connolly.
Bookings: Delap 55.
Referee: John Busby.
Attendance: 19,530.
Coming soon: Blues join the Sky Sports cameras in visiting Southampton on Saturday 25 November, kick-off 12.30pm. It is then back to St. Andrew's a week later for the hosting of Ipswich Town on Saturday 4 November, kick-off 3pm. Tickets for the home fixture can be purchased by clicking here.
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