Chris Davies’ verdict after Middlesbrough’s 3-1 victory over his Birmingham City side
Birmingham City manager, Chris Davies(Image: MI News/NurPhoto)
Birmingham City boss Chris Davies believes Middlesbrough have a ‘real chance’ of winning promotion this season, after becoming just the second team to beat his in the league at St Andrew’s in almost two years.
Two goals from Matt Targett and one from David Strelec sealed a huge victory for Boro in the Midlands on Monday evening. The 3-1 victory ended a three-match winless run for Kim Hellberg’s side, and ensured they remained four points clear of third-placed Millwall.
Having taken over at Birmingham at the start of last season, Boro became only the second team to beat a Davies-Birmingham team on home turf, after Hull City’s win in October.
Asked his verdict on Boro, he said: “It was not something we’re used to. But I think leading up to the game, I was very impressed with Middlesbrough.
“I think they’ve gone onto a bit of a different level to when we played them last, but they played a completely different shape tonight than we anticipated. They went into a back five, for the first time since the Preston match, I think.
“I think they’ve got a real chance from what I’ve seen. I’ve seen Coventry, Ipswich, Southampton in the games we played against them, those three showed a decent level.
“And Middlesbrough I think would obviously be the other one. They’re a good footballing team. I didn’t think they did that as well as I’ve been seeing them doing a lot of the other games tonight, and they probably showed a different side of their game to win this match. At this level, they’re a very strong team.”
As strong as Davies appreciates Boro are, he felt an opportunity for his side in this one. He was particularly frustrated at the nature of the goals his side conceded.
“It was a really disappointing evening for us,” he said. “A Tough evening. I thought we started really well. We looked like we were on the front foot; we didn’t give them time on the ball; we were up in the press; we had a couple of good situations develop.
“And then, out of nothing, it felt like there was a goal. It’s a really poor goal from our point of view. We get quite a few things wrong in a row. The line’s a bit too high when there’s no pressure on the ball and it’s just a chip over.
“It did look marginal to me in terms of the offside, I must say, because he gets the other side of him, but it’s a mistake on our part and a big chance that he can’t really miss. A very sloppy goal, and it sort of changed the game, really.
“Soon after we concede another really sloppy goal. This one was uncharacteristic. I can’t remember too many like that that we’ve conceded where the ball’s bouncing around and it’s a bit of a ridiculous situation in the end that it makes its way through. And then again, he can’t really miss. It’s just really sloppy.
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“We came out second half much better. We came out playing forward more. The goal was a very good example of the decision to turn on the ball, play forward, forward run in behind, and a really good goal.
“That put us in a great position. 2-1, attacking down towards the Tilton and, with a half to play, we were in good shape. I was thinking, “we’ve got the momentum here.
“Then the third goal killed the game. The third goal was the absolute killer because if we keep it at 2-1, even if it’s up to the 80th minute, we’re still in a good position to go and get something. There’s a catalog of mistakes building up to it.”
On his reflections overall, the Blues boss added honestly: “It was a game we didn’t do enough again to win. I don’t think there were many chances considering there were four goals.
“There wasn’t a lot of saves and I think they had three shots on target and three goals. But the ones they did have, two of them were huge chances, so you expect them to score. Again, the truth is we didn’t do enough to get something or deserve something from the match.”
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