Birmingham City 2-0 Bristol Rovers
Sky Bet League One, St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park, Saturday 14 December
Two first-half goals proved the difference as Bristol Rovers fell to a 2-0 Sky Bet League One defeat at Birmingham City.
The Blues snatched the lead inside six minutes after a bright start, with Lee Buchanan finishing well from the edge of the Rovers area after a loose clearance by the visitors.
The score was doubled seven minutes before half-time when Jay Stansfield netted from the penalty spot, which had been given for handball.
The home side’s quality was apparent throughout and Rovers struggled to make meaningful chances at St Andrew’s, inflicting a second consecutive defeat on the road on Matt Taylor’s team.
With the home clash with Bolton Wanderers postponed last Saturday due to the effects of Storm Darragh, the Gas took to the St Andrew’s pitch for their first outing in eleven days eager to eliminate the remaining echoes of the 3-0 defeat to Leyton Orient.
It was always going to be a challenging afternoon against a Birmingham City side widely expected to comfortably achieve promotion at the first time of asking, and the Blues’ quality showed early on when Stansfield put a first-time effort over from Keshi Anderson’s cross.
The early pressure continued and the home side made it count just six minutes in. A corner was cleared by the Rovers collective but full-back Buchanan was in the right spot on the edge of the box to blast in a well-taken opener.
In truth, the Gas could have found themselves further behind before the ten-minute mark when Ben Davies flicked his header across the face of goal.
Bristol Rovers chances were at a premium but Luke McCormick will have felt he should have done better when the ball fell for him on the edge of the Birmingham box, opting to try a chipped pass rather than shooting, before Alfie May went close again for the home team.
It seemed a case of trying to hold on for half-time and reset for Matt Taylor’s side, but a somewhat harshly-awarded penalty on 37 minutes - given for a Connor Taylor handball - allowed Birmingham to double their advantage through Stansfield spotkick, sending Rovers two goals down at the interval.
Chris Martin entered the fray early in the second half as the Gas chased a way back into the game, joining Gatlin O’Donkor in a two-man attack as Michael Forbes made way.
The Gas appeared more assured as the second half progressed, albeit without truly threatening Ryan Allsop in the Birmingham goal. At the other end, James Wilson had to be alert to clear May’s volleyed effort off the line.
Another trio of changes followed for Rovers on 66 minutes with the introduction of Taylor Moore, Grant Ward and Isaac Hutchinson, before Promise Omochere made his return from injury in place of McCormick a few minutes later.
Despite the injection of attacking quality, the damage had been already done, with the hosts claiming all three points.
Birmingham City: Allsop, Buchanan (Laird 68), Klarer, Bielik © (Gardner-Hickman 79), May (Jutkiewicz 79), Paik, Anderson (Leonard 85), Willumsson, Iwata, Davies, Stansfield (Harris 78)
Subs not used: Peacock-Farrell, Yokoyama
Goals: Buchanan 6, Stansfield (p) 38,
Bristol Rovers: Griffiths, Senior (Moore 66), Wilson ©, Mola, Taylor, Conteh, McCormick (Omochere 73), O’Donkor (Hutchinson 66), Forbes (Martin 52), Forde, Lindsay (Ward 66)
Subs not used: Sinclair, Bilongo
Referee: Seb Stockbridge
Attendance: 26,459
