Coventry City 1-0 Southend United: Sky Blues win first 'home' game in Birmingham
- Published
Birmingham City's St Andrew's has a capacity of almost 30,000
A crowd of 6,534 watched Coventry beat Southend in their first game at their temporary home, St Andrew's.
Coventry failed to agree a deal with rugby union club Wasps to stay at the Ricoh Arena, leading to the League One club agreeing a groundshare with Birmingham City approximately 20 miles away.
They made a winning start to the campaign in their unfamiliar surroundings as Jordy Hiwula set up Zain Westbrooke to find the bottom corner for the only goal of the match after half-time.
Manager Mark Robins told BBC Coventry & Warwickshire: "We've got an experience of winning here, which is outstanding.
"Everybody's moved house and it's like moving house. Whilst the environment's a little bit different, you get used to it pretty quickly.
"Winning helps and we can move forward.
"The thing for me was that we didn't know what it was going to be like. The journey in, all of those things - but to a man they were outstanding."
Before Westbrooke's winner, Jordan Shipley and Hiwula missed chances for Coventry in a goalless first half, while Stephen Humphrys later hit the woodwork for Southend.
