Birmingham City

Marc Webber
BBC Final Score reporter

Image source, Getty Images

The determined performance by Birmingham City against Ipswich was a mile away from previously poor performances.

Blues fans will, I'm sure, be happy with the grit and guile shown against the promotion-chasing opponents.

They dominated a second-half in a game where a draw should have happened - or even an away win could have happened.

Manager Chris Davies was quick to highlight how proud he was of his side's endeavour after the game.

He made seven changes at the start and it resulted in a different level from Birmingham City to that seen of late.

Ironically some of those who raised the bar in that second-half were the very people left out of the starting 11 after a flat defeat by Blackburn the game before.

As both the play-offs and relegation are equally unlikely for Blues now, all their fans demand is a repeat of the passion and effort shown at Ipswich in the remaining games, to give a ray of hope ahead of the new season.

Image source, Shutterstock

Birmingham City manager Chris Davies claimed the Blues were robbed of at least a point when they had a goal wrongly disallowed in their 2-1 Championship loss at Ipswich Town.

The officials ruled the ball crossed the by-line before Ibrahim Osman's cross went in off Dara O'Shea to leave Davies fuming.

He felt Birmingham deserved at least a draw for their efforts at Portman Road and they pushed Ipswich hard before succumbing to their sixth defeat in eight games.

Davies told BBC Radio WM: "I thought the least we deserved was a point from today's game.

"We scored a legitimate goal and I've never been as frustrated with a refereeing decision in my entire career in football, because of how hard we worked at a place like this to get into that position.

"For a linesman 60 yards away to guess, when actually we now see the ball isn't out of play, is very frustrating because the least we deserved was a point from this game.

"You can see from the reaction of the players that it was in play and it's one person guessing in this whole stadium.

"I asked the linesman straight after the game 'why did you do that?' and he said 'I can assure you the ball was out of play, I wouldn't have given it otherwise'.

"But it wasn't. We've seen that and that is as hard to take as anything because of what we gave in the game and what we deserved."

Birmingham City manager Chris Davies admits his team have lost their confidence after Saturday's 1-0 home defeat to relegation strugglers Blackburn Rovers.

It was a fifth defeat in seven matches, leaving the Blues 11 points adrift of the top six.

"A very disappointing result for us obviously," Davies told BBC WM: "We can't say we did enough to win it. You can see the confidence isn't there.

"Everything that I want from our play - the intensity, the tempo - we don't have enough of that attacking players really firing right now, where they have been earlier in the season.

"What I will say is I don't think its for want of trying. The players are running and working, and giving everything they can which is fundamental, but we're lacking that fundamental confidence.

"After being in such good form after Christmas, we've really hit a period where we're suffering right now, and its up to me to find the answers for it."

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Championship clubs spent just over £69.5m on agents fees over the past 12 months according to figures released by the Football Association,, external an increase of £6m on the previous year.

The figures cover the period from February 2025 with Ipswich Town the top spenders, paying £11.7m having spent the first three months of the accounting period in the Premier League.

Southampton (£8.3m) and Leicester (£5.8m), who were relegated alongside Ipswich are the second and third-highest payers on the list.

Troubled Sheffield Wednesday were the most frugal when dealing with agents, spending £534,559.

Wrexham come in sixth on the list with an outlay of £3.6m while current Championship leaders Coventry spent just short of £1.5m.

Championship agents' fee spending, external

• Ipswich - £11,738,920

• Southampton - £8,381,358

• Leicester City - £5,866,587

• Sheffield United - £5,005,498

• Norwich - £4,020,206

• Wrexham - £3,660,584

• Swansea - £3,088,645

• Middlesbrough - £2,900,314

• Bristol City - £2,774,990

• Hull City - £2,450,431

• Stoke City - £2,088,886

• Birmingham City - £1,996,502

• Millwall - £1,982,348

• Preston North End - £1,831,233

• QPR - £1,829,036

• Watford - £1,612,833

• Coventry - £1,497,990

• Derby - £1,409,507

• West Brom - £1,346,030

• Oxford - £1,235,536

• Charlton - £904,698

• Portsmouth - £831,818

• Blackburn - £676,980

• Sheffield Wednesday - £534,559

Image source, Getty Images

Birmingham City boss Chris Davies has accepted the Championship play-offs are out of their grasp but believes they are progressing as a club.

Blues are 11th in the table, 10 points short of the play-off places with seven games remaining but Davies is keen they do not coast to the end of the season.

"We're trying to make sure we finish the season strongly," he told BBC Radio WM.

"There was a hope you can go and get in the Premier League at the first time of asking for us which it would be coming up from League One.

"What's clear is I do think we've made progress this year. We've been competitive but not as consistent as I'd like us to be."

Birmingham won the League One title last season with a record haul of 111 points, losing only three games and Davies now thinks they can learn from this season to mount a challenge for promotion.

"Where we position ourselves now is a club, a team and me as a manager very confident I'll be more successful here and get this club to the Premier League and stay there," he added.

"What we've seen in recent years is teams who do go from League One and straight up, they don't last long normally in the Premier League.

"Teams like Brentford, Brighton and teams who get there and stay there, they grow and build their team and infrastructure where they can actually be proper Premier League teams and I believe that's what we'll do here with me as manager."

Blackburn Rovers will aim to gain further ground on the bottom three when they make the trip to St Andrew's on Friday (15:00 BST).

Rovers are currently four points clear of 22nd placed Leicester City but have had limited time with boss Michael O'Neill during the international break, who was fulfilling his duties as Northern Ireland boss.

Meanwhile Blues are hoping to keep their faint hopes of the play-offs going by remaining imperious on home soil.

• Birmingham have won three of their last four league games against Blackburn (L1), as many as they had in their previous 20. They're looking to complete their first league double over Rovers since 1950-51.

• Blackburn have lost 1-0 in their last two away league games against Birmingham, last going three visits without a goal between 1987 and 2000.

• Birmingham have lost four of their last six league games (W1 D1), having been unbeaten in their previous eight before this (W5 D3).

• Blackburn have won 56% of their points away from home this season (24/43). Ignoring point deductions, only Sheffield Wednesday (58%) have earned a higher share on the road in the Championship this term.

• Blackburn Rovers have underperformed their expected goals more than any other side in the Championship this season (-12.1), netting just 36 goals from an xG of 48.1

Image source, Getty Images

Birmingham City boss Chris Davies said he is "used to the pressure" of the Blues hotseat after his side's play-off hopes faded with defeat on Saturday.

A run of one win in six, after a 1-0 defeat at Derby, left Blues five places and 10 points adrift of the Championship top six with just seven games of the season left.

Yet Davies insisted he was thinking only about on-field performances and results when asked if he felt those seven games could decide his future.

"I think when it comes to my position at the club I've always felt pressure as such from the very first day I got here," he told BBC Radio WM.

"If I wasn't in the top two of League One the whole time, or top of League One, then I wouldn't be here, so I'm kind of used to that.

"So I'm not really thinking too much about that. I think we have a responsibility to finish those seven games strongly regardless of what happens with me."

Davies is aware of the lofty ambitions of the club's American owners who last year unveiled plans for a new 64,000-capacity stadium.

But having got Blues back in the Championship in his first season and then in play-off contention in his second, the head coach stressed the need for a little context.

"When I came to this club I knew exactly where it was and what it looked like - it wasn't in the Championship," he said.

"But, of course, we want to make sure that we're making progress each season and that's what we have to look to do."

Birmingham City boss Chris Davies spoke to BBC Radio WM after Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Derby County.

"It was very disappointing again. We deserved nothing from the match, and that's what we got," he said.

"I think first half we were well short, we didn't look a threat, we weren't strong enough and we conceded a poor goal.

"In the second half I thought we were better in terms of getting up to their box and general play - we had a lot more of the ball, without a cutting edge.

"It was definitely an improvement on a very poor first half. But in the end you lose the game 1-0, which was a fair result."