Birmingham City 1-1 Southampton: FLW report as Blues and Saints share spoils in B9 | OneFootball

FLW report from St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park for this Championship clash

Birmingham City continued their draw-heavy, yet unbeaten start to the Championship season with their clash against Southampton at St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park ending one apiece.

Despite Chris Davies' side starting the brighter of the two, Tonda Eckert's outfit took the lead on the stroke of half-time when summer signing, Keven Schlotterbeck, was left unmarked to power home his first Saints goal from a corner.

However, Blues registered their third draw from four league matches when August Priske headed home his second competitive goal of the season 10 minutes into the second half, but neither side were unable to find the crucial winner on this Deadline Day clash.

Birmingham City 1-1 Southampton

Although Birmingham would dominate the early possession, it was Saints who created the first clear-cut chance on nine minutes when Cyle Larin forced James Beadle into a smart save, before the hosts responded with a speculative strike from Priske.

Beadle very nearly paid the price for a calamitous error as his air-kick from Christoph Klarer's backpass under pressure from Finn Azaz could have resulted in an own-goal, whilst Schlotterbeck mistake also went unpunished as Jay Stansfield's low strike hit the post.

Blues continued to dominate the early play, with Stansfield spurning a close-range header from Alex Cochrane's teasing delivery and Jhon Solis dragging a low strike just wide after being given the freedom to burst forward, before another defensive mix-up five minutes later saw Larin miss another fine chance of his own.

Two minutes before the interval, Davies' side were able to recycle an attack with a hanging cross from Patrick Roberts, although Priske's header would cause Daniel Peretz no issues, before Saints took the lead right on half-time with Schlotterbeck's powerful header from Scienza's corner.

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Birmingham went in search of an immediate response in the second half, but after evading a handful of Saints defenders and drifting into the box, Roberts' low strike was comfortably gathered by Peretz.

They would have their equaliser nine minutes into the second period though, as Priske was left unmarked to glance home a fine Roberts cross for his first home league goal for the club.

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With 22 minutes to go, Beadle was forced into action as James Ward-Prowse fired a deflected effort under pressure, with Larin sending the rebound off-target in what was the Canadian's last action of the night.

Eckert's side thought they had restored their advantage nine minutes later when Ward-Prowse's free-kick fell into the path of fellow substitute, Kuryu Matsuki, but his first-time finish was ruled out for offside.

Priske then went in search of an audacious second as the game entered its final stretch, receiving the ball on the half-turn and curling an effort just over the crossbar from 20 yards.

Ward-Prowse then tried his luck again with a trademark free-kick which Beadle was equal to, before James Bree fired wide from a tight angle on the follow-up with five minutes to play.

A winner could not be found by either side, though, with another draw leaving Birmingham ninth after four matches played, whilst a third league match without defeat for Southampton leaves them in 17th due to a well-documented four-point deduction.

Player Ratings

Birmingham City

James Beadle - 7

Bright Osayi-Samuel - 6.5

Phil Neumann - 7

Christoph Klarer - 6.5

Alex Cochrane - 7

Tomoki Iwata - 6.5

Jhon Solis - 7.5

Patrick Roberts - 7 (Gray 70" - 6)

Jay Stansfield - 7 (Paik 86" - 6)

Carlos Vicente - 6.5 (Laird 86" - 6)

August Priske - 7.5 (Vazquez 86" - 6)

Unused Subs: R.Allsop, D.Fry, K.Lund, K.Fujimoto, M.Ducksch

Southampton

Daniel Peretz - 6.5

James Bree - 7

Nathan Wood - 7

Keven Schlotterbeck - 8

Ryan Manning - 6.5

Flynn Downes - 7.5

Cameron Bragg - 6 (Ward-Prowse 61" - 6.5)

Tom Fellows - 6 (Matsuki 61" - 6)

Finn Azaz - 6.5

Leo Scienza - 7.5 (Dobbin 81" - 6)

Cyle Larin - 6 (Mubama 69" - 6)

Unused Subs: G.Long, J.Stephens, Welington, R.Akachukwu, P.Ehibhatiomhan

Chris Davies reacts as Birmingham City held by Southampton

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Reflecting on Blues' third draw of the season, Davies said: "I thought it was a very good game.

"It's not often I can see through that lens, but I thought it was a very good advert for Championship football for the people here tonight.

" I thought we made an electric start," the Blues boss claimed. "I was really pleased with how we got after them, could have scored one or two goals, obviously, and our tails were really up at that point.

So exactly what we want to be here. St Andrew's was rocking, we looked like we could score and then there were little periods of control from them with the ball without sort of hurting us much, and then, going in at halftime, I was, as you can imagine, 'sucker punch', really.

"(We) need to defend the corner better, obviously, but these things can happen," Davies stated.

"It was really about being very, very disciplined and moving forward, not losing focus on what was working well, what we needed to do to disrupt their buildup, get pressing opportunities. I thought we responded well actually, considering that sucker punch.

"(We) deserved to get the goal. At the end of it, you think 'we could have won that match', but I think my main feeling right now is I just keep thinking back to when we played them last year, two games, but we were nowhere near as competitive in either game as we were tonight."

Tonda Eckert reacts to Southampton's draw at Birmingham City

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Reacting to the entertaining clash, Eckert said: "I think it was a good advertisement for the Championship.

"I think it's been a good game of football. I think there's a couple of moments, if they go in our direction, there's a chance to win it. I think overall, a very good quality Championship game.

"It always depends on moments, but to be fair, I think it's been quite an even game," the Saints boss explained.

"I think there's a couple on our side, there's a couple for Birmingham today, so I think overall, it's just the quality of the game I thought was high for being so early on in the Championship campaign.

Reflecting on Schlotterbeck's opener, Eckert added: "I mean, he was determined to get there. He has so much conviction in everything he does.

"Fair play to him, it was a great delivery from Leo (Scienza), and a great finish."

Attendance

The attendance at St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park tonight was 25,007.