Birmingham City 0-2 Peterborough United: FLW report as Posh stun big-money Blues to retain EFL Trophy | OneFootball

FLW report from this afternoon's EFL Trophy final

Peterborough United retained their position as holders of the EFL Trophy with a surprise 2-0 success over Birmingham City at Wembley Stadium.

Despite coming into the encounter as major underdogs, first-half goals from Harley Mills and Hector Kyprianou proved the difference as the Cambridgeshire side maintained their 100 percent record under the arch in North London after beating Wycombe Wanderers in dramatic fashion 12 months ago.

Jay Stansfield thought he'd started a late comeback for Chris Davies' side after a largely lacklustre performance from the newly-crowned League One champions, who couldn't add to their already historic season with a cup victory and emulate their previous successes of 1991 and 1995.

Birmingham City 0-2 Peterborough United

The first chance of the encounter came inside five minutes as a loose pass from Abraham Odoh was intercepted by Willum Willumsson who played Stansfield in on the right side of the Posh box, with Blues' record-signing unable to pick out the bottom corner of Jed Steer's net on this occasion.

Kwame Poku - who netted in Tuesday night's dress rehearsal at the Weston Homes Stadium - looked to forge Boro's first chance of the game as Odoh found himself well in advance of Ethan Laird, before Ryan Allsop was alert to the danger for Davies' side.

In an end-to-end start, Blues would then be grateful to their right-back after Malik Mothersille found plenty of space to drift into the box from the right flank, before Laird was on hand to intercept before Posh captain Hector Kyprianou could fire an effort towards goal.

The holders would then stun the expectant crowd at the east end of Wembley as Alex Cochrane brought down Poku 20 yards from goal, with the 19-year-old left-back Mills taking full advantage as his stunning free-kick flew past Allsop and into the top-left-hand corner after 15 minutes.

Seven minutes later and those from the Second City saw a penalty appeal come in vain as Laird was able to burst past Emmanel Fernandez after Kieran Dowell's through ball, with Ben Speedie awarding a corner which came to nothing, rather than a spot-kick.

With 30 minutes on the clock, a neat interchange between Mothershille and Ricky-Jade Jones sent the Posh frontman through, before Ben Davies was able to shut down any chance of a goalscoring opportunity from the narrowest of angles.

The goalscorer, Mills, was back to the day job three minutes later as Kieran Dowell tried to pick out the far corner from an even tighter angle, with the Posh academy graduate turning the Rangers loanee's curling strike behind.

With three-and-a-half minutes of the first period remaining, Mills would put his body on the line as Christoph Klarer's cross was knocked down by Paik Seung-Ho and deftly flicked on by Stansfield into Willumsson's path, before the Icelandic midfielder collided with the left-back from five yards out.

However, the holders would double their lead on the stroke of half-time as the full-back's cross would be flicked into Kyprianou's path by Odoh under pressure from Klarer, with the Cypriot sending a powerful effort right past Allsop to further assert Peterborough's first-half dominance on the scoreboard.

Ahead of a second half in which they would be attacking the mass following from the West Midlands, Davies opted to bring on the in-form Alfie May in place of Willumsson, although the first clear-cut chance of the second half saw Fernandez head a deep Mills corner wide of the mark.

Blues' first chance of the half came on 50 minutes as May fed Anderson through, with the experienced midfielder moving out to the right wing, but he was unable to test Steer from just inside the box.

Stansfield then went in search of his 24th of the season, but his second attempt of the afternoon was gathered comfortably by Steer, before the loudest Keep Right On of the afternoon went up in response from the fired-up Bluenoses.

A clever dummy from Anderson then allowed Laird to put the afterburners on and play a teasing ball intended for May which was turned behind by Fernandez as a deluge of pressure continued 10 minutes into the half.

Jade-Jones had the chance to seal the trophy for Posh with 25 minutes to go as he raced away from Paik Seung-Ho before tripping over the ball, before Allsop stood firm against Poku's rebound in what was yet another warning of Ferguson's side's counter-attacking ability despite strong calls for a penalty being turned down.

The eight-goal man had another opportunity to find the net on 70 minutes after latching onto Mothersille's defence-splitting pass, before Klarer was able to get his body in the way of his latest strike.

With 12 minutes to go, a largely frustrated Stansfield looked to find Anderson after his latest burst into the area, before further penalty appeals were waved away by Speedie, before Dowell lost his footing at the crucial moment after substitute Taylor Gardner-Hickman was able to dig out a low ball under pressure from Odoh and Mills.

Birmingham supporters thought their side had been handed a route back into the contest with seven minutes to go as Stansfield tapped home from three yards out after following in Marc Leonard's initial effort which was parried away by Steer, although the former Fulham man was clearly in an offside position.

Blues' performance was summed up in the fifth minute of 11 minutes of stoppage time as Gardner-Hickman fired over from close range after a low corner from Dowell, before former Aston Villa keeper Steer showed strong reflexes to turn a close-range flick from Lukas Jutkiewicz over the crossbar.

Blues continued to plug away in the dying embers of added time with Anderson firing high and wide and Stansfield seeing a deflected effort fall into Steer's grasp, before a goalmouth scramble from a corner resulted in a melee between the two sides, with Speedie eventually sending Posh supporters at the West end of Wembley into raptures.

FT: Birmingham City 0-2 Peterborough United

Player Ratings

Birmingham City

Ryan Allsop - 6.5

Ethan Laird - 7 (Gardner-Hickman 64" - 6.5)

Christoph Klarer - 7

Ben Davies - 6.5 (Jutkiewicz 86" - 6)

Alex Cochrane - 6

Paik Seung-Ho - 6.5 (Leonard 73" - 6.5)

Tomoki Iwata - 6.5

Kieran Dowell - 6.5

Willum Willumsson - 6.5 (May 45" - 6.5)

Keshi Anderson - 6.5

Jay Stansfield - 7

Unused Subs: Bailey Peacock-Farrell, Grant Hanley, Luke Harris

Peterborough United

Jed Steer - 7

James Dornelly - 7

Oscar Wallin - 7.5

Emmanuel Fernandez - 7 (Katongo 91" - 6)

Harley Mills - 8

Archie Collins - 6.5

Hector Kyprianou - 7.5

Kwame Poku - 7

Malik Mothersille - 6.5 (Susoho 75" - 6.5)

Abraham Odoh - 6

Ricky-Jade Jones - 6.5 (Lindgren 85" - 6)

Unused Subs: Nicholas Bilokapic, Ryan De Havilland, Chris Conn-Clarke,

Birmingham City vs Peterborough United Attendance

The attendance for this afternoon's final was 71,772.

Chris Davies reacts as Birmingham City fail to add cup success in memorable season

It has still been a record-breaking season for Davies' side, and when asked about what proved a stretch too far in North London, he responded; "It wasn't to be our day. Congratulations to Peterborough for their victory.

"I think they scored two unbelievable goals from outside the box. The first one from the free-kick puts us behind, we're getting going again and then they score the other one so we've got a bit of a mountain to climb after that from those two strikes.

"I think they were high moments of quality from their point of view and the moments of quality that were missing in our games. We got to the final third so consistently, but from that it's how do you great goal chances from it, and we just missed that today. We missed those combinations, little bits of quality.

"I feel we could've crossed the ball a little bit more at times, and in the end, with something (for them) to hold onto, we just couldn't find the gaps in their defence so we fell short, sadly, of what was required to win the match," he added.

When asked about the awarding of the free-kick, the 40-year-old had very little complaints.

"They're nippy wingers, they dribble the ball well, nipped in and got that free-kick. From our point of view, we started to play a little bit more afterwards, were looking strong and then you're thinking 'ok, moving towards half-time we can get a goal and kick on', and then the second goal is a blow and sets us right back.

"We were 2-0 down against them at home in the league, so we had that to cling on to. But we just couldn't find the moments that we needed until the very end. We had some better moments, but it just wasn't to be our day."

When asked if Posh's experience of featuring in the final 12 months ago had any influence, the Blues boss said: "Possibly."

"I think over the course of the game we were the better team in the sense that, they hit two worldies from outside the box but didn't do anything else in the game, it was all us so I don't think it was that," he claimed.

"I don't think we were at our best, absolutely. But, I wouldn't come and say they've outplayed us or anything like that, perhaps the experience of last year gave them believe that they clearly could do it.

"The main message from me, which I reiterate, is what today goes to show you is, that what happens in football," Davies explained. "It cannot be your day.

"To win a league with six games to go and lose only three (league games) all season and deliver the consistency these players have, for me, all today proves is what a job they've done in the league this season.

"Because you can have games like this, home and away, it can happen, and we've had very, very few.

"This one, unfortunately, was a cup final, which has cost us the chance to win a trophy with our fans which will hurt for quite a long time."

"But, what it shows you is the consistency we've had in the league, to not have days like this."

When asked if his players would grow from the experience of defeat at Wembley, the former Tottenham Hotspur assistant fully agreed.

"I said to the players, suffering is part of life, part of football," he said. "You have to take your medicine, it's designed to make you better and you have to grow from the pain that you're in."

"We will grow from it. We can't expect to just turn up and win all the time and everything goes our way.

"Sometimes you get a punch in the face and you have to react and grow from it. We got that today.

"I've no doubt the players were there wholeheartedly. Some of them will be looking at it thinking they could've done more at certain moments, but they couldn't have done anymore in terms of their attitude, the energy and the heart and soul they put into it. They gave it their all which is fundamental to what I want from this team."

"We've still got six games to go. Two at home and four away," Davies said when asked about the remit for the rest of the season.

"There is, within that, going to be a day which I will savour where we're going to lift a trophy," Davies stated.

"What we need is performances and results, of course, but performances now that can we be proud of between now and the end of the season.

"There's still things to play for out there for us.

"The main job was returning this club to the Championship, which we've achieved and in style, let me say that. But there's still six games and we want to give them our all," he concluded.

Darren Ferguson reacts as Peterborough United stun Birmingham City and retain EFL Trophy

Speaking to the media post-match, Ferguson believed that his side's performance against Blues in midweek gave the players plenty of confidence ahead of the showpiece event.

"We tweaked one or two things (from previous games against them), probably didn't play as much as we usually do because they're so good at pressing and so aggressive," Ferguson said.

"The game on Tuesday, I know we lost, but it probably did us a lot of good, because they're such a good team, you have to say that.

"It gave the lads a lot of belief, they didn't blow us away on Tuesday at all," he stated.

"I felt we are one team whose capable of putting a performance like that in, and the lads played with real belief, it was the last thing I said to them.

"We had to today, we had to against a team like that."

The Scot was also pleased with how Posh weathered the initial Birmingham storm before growing in confidence.

"They came out the blocks as we felt they would," Ferguson continued.

"We felt it was a game where we had to see out the opening part. I feel today's game, the first goal was going to be so key, and it proved that.

"The two bits of quality, the two goals from Harley and Hector were the difference."

When asked about Harley Mills' quality at such a young age, Ferguson was extremely pleased with his contribution.

"When Harley's been called upon - Charlton at home, the Wrexham semi-final and today, he's obviously won Man of the Match, the boy's got a really good temperament and he was outstanding today.

"I knew who I wanted to take it (the free-kick) and Kwame Poku's a top, top player and is as good as many things, but he can't compete with Harley at set-pieces."

"He's got a wand of a left foot. It was a fantastic strike and that was a key moment," Ferguson added.

The experienced boss then explained how his dynamic side had the attributes to cause the Champions plenty of concerns as the game wore on.

"We knew in transition we had the speed," he said. "That's why it makes us a dangerous team."

"We also understand that this season's been difficult for us because we've been so inconsistent.

"But, on our day, we can give teams a game. And today, we've beaten the best team in the league," he added.

When asked if his team can bask in the glory ahead of the final four games of the season, Ferguson stated that his side must cherish the moment.

"It's not finished. We still have to get some more points to make sure we secure our place.