Magical Maghoma puts Harry on a high

JACQUES MAGHOMA produced a brilliant piece of individual finishing to help Harry Redknapp’s Birmingham earn their first win of the season.

They had to battle back from going behind after only 47 seconds to a Bobby Reid strike and had Maikel Kieftenbeld sent off 10 minutes from time.

They equalised in the

30th minute through Craig Gardner and Maghoma pounced with

15 minutes remaining. Redknapp said: “Jacques has got good ability. You don’t go to Tottenham as a kid if you haven’t got potential – they’ve got the cream of the kids to pick from.

“I told him afterwards that he looked like John Robertson, the way he came in from the left, but he didn’t have a clue who I was talking about! It was a great goal.”

The Robins were quick out of the traps as Senegal striker Famara Diedhiou twice flicked the ball up before gliding his shot against the bar.

Josh Brownhill latched on to the rebound and fired in a shot which also hit the woodwork before the ball was turned over the line by Reid.

Che Adams forced Robins keeper Frank Fielding to make a smart save and from the resulting corner saw his powerful shot cleared off the line by Joe Bryan.

Birmingham levelled when Marc Roberts launched one of his typical long throws and the ball was partially cleared into the path of Gardner who hammered home an accurate low shot to Fielding’s right.

And Maghoma’s raking long-range drive earned them the three points.

Robins boss Lee Johnson said: “It’s frustrating because we certainly had the chances.

“We were very good in patches and a lot of the time we were excellent, but the rest we were a bit naive.

“We didn’t manage the game well enough.”