Rowett’s men ride to victory
BIRMINGHAM boss Gary Rowett accepted his side were fortunate to win and admitted: “We rode our luck and if luck was a horse I have won the Grand National today.”
Clayton Donaldson scored from the spot and flicked on for Ryan Shotton to give the visitors a two-goal lead, before Scott Hogan pulled one back late on.
But Brentford dominated the game, were full of slick passing and created numerous chances.
It left Bees chief Dean Smith frustrated at seeing such dominance go without reward. He said: “If it was a boxing match it would have been stopped.”
Rowett (above) added: “I’m sure they will be disappointed not to get anything out of the game but we were resilient and made blocks and that made us difficult to beat.
“We’ve defended last-ditch and part of that was because we were sloppy and didn’t get close enough to them at times, but we’ve scored two good goals and then had to hang on and be gritty and tough.”
Rowett, whose side moved fourth in the Championship, played two centre-forwards and the gamble paid off as they pressed high up throughout.
Smith blamed his side’s failure to take more than one of a string of good chances for the defeat, but was pleased with the performance.
He said: “It was just one of those games today where we didn’t take our chances. It’s when you don’t create them that you need to worry, but the performance was good and it was maybe just one of those games today.
“I feel frustrated and disappointed because we played really well. This is a team that are in the top five and we have dominated them. We passed well and created chances so it’s very hard to go into the changing room after that.”
He added: “Yes, I am judged on results but I am also interested in performances and ours was good today.
“I look at the players today and they have all tried and given it everything, but sometimes it just doesn’t work.” Possession Shots On Target Shots Off Target Blocked Shots Corners Fouls Conceded Offsides Yellow Cards Red Cards 64% 37% 11 5 5 7 6 0 9 2 10 11 2 1 2 2 0 0