Birmingham wait for first win goes on after Jota penalty miss
West Bromwich Albion moved into the top six in the Championship but were denied the chance to climb to third in the table by a Birmingham side yet to register a win but who should have corrected that in an exciting derby in which the Spanish forward Jota scored but then missed a penalty.
Birmingham have not had a worse start to a season for 40 years and, while they have a long way to go to match the 1978-79 campaign, when they failed to a register a win until the 14th game, no wins in seven still represents a worrying position, especially with the possibility of a points deduction in the offing for breaching Football League financial rules.
Yet they looked far from a team struggling at the wrong end of the table, with a style of play that is confident, positive and deserves more reward than they are getting.
“I could not ask much more of the players,” a frustrated Garry Monk, the Birmingham manager, said. “But it is about small margins and we are just on the wrong side of them at the moment.
“We need wins, but it is hard for me to criticise anyone. You can see how hard the lads are fighting and that’s pretty much the way we have played in every game. There were a lot of really good performances all over the pitch against the best team we have played so far, a team I feel will go up automatically.”
Darren Moore, the Albion manager, admitted he was happy with a point, saying the home side “played well to a man” and impressed him with their discipline. “I thought we showed character against a difficult opponent,” he added.
Jota put Birmingham in front after 26 minutes. Passing the ball inside to Gary Gardner from the right wing, Jota then drifted into the box to be in the right place at the near post when Lukas Jutkiewicz headed Gardner’s centre back across goal. It was a deft finish, too, squeezed past Sam Johnstone.
But he missed from the penalty only three minutes later, when the chance to take a firm grip on the contest was there for the taking, giving Johnstone a relatively comfortable save after Kyle Bartley had inexplicably handled a Jacques Maghoma cross. It proved an expensive miss.
St Andrew’s was bouncing and Albion were rocking but, having been let off the hook, they rediscovered their composure and were level within 10 minutes as Matt Phillips forced a mistake from Kristian Pedersen and shot past Lee Camp with the outside of his boot.
Even so, Birmingham should have won. Che Adams had chances either side of half-time, blazing over the bar from the best of them, and there were openings too for Jutkiewicz and Maghoma.
Albion went closest when Lee Camp kept out Harvey Barnes with a sharp, reaction save.
Birmingham City (4-4-2) Camp; Colin, Morrison, Dean, Pedersen; Jota, G Gardner, Kieftenbeld, Maghoma; Jutkiewicz (Solomon-otabor 86), Adams (Bogle 73). Subs Trueman (g), Roberts, Harding, Lakin, Mahoney.
Booked Dean, Kieftenbeld.
West Bromwich Albion (3-4-1-2) Johnstone; Dawson, Hegazi, Bartley; Phillips, Livermore, Brunt (Barry 78), Townsend; Barnes; Rodriguez (Robson-kanu 75), Gayle.
Subs Myhill (g), Gibbs, Burke, Edwards, Adarabioyo. Booked Townsend. Referee Andrew Madley (West Yorkshire).