Blues’ survival hopes given a lift by penalty hero Jota
Birmingham lifted themselves out of the relegation zone with a vital home win over Ipswich.
In a mundane game, they sealed their crucial three-point haul with a first-half penalty from Spanish midfielder Jota, which enabled the Blues to chalk up their second successive home victory.
They are certainly a more positive side since the arrival of manager Garry Monk and this was demonstrated by their determination to keep on the front foot. Injury hit Ipswich, meanwhile, went into the game under a cloud of manager Mick Mccarthy’s impending departure and in a disappointing performance there appeared little incentive although they made a serious attempt to regain some lost pride in the second half.
On this occasion the Town fans, who have doggedly berated Mccarthy in recent months, were generally quiet and only had muted criticism.
With only one point from four games the wheels have come off for the Tractor Boys and their early play gave a good indication of their indifferent form and lack of goals.
Adopting a possession style of playing deep in their own half they gave themselves few attacking moves until the second half when Birmingham were content to operate a containing operation.
Ironically, it was from one rare Ipswich attack that they found themselves a goal down in the 21st minute.
Birmingham goalkeeper David Stockdale made a long
throw out to Jacques Maghoma and he raced away down the left and into the penalty area where he was brought down by Adam Webster resulting in a penalty converted by Jota.
Only a brilliant save by visiting stopper Bartosz Bialkowski prevented a second Birmingham goal on the half hour.
A speculative long-range effort from Che Adams was deflected and Bialkowski found himself going the wrong way only for the Polish custodian to fling out his right leg to block the goalbound shot.
With David Davis back in their side, Birmingham appeared to be a more compact unit and were able to produce several storming attacks which kept Adam Webster and skipper Luke Chambers under a great deal of pressure in the Ipswich rearguard, but they stood their ground well.
Clear-cut chances were few and far between for the visitors, with their industrious striker Martyn Waghorn lacking support to make any real impact against a solid Birmingham defence.
Ipswich attempted to lift their game in the second period when they were better team as Birmingham resolutely defended their slender advantage.
Birmingham, however, were denied a more conclusive win when Bialkowski produced another quality save to keep out a Lukas Jutkiewicz header