UK Edition
Leeds United's automatic promotion hopes suffer huge setback as Birmingham end run of five straight defeats
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Birmingham City 1 Leeds United 0
Having been in the top two of the Championship for more than 80 per cent of the season, Leeds will feel they deserve to be promoted without the uncertainty of the play-offs. Yet sometimes the closer a team is to their goal, the more difficult it becomes to attain. In the first seven months of the season, Leeds dropped out of the automatic promotion places only twice. This defeat sees them slip to third for the third time in seven weeks.
They lost to Birmingham for the second time this season, Garry Monk earning the distinction of being the only manager to do the double over Leeds thus far, and against his former club to boot.
As at Elland Road in September, Che Adams was the difference. His double in that match ended an eight-game unbeaten start to the campaign. This time, his 29th-minute strike, combined with a win for Adams’ old club, Sheffield United, at Preston, will raise the anxiety levels among Leeds fans to a point perhaps not previously experienced.
It was a vital win for Birmingham, whose run of five straight defeats, compounded by that nine-point penalty for breaking EFL financial rules, had not only destroyed an outside chance of a play-off place but raised the worrying prospect of a nosedive into a relegation fight. That should not happen now.
Monk had them set up like the away team, defending deep and relying for the most part on breakaway attacks. With Adams as a weapon, however, it is a gameplan that has a good chance of paying off. Strong and willing, he was always a threat. He might have had more goals.
The one he did get came just after Patrick Bamford had hit the post at the other end, failing to convert a cross he probably should have converted. Within moments, Birmingham’s Jacques Maghoma was running strongly down the left channel, then cutting inside and pushing a dangerous ball across the box. Lukas Jutkiewicz shaped to take it but let the ball run to Adams, in the D, who drove a firm, true shot beyond Kiko Casilla and into the bottom corner.
Bamford was cursing himself for his miss, only to squander a similar chance early in the second half, skewing the ball over the bar from six yards. It was not his day. Later, when he met a Tyler Roberts cross with a good header, Lee Camp reacted quickly to beat it away.
That was the last real chance Leeds made, even though the final half-hour was pretty much their attack against the Birmingham defence.
"We didn't create a lot of chances and we didn't take advantage of the chances we did create,” Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa said. “It's not a very positive performance."
An injury to Maikel Kieftenbeld aside, Monk was thoroughly satisfied with his afternoon, as he should be. “They’re a quality side and right up there fighting for promotion but again we warranted the points,” he said.
“Tactically we got it spot on. Like in the game at Leeds, we were very good defensively, organised and aggressive. But we had a much stronger performance offensively as well."
His side may be able to do Leeds a favour on Wednesday, when they face Sheffield United at home. That’s provided Leeds don’t stumble again at Preston the night before.
Match details
Birmingham City (4-4-2): Camp; Colin, Dean, Morrison, Pedersen; Harding; Mahoney (Jota 75), G Gardner (Davis h-t), Kieftenbeld (Harding 57), Maghoma; Jutkiewicz, Adams.
Substitutes not used: Trueman (g), Roberts, Vassell, Mrabti.
Bookings: Dean.
Leeds United (5-1-3-1): Casilla; Ayling, Cooper, Phillips, Jansson, Alioski; Klich (Clarke 69); Hernandez, Roberts, Harrison (Dallas h-t); Bamford (Roofe 69).
Substitutes not used: Peacock-Farrell (g), Forshaw, Berardi, Shackleton.
Bookings: Alioski, Jansson, Hernandez.
Referee: Mike Dean (Cheshire)
Attendance: 24,197.