Birmingham City frustrated as West Brom edge local derby

Birmingham World reporter Charlie Haffenden's post-match reaction as West Bromwich Albion beat Birmingham City 1-0 at The Hawthorns.

Transcript

00:00 West Bromwich Albion have beaten Birmingham City at the Hawthorns and

00:04 they've got the bragging rights for the next few months. It's a 1-0 win, very

00:08 narrow and I thought to be honest it was going to go 0-0 here. I thought it was quite a

00:12 cagey affair, neither side really created too many clear-cut chances but West

00:17 Brom did win it at the death. Andy Vyman had a winter signing, getting across

00:21 Christian Bielik at the near post to convert from a Darnell Furlong cross.

00:24 Bielik really should have done better there, shouldn't have given Vyman the

00:27 opportunity to get across him. I'm not sure if he even saw him, whereas Ethan

00:30 Laird should have done better with his positioning. He allowed Furlong so much

00:34 space to put the ball into the area and that was the key moment in the game and

00:37 that's what earned the Vaggies a crucial three points in their playoff fight.

00:40 Birmingham meanwhile, they're now just four points above the relegation zone.

00:44 They've actually moved up a position from 20th to 19th because Stoke City were

00:48 thrashed by Leicester City I believe 5-0 in the end but it's a very

00:52 disappointing result that drags them into trouble even more so now in the

00:56 relegation fight. I don't think they'll be relegated, they've definitely got

00:59 enough in the squad. Tony Mowbray is a fantastic manager, he's not exactly

01:03 going to fill them with confidence. Mowbray was keen to get some wins pretty

01:07 quickly and he has got a couple but it's not enough to get Blues propelling up

01:12 the table. All it takes is two, three, maybe four wins in five or six games and

01:16 you can get into the top half. Birmingham aren't really showing that clinical

01:20 edge at the moment that gives anyone the belief that they'll do just that. As it

01:24 is though, it is a 1-0 win for West Bromwich Albion who were getting a lot of

01:28 confidence from this one to push on in their playoff fight and Ipswich Town have

01:32 lost as well so could they even catch them? We'll have to wait and see.