Second City boys arrive at Deepdale, fresh up after cruising League 1, under American owners although personal view they seem a bunch of classless Yanks, if you remember the Bristol St Motors final, having lost the final 2-1 to Peterborough, the owner decided to give them a pep talk after the game, delaying the presentation of the trophy to United. https://www.bcfc.com/pages/en/home MANAGER please log in to view this image Christopher Paul Davies (born 27 March 1985) is a professional football coach and former player who is the manager of EFL Championship club Birmingham City. Davies was a youth player for Reading and Wales before retiring in 2004, aged 19. He became a football coach, initially coaching youth teams in England and abroad, before becoming assistant to Brendan Rodgers at Swansea City, Liverpool, Celtic and Leicester City. After a season at Tottenham Hotspur as the senior assistant coach to Ange Postecoglou, Davies became manager of Birmingham City in 2024. THE BOYS please log in to view this image FORM GUIDE please log in to view this image PNE 11 BRUM 6 Team News Paul Heckingbottom is expected to be able to call upon the same group of players which headed to The Hawthorns at the weekend. The manager has spoken all season long about the importance of his whole squad being ready when needed and with three games in a week, changes could be necessary to keep things fresh. Brad Potts, Jordan Thompson, Pol Valentín, Robbie Brady and Will Keane remain unavailable. The Visitors Chris Davies’ Birmingham City took League One by storm last season, finishing the campaign with an EFL record 111 points to secure their return to the second tier. Blues had a busy summer transfer window, bringing in a real mix of youth and experience, with the return of former player Demarai Gray arguably their standout acquisition. Birmingham have made a steady start to Championship life, accumulating 12 points in ten matches, although they were beaten 3-2 by Hull City at the weekend. Match Officials Referee: Lewis Smith Assistant Referees: Alex James and Mark Stevens Fourth Official: Robert Madley Lewis Smith, who was the referee for PNE’s victory over Derby County last month, will take be the main official again on Tuesday night. So far this season, Smith has refereed six matches, showing 22 yellow cards in that time. We’ve Met Before The last time Birmingham City were at Deepdale in September 2023, league leaders PNE secured a sixth straight victory.
please log in to view this image Attendance: 16,857 (3,525 Birmingham City fans). Referee: Lewis Smith. A frustrating evening for the home side, often let down by the quality of the final ball into the box, just couldn't fiind a way through a well organised Birmingham defence, put them under siege for the last 30 minutes but to no avail. To be fair though the visitors could have been out of sight Stansfield hit a post, also fired narrowly wide and a Tomoki effort which just cleared the bar. Jebbison had our best effort after robbing keeper Beadle on the touch line advancing into the box and having his goalbound shot cleared. Entertaining affair, both sides giving as good as they got, add into the heady mix, Mr Lewis Smith, the hapless official, where do you start, an early booking for Smith after a City defender's scream broke the sound barrier. Whiteman elbowed in the face going for a header in the box, seen them given. Now City's goal, no t a free kick in the first place, Neumann scores although he was probably offside and put it in with his hand apart from that it's fine. Following the goal Koumas effeort was cleared from the line following some less than impressive defending by us. Back to Mr Smith, he saves the best one to the latter stages of the game Dobbin brought down by Cashin, who in the words of the commentary did not get the ball Final seconds IOsmajic gets cleaned out by the keeper,possibly Beadle may have got a touch to the ball but it is now history. Manager has a mega rant after game, no doubt ban incoming and a probable apology for the Ref's official organisation. Get another go against the upwardly mobile Blades on Friday HECK Paul Heckingbottom was left with frustrated with decisions he felt went against his side in a 1-0 defeat to Birmingham City. Phil Neumann’s controversial 33rd-minute goal was the difference between the two sides at Deepdale. North End had a couple of penalty shouts turned down in the second half and ultimately couldn’t find a leveller attacking the Town End to earn a point. Hecky said: “First and foremost, I’m really proud of the performance and the team. We dominated the game, continually pushing to try and score. “It’s another game where our goalkeeper's not had a save to make and we've come away with nothing. It’s really frustrating, but I’m really proud of the players. “I wasn't going to say anything about the referee until I've been in there. When I look at things back, [the build-up for] their goal a free-kick is given for Odel (Offiah) brushing Keshi Anderson in the face. Odel’s come away with the ball with a great tackle. He’s brushed him in the face, he goes down holding his face, they get a free-kick. Their lad scores with his arm. “There's frustration but then Milly (Milutin Osmajić) gets flattened by their goalkeeper. He’s punched in the face, he's saying it's not a penalty because the ‘keeper got some of the ball. Odel got all of the ball and came away with the ball, he’s brushed the lad in the face. Milly gets a punch in the face. “Ben Whiteman gets not just a brush in the face but an elbow in the face. He wins a header in their box and gets elbowed in the face and knocked to the floor. We had Sam Greenwood sent off for that last season so there's two penalties there. “We had Lewis Dobbin get on the side of [Eiran] Cashin. Cashin links his arm around Lewis and drags him to the floor. It’s another penalty so this has to stop. “I need to get the referees in again and see what they think about it because we're getting punished for being a really good team. We want to play on the front foot and be aggressive in our style. We don't squeal like the rest of the teams. “The players have prepared great for it. We've got everything right in how we set up in terms of stopping them, trying to create against them and dominate against them. We did it but then the officials didn't get their job right.” DAVIES Blues ran out 1-0 winners at Deepdale as Phil Neumann’s first goal for the club gave the visitors a first win in five games. It was a good performance from Davies’ side on the road, who created chances to double the lead, namely when Tomoki Iwata hit the post in the second half. Preston, who were unbeaten at home coming into the game, pushed Blues back late on as they sought an equaliser, but the visitors held firm to defend resolutely and keep a clean sheet. And Davies was full of praise for his players as they bounced back from defeat against Hull City to claim three points in the Sky Bet Championship. “It was a really good win for us, and a really spirited performance,” he said. “To start the game like did was really good away from home, against a team that’s been in form, but I thought we were strong and aggressive. “We were also bright in possession and looked a threat going forward and we got a goal because of that. “Naturally, as the game went on, we had to defend together as a team, take our chances on the counter attack and generally we did that really well. “The players did realty well tonight, and defensively when we had to dig in we were solid. “We’ve got spirit. Even in the games we’ve sadly lost, we have pushed right to the very end, and we never give in. “We keep going, we’ve had a few late winners, and with spirit you have a great chance as a football team.”
