Birmingham City vs Coventry City. Sky Bet Championship.
St. Andrew's Stadium.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Birmingham and Coventry at St Andrew's as Gustavo Hamer cancelled out Jeremie Bela's 18th-minute penalty to earn a point for the Sky Blues
Saturday 30 January 2021 19:05, UK
Birmingham's imminent signing Sam Cosgrove watched on as his prospective new employers ended a run of six successive home defeats with a 1-1 draw against Coventry at St Andrew's.
Aberdeen striker Cosgrove, 24, was an interested spectator in the landlords against tenants contest after agreeing terms and undergoing a medical.
Head coach Aitor Karanka must have wished the new recruit was on the pitch as his Sky Bet Championship side made it 10 games without a home win.
In contrast, Mark Robins' side are unbeaten in their last eight 'home' games at St Andrew's since a 4-0 defeat to Blackburn on October 24.
Jeremie Bela's 17th-minute penalty gave Birmingham the perfect start but Coventry deservedly levelled through Gustavo Hamer 12 minutes later.
While Cosgrove watched on, another potential striker recruit - Hibernian's 13-goal top scorer Kevin Nisbet, 23 - was left out of the squad that played Dundee United. Blues are also being linked with a £3million move for Pacos Ferreira's Brazilian forward Douglas Tanque, 27.
Birmingham took the lead from the spot after Ivan Sanchez cut into the area from the right and was tripped by Sam McCallum. Referee Geoff Eltringham had no hesitation in pointing to the spot and Bela drove the ball high to Ben Wilson's right for his third goal of the season.
Blues missed the chance to double their lead when Mikel San Jose rose unchallenged to meet Sanchez's corner, only to glance woefully off target.
It was Coventry however who scored next after perseverance led to the equaliser.
Callum O'Hare did brilliantly to keep Max Biamou's pass down the channel in play, shrugging off Adam Clayton to play the ball back to Ben Sheaf, who squared to Hamer - who rifled home first time from just inside the box.
Birmingham wasted the chance to regain the lead when Scott Hogan headed straight at Wilson from Sanchez's cross.
But Coventry went almost as close when a header from striker Viktor Gyokeres hit San Jose from Biamou's cross.
Birmingham made a double substitution at half-time in a bid to gain some fresh impetus.
Gary Gardner and Marc Roberts replaced Jon Toral and Clayton as San Jose moved from centre-back into midfield.
The changes seemed to work as headers from Hogan and captain Harlee Dean - making his 150th appearance for Blues - flew narrowly over the bar.
In between, Hamer's thumping volley sailed just over.
Blues wasted the chance to regain the lead when Bela blasted just wide from a loose ball after Wilson had come way off his line to deal with a long ball.
Two late opportunities went begging for Blues as Lukas Jutkiewicz's shot on the turn was blocked by Leo Ostigard, before a header from fellow substitute Roberts looped over.
Birmingham's Aitor Karanka: "A good point? No, because I think we should have won. But at least we tried much more than them to win, especially in the second half. We had chances until the last seconds but couldn't score the winning goal.
"In the second half we had a good reaction, we wanted to score the second goal, the team was hungry and we wanted to win."
Coventry's Mark Robins: "I thought our goal and our reaction to giving away the penalty was brilliant. The goal we scored was an outstanding one and we created some really good openings to have won the game.
"We were unfortunate not to stick one of them away - it was a brilliant move for Max Biamou's chance. Unfortunately he didn't manage to stick it away. But I don't think they created a massive amount and I don't think they did a great deal."
