Birmingham City vs Luton Town. Sky Bet Championship.
St. Andrew's StadiumAttendance17,292.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Birmingham and Luton at St Andrew's as goals from Juninho Bacuna, Lyle Taylor and Onel Hernandez steered the Blues to victory
Saturday 12 February 2022 18:48, UK
Three new signings scored as Birmingham brushed off the latest display of supporter unrest to claim an impressive 3-0 win over play-off chasing Luton at St Andrew's.
The match was brought to a brief halt early on when fans threw dozens of tennis balls on to the pitch, but it did not put the home side off their stride.
Lyle Taylor set up Juninho Bacuna for his first Blues goal and then scored his third in four games since his loan arrival from Nottingham Forest.
Onel Hernandez added the third as Birmingham recorded only their second win in 12 games and a first clean sheet in that spell.
It was also the hosts' first double of the season following their 5-0 win at Kenilworth Road in August and dented Luton's charge after the Hatters had taken 20 points from their previous eight games.
Luton, backed by a sizeable following, started the brighter and created the first opening.
A cross from the right caused panic and Elijah Adebayo flicked the ball on, but Amari'i Bell's flick was too weak to trouble goalkeeper Neil Etheridge.
Play was briefly held up in the 14th minute when dozens of tennis balls were hurled on to the pitch from all four sides of the ground in a planned protest by Blues fans angry at the club's board.
It was the fourth home game supporters unhappy about the running of the club had demonstrated, while chants of 'Get out of our club' and 'We want our club back' could also be heard.
The home fans were much happier in the 25th minute when their team scored from their first attack.
Luton centre-back Tom Lockyer and goalkeeper James Shea failed to deal with Gary Gardner's cross and Taylor held off Lockyer to tee up Bacuna to finish high into the net from 12 yards.
Luton responded with a low angled drive from Bell smothered by Etheridge.
Blues gave themselves the perfect start to the second half by grabbing a second goal just 13 seconds after the restart.
Jeremie Bela's pass from the left was crucially diverted towards goal by the toe of Henri Lansbury to leave Taylor clean through and the striker side-footed past Shea.
Luton tried to respond immediately and Allan Campbell's volley from 12 yards flew just wide, then James Bree's shot was blocked by Etheridge.
Play switched to the other end where Gardner drove a shot a yard wide after Hernandez had crossed and Ryan Woods squared.
Luton captain Kal Naismith drove wide from 25 yards, but it proved an isolated attack from the Hatters as Blues went on to dominate.
Bacuna's side-footed effort was cleared off the line by Adebayo after Kristian Pedersen had challenged Shea from Jordan Graham's free-kick.
Hernandez made it 3-0 in the 69th minute when he controlled Graham's cross, which had been flicked on by Luton's Reece Burke at the far post, and coolly side-footed home.
Taylor and Bela went close for Blues as Lee Bowyer's side equalled their biggest home win of the season.
Birmingham's Lee Bowyer: "We scored not long after [the protest], but it was the goal that changed the game. Bowyer was full of praise for his three goal-scorers, all January signings, who helped Birmingham earn just their second win in 12 games. Bacuna - one chance, one goal, Taylor - a great finish, and, with Onel, we've got good players. We were keeping clean sheets earlier on in the season but, when we were creating chances, we weren't taking them. Basically what we've brought in was what we were lacking.
"I worked with Lyle for two years [at Charlton] and he works his socks off, he fights for the ball to hold it up and, if he gets a chance, eight times out of 10 he will score. He's got three in four games and today he provided an assist for Bacuna. Bacuna brings us something different in the middle of the park and receives the ball on the half turn and slides passes, so he's got good vision. Onel has raw pace and wants to run with the ball and take us up the pitch."
Luton's Nathan Jones: "The tennis balls killed the momentum and then the steward stepped on to the pitch inexplicably [to try to clear the balls]. I am very reluctant to not give Birmingham credit because they must have done something right, but we were really inept in our performance. We can't affect the protest, but it did seem to kill our momentum. The second goal was disastrous, they just punted, it came off someone's toe and it was a calamitous goal.
"We saved our two most inept performances for Birmingham. They didn't have to work hard for anything, apart from the first 20 odd minutes. I thought we were really on the front foot, and had six, seven corners and free-kicks to really put pressure on them. It feels tough because we were really, really poor. We had our second worst performance of the season and, coincidentally, the first was also against them [in a 5-0 home defeat in August]."
