Bristol City vs Birmingham City. Sky Bet Championship.
Ashton GateAttendance21,489.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Bristol City and Birmingham at Ashton Gate as goals from Antoine Semenyo, Nahki Wells and a Mark Sykes double steered the Robins to victory.
Saturday 14 January 2023 18:52, UK
Mark Sykes scored his first two goals for Bristol City in a 4-2 Championship win over Birmingham at Ashton Gate.
The hosts took a 17th-minute lead when Cameron Pring broke down the left and saw his driven cross guided in by Antoine Semenyo.
It was 2-0 four minutes later, Nahki Wells outmuscling new Blues defender Kevin Long before bursting clear down the middle and shooting past John Ruddy.
Birmingham replied on 34 minutes when Troy Deeney powered home a penalty after Pring had brought down Tahith Chong inside the box.
But Sykes restored the two-goal lead two minutes after the break, shooting home from another Pring cross.
And the former Oxford winger added a fourth on 66 minutes, tapping into an unguarded net from Semenyo's ball to the far post.
Reda Khadra marked his Birmingham debut as a substitute by breaking clear on the left and firing past Max O'Leary on 77 minutes.
But it was not enough for a Blues side who looked wide open defensively. The result and performance lifted the pressure on Bristol City boss Nigel Pearson.
Birmingham gave a debut to experienced defender Long but their other recent recruit, Khadra, was named on the bench.
Backed by more than 2,000 travelling fans, the Blues made a bright start and Pring had to make a goal-saving challenge on Deeney in the eighth minute.
Bristol City looked quick on the break and Long earned a 12th-minute caution for a trip on Sykes as he prepared to shoot from just outside the box.
Both sides wasted early free-kicks from dangerous positions.
Birmingham's back-line was looking vulnerable before Pring set up Semenyo to break the deadlock and Wells made it two.
Bristol City had several chances to win the ball in the build-up to the penalty, which halved their lead. Chong tricked his way past Pring and it was an easy decision for referee John Busby.
But Pearson's men continued to look the more threatening as Ruddy parried a Pring drive and they deserved their half-time lead.
Sykes' early strike in the second period confirmed their superiority. The Blues might have pulled a goal back when Maxime Colin shot wide from close range and then sent on Khadra for Dion Sanderson in a bid to get back into the game.
Chong shot wide from 20 yards before Sykes put the result beyond doubt. Khadra opened his account for the visitors with a confident finish, having already forced a save from O'Leary as the Bristol City goalkeeper advanced rashly to the edge of his box.
The substitute was a bright spot on an otherwise bleak day for Birmingham. Their massed ranks of fans tried to rouse their side to a grandstand finish, but Bristol City still looked dangerous down both flanks and emerged worthy winners.
Bristol City's Nigel Pearson:
"Above all, we needed a win today and it turned out to be a very good win. The result was everything. We have turned in some decent performances at home, without reward, mainly due to individual mistakes. We are a team who need to play on the front foot and today we set out to be really positive from the start.
"I am pleased for Mark Sykes. It's about time he scored for us because he is a player I like and I believe he has goals in him. He should have been getting in similar scoring positions from right wing-back, but we played him further forward and that worked well."
Birmingham's John Eustace:
"It's the most disappointed I have been since I joined the club. We were too passive, too soft and not good enough in or out of possession. We looked vulnerable from an early stage and it was a really bad performance. I thought Kevin Long was fouled by Nahki Wells for their second goal, but that is no excuse.
"The whole team were not good enough. They have been excellent as a group over the first half of the season, but we are going through a poor spell and now we need fighters. Bristol City wanted the game more than us today and the manner in which we conceded the goals was very disappointing."
