Birmingham City ‘lucky’ as Championship drama saves their relegation bacon

A drab 0-0 draw against the Championship’s rock-bottom side had Birmingham City supporters worried at the full-time whistle - but results elsewhere mean they remain just outside of the bottom three. Here is a round-up of how the Blues’ relegation rivals got on.

Terriers put down by Swans

Swansea City were Birmingham’s saviour after putting Huddersfield Town to the sword in brutal fashion. A 4-0 hiding at the John Smith’s Stadium, with all four goals coming in the last 20 minutes, offered the Blues a lucky break following their goalless draw.

Had Huddersfield won, they would have leapfrogged Birmingham and escaped the drop zone. Manager Andre Breitenreiter admitted Town were “not good enough” - with relegation staring them in the face.

“We are all disappointed and I admit the performance was not good enough today,” he said post-match. “The first half was very disappointing because we knew about the possession game of Swansea but we did not play with our plan.”

Plymouth brushed aside

Plymouth Argyle also lost ground on Birmingham, losing 3-0 to Stoke City at the bet365 Stadium. The Pilgrims managed just one shot on target and are now two points above the Blues.

Stoke boss Steven Schumacher, after beating his former team, was full of praise for both sides after the game. He said: “It was a really good all-round performance. It was going to be a really difficult game. We know the strengths of what Argyle can do and we had to be really secure and make sure our performance was right. 

“If it wasn't right we would have got hurt by Argyle today but credit to the players, they were brilliant from the first minute, won a lot of duels, a lot of individual battles, created some big chances and in the big moments showed some composure and quality which we haven't seen too often.”

QPR all but safe

Queens Park Rangers, barring disaster, look set to remain in the Championship for another season. Only a drastic goal difference swing will relegate QPR after they earned a 1-0 win over Preston North End.

Lyndon Dykes bagged the only goal of the game to offer some respite to Hoops fans after what has been a testing campaign. Unfortunately for Birmingham, this means they moved four points above them in the table.