Birmingham City suffer new suspension blow before Crawley and Burton League One ties

Birmingham City manager Chris Davies has been handed a two-match suspension, revoking him of his touchline status for the upcoming League One clashes with Crawley Town and Burton Albion.

Davies received his sixth yellow card of the season during Blues’ 2-0 Vertu Trophy final defeat to Peterborough United at Wembley Stadium on Sunday. The head coach was booked by referee Ben Speedie for arguing with the fourth official near the dugout and will now pay the price.

Birmingham have already clinched the title and secured promotion to the Championship with six games to go, but it’s still a blow to lose Davies’ presence on the touchline. There are only two home matches among the last six, too, so the timing has denied Davies one of his guard of honours.

This isn’t the first time Davies has been suspended as the Welshman received three yellow cards by the end of September and missed the hosting of Huddersfield Town on October 1. The standard of refereeing in League One has stunned Davies but he has admitted he must control his emotions better to avoid reprimand.

Two new Birmingham injuries confirmed

Davies’ suspension isn’t the only recent blow for Blues as there are two new injuries to report. South Korea international midfielder Paik Seung-ho was forced off at the weekend with a calf problem, while captain Krystian Bielik missed the trip to Wembley entirely due to a knock.

“I don’t actually know, it’s something to do with his calf I think,” Davies said of Paik. “I don’t know if it was cramp or more than that, we’ll find out in a little while.”

On Bielik’s absence, Davies added: “Injury, an injury yeah. It was just a knock kind of thing that he picked up from that game (Peterborough away). He will be out of action for a couple of weeks from now, I would say.”

Bielik and Paik aren’t the only players currently in the treatment room as winger Emil Hansson missed out on Wembley with a knock and striker Lyndon Dykes isn’t quite ready to return from a calf issue. Then there are Scott Wright and Lee Buchanan, both sidelined with long-term knee injuries and unable to play a part again this season.