'My main message' - Chris Davies fires warning to Birmingham City players after Wembley failure

Birmingham City manager Chris Davies believes his players will learn from the disappointment of defeat at Wembley Stadium and use the feeling for motivation to succeed in the Championship next season.

It was meant to be a day of celebration for Blues under the famous arch after they were promoted on Tuesday and crowned League One champions on Saturday, but the 43,356 Bluenoses officially in attendance at the home of football endured a tough watch.

Birmingham dominated possession throughout and had registered more shots, but Peterborough were clinical when it mattered to run out deserved 2-0 victors. Harley Mills’ 15th-minute free-kick prompted euphoria in the Posh end as the 19-year-old curled a stunner off the crossbar from 25 yards to take the lead. Hector Kyprianou then powered in a ruthless second on the verge of half time, giving Blues what turned out to be an insurmountable deficit.

Losing to Peterborough was never out of the question but the manner of the defeat was unimaginable before kick-off. Blues had beaten the Posh in the league just five days ago and had the relief of getting the title wrapped up, yet it took the vast majority of the 90 minutes for Davies’ men to click into gear. By then, it was too late.

“It wasn’t to be our day,” Davies reflected in the Wembley press room. “Congratulations to Peterborough for their victory. I think they scored two unbelievable goals from outside the box. The first one obviously from the free-kick puts us behind, we get going again, and then they score the other one.

“We had a bit of a mountain to climb after those two strikes I think they were high moments of quality from their point of view, the moments of quality that were missing in our game. We got to the final third so consistently, but from the final third it’s how do you create goal chances from that and we just missed that today, those combinations.”

Peterborough’s victory means they are the first team in history to retain an EFL Trophy crown, while Darren Ferguson is the first manager to win the competition three times. The Scotsman also won it once as a player.

Chris Davies fires warning to Birmingham players

Blues would have loved to lift the title themselves but there can be no complaints about the Posh drinking in the success. Davies was desperate for the Vertu Trophy to be the cherry on the cake of a historic season but the failure to win presents an opportunity in itself.

The Championship is going to be a different kettle of fish next season and Blues need to be ready for the trials and tribulations. Davies hopes his squad can take the Wembley failure on the chin and use it as fuel to not feel such disappointment again.

“I’ve said to the players that suffering is part of life, it’s part of football. You have to take your medicine, it’s designed to make you better and you have to grow from the pain you’re in,” Davies told Birmingham World.

“We will grow from it, we can’t just expect to win all the time and everything go our way. Sometimes you get a punch in the face and you need to react to it and grow from it. We got that today.

“I have no doubt the players were there wholeheartedly. They weren’t at their best, I think that’s fair to say. Some of them will be looking on it thinking they could have done a little bit more in certain moments, but they couldn’t have done more in terms of their attitude and the energy and the heart of soul they’ve put into it.

“They gave it their all, which is fundamental to what I want from this team. But we have to learn the lessons from this game and grow from it as I said.”