Chris Davies delivers verdict on crazy Birmingham City moment vs Northampton Town

Birmingham City manager Chris Davies has taken full responsibility for the unacceptable fashion in which his side conceded the opening goal at Sixfields.

Northampton took the lead in the 17th minute when Tomoki Iwata bizarrely directed the ball into his own net after being sold short by goalkeeper Ryan Allsop. Iwata looked like he was either trying to clear away for a corner or find a teammate behind him but instead he skewed the ball in off the post.

The Cobblers deserved to score as they were absolutely superb in the opening half an hour or so but Birmingham were still disappointed by the crazy manner in which the clean sheet was wiped out. Passing out from the back plays a key role in Blues’ overall structure but it’s an approach that does pose its risks.

“I said to the players I’ll take responsibility for that in the sense that we’ve done it a thousand times and a couple of goals have gone in,” Davies told the media after the match.

“But at the end of the day, that’s how we play and how I want the team to play. This was just a really unfortunate moment, obviously it was quite a sticky penalty area and it got caught and bobbled in.

“It was quite a difficult moment to take but, as I say, I want the players to have the courage to build out from the back and it’s worked so successfully for us this season.”

Keshi Anderson to the rescue

Against his former club, Keshi Anderson’s superb header just before half time was enough to redeem a point for Blues. Christoph Klarer notched this third assist of the season with a teasing cross into the area that Anderson showed great determination to meet first, arrowing the ball into the far top corner.

The equalising goal wasn’t Anderson’s only involvement as the winger, only just back into the starting XI following an injury, was probably Birmingham’s main threat on an otherwise underwhelming afternoon. One pinpoint pass stood out as Anderson somehow fed in Jay Stansfield through the eye of a needle but Birmingham’s leading scorer was unable to convert.

An opportunity missed

Despite rescuing a draw, Davies and his men will be disappointed not to have secured all three points as there were several big chances at the end. Just before and then into eight minutes of stoppage time, Lukas Jutkiewicz had two openings, Alfie May a further couple and Willum Willumsson skewed a close-range header wide.

Victory at Sixfields would’ve been particularly satisfying on a day the two closest challengers in the League One table - Wrexham AFC and Wycombe Wanderers - played one another at Adams Park. Wrexham ran out victors on the day, so Blues could have really extended their buffer to third had they found a winner.

As it turns out, Birmingham have increased the lead to Wycombe to 15 points but Wrexham have now closed their gap to 12. The Red Dragons have played one extra game, though, so Birmingham are in a strong position to make that 15, too.