Last-minute EFL decision made ahead of Birmingham City vs Middlesbrough

There has been a last-minute adjustment to the team refereeing Birmingham City's vital Sky Bet Championship fixture against Middlesbrough on Tuesday night.

Blues have been at the wrong end of controversial decisions in their last two fixtures, with Ozan Tufan's handball missed in the 1-1 draw at Hull City and Jay Stansfield denied a penalty when thrown to the ground by Joe Bryan at Millwall. An EFL call has been made to try and stop similar happening again.

Mark Venus' side were due to have assistant referee James Wilson, who ran the line away at Hull, holding the flag again but he's been marked off. Birmingham Live reports Wilson has been replaced by Sam Lewis to "complete the team of officials".

Andy Davies, who officiated Sheffield Wednesday 0-2 Birmingham in February, will be the lead referee at St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park. Graham Kane will join Lewis as the second assistant, while Jeremy Simpson takes the role of fourth official.

Blues will see the clash with Middlesbrough as a must-win as the gap to the bottom three is merely one point. Victory would see Birmingham rise to 17th in the table, a draw would be enough to leapfrog Queens Park Rangers into 20th but a defeat would render the game in hand useless.