FootyChatter.com

Edited by Steve Marshall We used AI to assist with reporting on this page. In this instance, AI helped to summarise BBC radio journalists' commentary of this match. All posts were checked by a journalist before publishing. We're trialling a new way to label AI content. We'd love your help to make it better. FT: Birmingham 3-2 Coventry Darren Carter Ex-Birmingham midfielder on BBC Radio WM That is a massive, massive three points at this point in the season, the run that the team's been on, a little bit of criticism being thrown at them and at the manager, to go up against a Coventry team who have been absolutely flying in this first half of the season to produce a performance. They've lacked a little bit in terms of that fight and that real grit in certain moments in games - they've shown that today and ultimately they've shown quality with the ball as well. Sometimes it's not always going to be smooth with the ball and you're not going to play scintillating football. Sometimes you have to dig in, sometimes you have to defend your box resolutely, bodies on the line and Blues, I thought, balanced that out really well today, showing quality when they needed to with the goals, but then also dug in and stopped a very, very strong Coventry attack. Birmingham 3-2 Coventry Birmingham City claim victory over league leaders Coventry City with a 3-2 win at St Andrew's. Marvin Ducksch was the hero with two goals, including a sensational strike, while Lewis Koumas scored his first goal for the club. The determination from Chris Davies' side was evident as they held on to secure all three points despite Coventry's fight to equalise twice. Birmingham 3-2 Coventry Rob Gurney BBC Radio CWR Sport And that's another straight red card for the Sky Blues. And he (Bobby Thomas) will now be serving a three-game ban. He applauds that Sky Blue army as he disappears down the tunnel. It was a tangle there. I haven't seen a replay of it. Must admit I was following the ball so I didn't quite see what happened. It happened off the ball and Thomas has raised his hands and shoved them into the back of Neumann's head. Birmingham 3-2 Coventry Bobby Thomas receives a red card for violent conduct after punching Phil Neumann in the back of the head. Coventry are now down to 10 men as they enter the final moments of the match. Birmingham 3-2 Coventry Birmingham City make a substitution as Kanya Fujimoto comes on to replace Jay Stansfield. Stansfield has been a constant threat and irritant to Coventry's defence throughout the match. Birmingham 3-2 Coventry Frank Lampard checks the minutes added for time wasting as normal time comes to an end. Ephron Mason-Clark attempts to find an equaliser for Coventry City, but his effort is comfortably picked up by Birmingham's keeper, James Beadle. The game is reaching its final crescendo with Coventry seeking every opportunity to level. Birmingham 3-2 Coventry Coventry City make a substitution as Kai Andrews comes on to replace Josh Eccles. Andrews, a 19-year-old Wales international, will look to make an impact as the Sky Blues search for an equaliser. Birmingham 3-2 Coventry James Beadle receives a yellow card for time wasting over a goal-kick, which marks his third caution of the season. Coventry are preparing for a late substitution in response. Birmingham 3-2 Coventry Josh Eccles receives a yellow card for a bad foul on Kyogo Furuhashi, handing Birmingham a free-kick in the attacking half with minutes left on the clock. Eccles mistimed his run, leading to a late challenge. Birmingham 3-2 Coventry Play is delayed as Birmingham City's goalkeeper, James Beadle, goes down, requiring treatment. With less than nine minutes of regular time remaining, this stoppage adds to the tense atmosphere as Birmingham seeks to hold their lead against Coventry City. Birmingham 3-2 Coventry With just over 10 minutes to go, Birmingham City hold onto a narrow lead against Coventry City. The atmosphere is tense with Blues looking to secure crucial points ahead of the transfer window. Both teams are battling hard, with possession frequently changing hands and the pressure mounting. Birmingham 3-2 Coventry Ellis Simms' header finds the back of the net, but the goal is disallowed for a foul by Bobby Thomas. Coventry City remain trailing Birmingham City in a tense match at St Andrew's. Birmingham 3-2 Coventry Birmingham City are making a triple substitution. Kai Wagner receives a huge ovation as he is replaced by Alfons Sampsted. Patrick Roberts makes way for Willum Willumsson, and Marvin Ducksch is substituted for Kyogo Furuhashi. Birmingham aim to maintain pace and energy in the final stages. Birmingham 3-2 Coventry Jay Stansfield's shot is blocked by Coventry City's Jay Dasilva, preventing a potential goal for Birmingham. Birmingham City have won the corner as they continue their search for another goal. Birmingham 3-2 Coventry Steve Ogrizovic Ex-Coventry City goalkeeper on BBC CWR Carl Rushworth's having a great season but he's been out of sorts today. He's been caught out early doors with a few kicks, got away with it, got his angles right but he's just not collapsed easy enough and the ball has found its way through his legs from quite a tight angle. Birmingham 3-2 Coventry Haji Wright comes on for Coventry City, replacing Tatsuhiro Sakamoto. Coventry's first change as they look to bolster their attacking options. Birmingham 3-2 Coventry Lewis Koumas is substituted off for Birmingham City as Eiran Cashin comes on. Birmingham are adjusting their formation, possibly going with a back three or five, as Chris Davies adapts his tactics. Birmingham 3-2 Coventry Darren Carter Ex-Birmingham midfielder on BBC Radio WM What a crazy game of football we've got here. Coventry getting themselves back into the game and it's Blues this time who respond quickly and you've got to give Marvin Ducksch all sorts of credit here because his timing of his run was very good. Marvin Ducksch (63 mins) Marvin Ducksch restored Birmingham City's lead with a right-footed shot from the right side of the box, giving the Blues their third goal against Coventry City. Ducksch found the back of the net from a tight angle with a clever finish under the keeper at the near post. This sees Ducksch double his tally and showcase his excellent timing of runs. Birmingham 2-2 Coventry Rob Gurney BBC Radio CWR Sport Simms at the edge of the D, squeezes in the equaliser again. Beadle a bit slow to react, but Ellis Simms with two in two has got the second equaliser for the Sky Blues. Marvin Ducksch has scored five goals in 18 appearances since joining Birmingham Championship leaders Coventry City's wobble continued as Marvin Ducksch scored twice for Birmingham City to end Blues' slump in fine fashion. On-loan Liverpool forward Lewis Koumas also netted his first Birmingham goal in a Midlands derby thriller to help ease some of the pressure on boss Chris Davies. Josh Eccles and Ellis Simms had twice brought Coventry - for whom defender Bobby Thomas was shown a straight red card in stoppage time after lashing out at Phil Neumann - level in a seesaw clash. Frank Lampard's Sky Blues still top the Championship but have won just two of their past eight games. Birmingham, meanwhile, ended a seven-game winless run, their goals a combination of great attacking play and poor defending in a freezing second city. Kai Wagner was outstanding on his Birmingham debut after only sealing his move from Major League Soccer side Philadelphia Union 24 hours earlier and the left-back set up the opener for Ducksch after just six minutes. The German curled over an excellent ball from the left for Ducksch to score with a cushioned volley. Coventry equalised just 113 seconds later as Eccles whipped a superb right-footed effort around the static Jack Robinson and held up Jamie Allen's shirt in tribute to his Sky Blues team-mate, who was absent because of a family bereavement. Liam Kitching should have headed Coventry in front when he directed Matt Grimes' free-kick straight at James Beadle and Blues made the visitors pay as Patrick Roberts played in Koumas to round Carl Rushworth to slot home. That made it three goals in the opening 17 minutes and there might have been more before the break as Ephron Mason-Clark headed wide for Coventry before Ducksch missed the target at the other end. Coventry levelled again on the hour mark when Robinson failed to close down Simms and the former Everton striker scored his 10th goal of the season right-footed from the edge of the area. But Birmingham restored their lead three minutes later when the excellent Roberts fed Ducksch and the German fired home his fifth goal of the season. Coventry might have had a penalty late on for Tomoki Iwata's tussle with Mason-Clark before they imploded in the 95th minute when Thomas was dismissed for swinging a left hand at Neumann. Instead, Sky Blues boss Frank Lampard was left to reflect on a second defeat in three games - and a first ever loss to Birmingham as either a player or manager in his 20 meetings with them. Birmingham boss Chris Davies told BBC Radio WM: "I thought we were really strong today against the league leaders. Nobody gave us a chance today and I thought the boys were fantastic. "I think they had to show all sorts of sides to themselves. Moments of quality, good goals, run hard, battle, tackle, head, everything. " On two-goal hero Marvin Ducksch: "We know Marvin's got the quality and I think he was really good. He enjoyed it today. "He moved well and tried to combine and then a fantastic finish for his first goal. When they come over like that, you can easily go safe on those, but he went hard and it went in. " This video can not be played This video can not be played Coventry boss Frank Lampard told BBC Radio CWR: "The game, we should deal with. I always credit opposition and when Ipswich came to our place, they were at it, we were off it and they won the game. "But this was on us because the game was there for us. The run of results they [Blues] have had, I think you could see that it was there for us to take control. "We had a lot of the ball, but we had a lack of urgency in how we moved it, so we have to take that one. The goals we conceded were poor goals. " On Bobby Thomas' red card: "I haven't seen it, but if he's done something and gets a red card, then we miss him for three games. And if he did do something, he shouldn't have done it. " After the opportunity to rate players has closed, the score displayed represents the average from all the submissions by BBC Sport users. Comments can not be loaded To load Comments you need to enable Java Script in your browser Last Updated 4th January 2026 at 15: 49 Please Note: All times UK. Tables are subject to change. The BBC is not responsible for any changes that may be made. Manager: Chris Davies Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Manager: Frank Lampard Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Manager: Chris Davies Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Manager: Frank Lampard Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Championship All competitions All competitions All competitions Birmingham have won just one of their last 10 league games against Coventry (D5 L4), though it was in their last home meeting in April 2024 (3-0). Coventry are looking to complete the league double over Birmingham for just the fourth time, previously doing so in 1965-66, 1974-75 and 2008-09. Birmingham are unbeaten in their last seven home league games, with four consecutive wins followed by three 1-1 draws. They last drew four in a row at St Andrew’s between April and August 2019. Coventry have won just one of their last 10 league games played on a Sunday (W6 D3), going down 2-1 at Leicester in August 2023. Birmingham’s Jay Stansfield has been involved in eight goals in his last nine home league games (6 goals, 2 assists), despite not scoring or assisting in any of his last three at St Andrew’s. Copyright © 2026 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.