FootyChatter.com

Brandon Thomas-Asante swept the ball home to give Coventry City the lead against Birmingham City Coventry City maintained their unbeaten start to their Championship campaign with a comfortable win over 10-man Birmingham City. Brandon Thomas-Asante's goal - his third of the season - put the Sky Blues ahead in the first half, before Chris Davies' side had Jack Robinson sent off for a second bookable offence. An own goal from Bright Osayi-Samuel and a goal by Victor Torp ensured Frank Lampard's dominant team ended their run of three straight draws, as they moved back into second place in the table ahead of the later kick-offs. Birmingham, who have now lost three of their past four matches, failed to muster a shot on target as their 19-year wait for a West Midlands derby win at Coventry continued. Lampard's team went into the game on the back of their best start to a season in the top two divisions for 32 years, but their four draws meant they were still not into the play-off positions. The opening exchanges were as fierce as you would expect in a derby, and against a Brum side seeking their first victory at Coventry since Steve Bruce was the manager in 2006. With chances scarce, Coventry vitally struck the first blow as a long throw from the excellent Milan van Ewujk was cleared to the edge of the area and Liam Kitching fired a low shot through a crowd of players. Keeper Ryan Allsop did well to parry, but the ball fell straight to the alert Thomas-Asantem who thrashed it over the diving keeper. Haji Wright was causing the visiting defence problems and, when he sought to slip clear of Robinson, the centre-back clumsily fouled him to earn a second yellow card just eight minutes after his first for a foul on Josh Eccles. His dismissal five minutes before half-time made a tough task virtually impossible for a shot-shy Birmingham, who had seen striker Marvin Ducksch pull out of the starting line-up during the warm-up with an injury, with last week's late goalscoring hero Lyndon Dykes making his first start since February as a replacement. Coventry emphasised their superiority shortly into the second half when Tastushiro Sakamoto seemed to have overhit his cross to the far post. Eccles did brilliantly to reach it and head back across goal, where Osayi-Samuel could not react in time to stop the ball bouncing off him and going marginally over the line before Allsop could claw it away. Coventry went on the hunt for more, as Birmingham's day got worse with striker Jay Stansfield going off after being treated for an injury. Torp and Wright both went for the same ball after a Birmingham defensive mix-up, got in each other's way and the latter sliced his shot wide with the goal at his mercy. Torp made up for that when he raced forward in support of substitute Ellis Simms, who did well to control Carl Rushworth's long clearance and force Allsop into a save, with the ball squirming free for Torp to slide in his fifth goal of the season. This video can not be played Lampard post Birmingham win This video can not be played Davies: 'The red card changed the game' Coventry manager Frank Lampard told BBC Radio CWR: "Outstanding atmosphere for a derby game - the fans were great and the players were brilliant, with everybody focused, ready to compete and ready to play. "At 11 v 11 we got our goal and I thought they were really tough opposition after a good start to the season, but you could see we were at it, and the fans reacted to that. "When they went to 10 men it's not easy to deal with, but we dealt with it brilliantly. We played high up in their half and kept doing the right things. "We got our two goals in the second half and we got a clean sheet, and the focus of the team was amazing. " On Jack Rudoni absence: "He's got a calf injury so will be out for some weeks. We can't put a date on it at this point but it's disappointing. "The injury came from the Leicester game. He's had a bad shoulder all week and hasn't really trained, so we only found out at the back end of the week. It's a big loss for us. " This video can not be played Davies: 'The red card changed the game' Birmingham manager Chris Davies told BBC Radio WM: "It was a tough afternoon. We had a change in the warm-up with an injury, which isn't ideal, it limits you a little bit. "We started the game OK, we were well in the game with nothing between the teams, but the red card has completely changed the game. "It's harsh to lose a player for those two challenges and what's made it more frustrating for me, and I made the point just now [to the referee] that their players were kicking the ball away from all our quick free-kicks, and if we're going to lose a game based on losing a player to two yellow cards what we have to see is rules being adhered to by officials. "All I want is consistency across the board to give us a chance. " 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 27th September 2025 at 17: 48 Please Note: All times UK. Tables are subject to change. The BBC is not responsible for any changes that may be made. Manager: Frank Lampard Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Manager: Chris Davies Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Manager: Frank Lampard Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Manager: Chris Davies Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Championship All competitions All competitions All competitions Coventry are unbeaten in their last six home league games against Birmingham (W3 D3), conceding just one goal in this run. Birmingham won their last league meeting with Coventry 3-0 in April 2024, last beating the Sky Blues twice in succession in the 2006-07 campaign. Coventry are unbeaten in their first six league games of a season for the first time since 2019-20 (first 10 in League One), and for the first time in the second tier or higher since the 1993-94 Premier League campaign (first 8). No Championship team have scored more 90th minute goals (including stoppage time) this season than Birmingham (3), with Lyndon Dykes netting a 94th minute winner against Swansea last time out. Coventry City’s Jack Rudoni ranks first for shots attempted (21), ball carry distance (1, 425m) and possession won in the final third (10) among all Championship players this season. Attempt missed. Victor Torp (Coventry City) left footed shot from the centre of the box misses to the right following a corner. Corner, Coventry City. Conceded by Eiran Cashin. Fourth official has announced 3 minutes of added time. Substitution, Birmingham City. Eiran Cashin replaces Lewis Koumas. Second yellow card to Jack Robinson (Birmingham City) for a bad foul. Haji Wright (Coventry City) wins a free kick in the attacking half. Foul by Jack Robinson (Birmingham City). Attempt blocked. Jay Stansfield (Birmingham City) right footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Tomoki Iwata. Attempt missed. Haji Wright (Coventry City) right footed shot from a difficult angle on the right is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Bobby Thomas following a fast break. Foul by Brandon Thomas-Asante (Coventry City). Bright Osayi-Samuel (Birmingham City) wins a free kick on the right wing. Offside, Coventry City. Tatsuhiro Sakamoto is caught offside. Jay Dasilva (Coventry City) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Foul by Jay Stansfield (Birmingham City). Corner, Birmingham City. Conceded by Milan van Ewijk. Foul by Liam Kitching (Coventry City). Paik Seung-Ho (Birmingham City) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Jack Robinson (Birmingham City) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul. Josh Eccles (Coventry City) wins a free kick in the attacking half. Foul by Jack Robinson (Birmingham City). Copyright © 2025 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.