Match ends, Birmingham City 3, Sheffield Wednesday 1.
BirminghamBirmingham City3Sheff WedSheffield Wednesday1
Lukas Jutkiewicz continued his fantastic scoring form at St Andrew's as Birmingham City earned a fourth straight Championship win at the expense of Sheffield Wednesday.
Steven Fletcher had already rattled the post with a venomous 20-yard strike but made no mistake when converting Morgan Fox's header back across the six-yard box for his third goal of the campaign.
However, Blues were back on level terms just before half-time when Bournemouth loanee Connor Mahoney cut in from the left flank to send a fierce effort arrowing beyond Owls keeper Cameron Dawson.
With 10 minutes to play Jutkiewicz pounced to head in Jota's cross, bringing up his seventh goal in four home games, before Che Adams sealed victory late on.
Wednesday arrived in the West Midlands on the back of successive defeats against Middlesbrough and QPR, but were much the better of the two teams in the first period.
Jos Luhukay's side are the only team in the Championship yet to register a clean sheet and their defensive Achilles' heel came back to haunt them once more.
Blues, boosted by their equaliser on the stroke of the interval, piled on the pressure in the second half.
Lutkiewicz and Adams both saw goal-bound efforts deflected wide before each found the net in the final 10 minutes to extend Blues' unbeaten run to 11 games.
Birmingham's latest win moved them to within two points of the play-off pack, four points ahead of the Owls, who are down in 15th.
Birmingham City manager Garry Monk told BBC WM 95.6:
"To get nine points in three matches this week shows the hard work we have been on. It's not an easy thing to do, so I am very, very pleased with the run of form we are on.
"In the first 25 minutes we were as poor as we have been this season, and we got lucky, [to get the equalising goal] to be honest, it came against the run of play.
"The second half was more like us, we were aggressive, compact, and not making the mistakes we made in the first half.
"Sheffield Wednesday could have been out of sight in the first half, that's how poor we were. But we showed character, belief and a good attitude to come back."
Sheffield Wednesday manager Jos Luhukay told BBC Radio Sheffield:
"You have periods where you must control the game and that's only possible when you keep the ball.
"When you're losing the ball too much, it gives your opponent spirit and also chances and that's what happened.
"We must defend better. It's not only today - when you look at last Tuesday (3-0 loss versus QPR) and last Friday (2-1 defeat against Middlesbrough), we have now given goals away in the past three games.
"You cannot do that at this level - every team has strikers who profit from that.
"It's not a question of confidence, it's more the question of making the best decision to clear dangerous moments and we did not.
"When we have 100% focus on making the best decision, then we can win the next game against Norwich City."
Line-ups
Birmingham
Formation 4-4-2
- 1Camp
- 5Colin
- 28Morrison
- 12DeanSubstituted forRobertsat 13'minutes
- 3Pedersen
- 23Jota
- 6Kieftenbeld
- 20GardnerSubstituted forLakinat 87'minutes
- 7MahoneySubstituted forHardingat 71'minutes
- 10Jutkiewicz
- 9Adams
Substitutes
- 4Roberts
- 14Bogle
- 22Solomon-Otabor
- 27Trueman
- 30Lubala
- 31Lakin
- 45Harding
Sheff Wed
Formation 4-1-2-1-2
- 25Dawson
- 2Palmer
- 15Lees
- 34Hector
- 6Fox
- 10Bannan
- 8PelupessyBooked at 68mins
- 20Reach
- 7OnomahSubstituted forPenneyat 72'minutes
- 9FletcherSubstituted forLucas Joãoat 78'minutes
- 17Nuhiu
Substitutes
- 12Thorniley
- 18Lucas João
- 24Baker
- 28Wildsmith
- 37Preston
- 42Penney
- 43Shaw
- Referee:
- Darren Bond
- Attendance:
- 23,659
Match Stats
Home TeamBirminghamAway TeamSheff Wed
- Possession
- Home38%
- Away62%
- Shots
- Home16
- Away13
- Shots on Target
- Home4
- Away4
- Corners
- Home10
- Away6
- Fouls
- Home2
- Away12
Live Text
Post update
Full Time
Second Half ends, Birmingham City 3, Sheffield Wednesday 1.
Post update
Attempt missed. Atdhe Nuhiu (Sheffield Wednesday) header from the centre of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Morgan Fox with a cross.
Post update
Attempt missed. Jota (Birmingham City) left footed shot from the left side of the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Che Adams.
Substitution
Substitution, Birmingham City. Charlie Lakin replaces Gary Gardner.
Goal!
Goal! Birmingham City 3, Sheffield Wednesday 1. Che Adams (Birmingham City) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Kristian Pedersen.
Post update
Attempt saved. Lucas João (Sheffield Wednesday) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Adam Reach with a headed pass.
Post update
Corner, Sheffield Wednesday. Conceded by Gary Gardner.
Post update
Corner, Sheffield Wednesday. Conceded by Maxime Colin.
Goal!
Goal! Birmingham City 2, Sheffield Wednesday 1. Lukas Jutkiewicz (Birmingham City) header from very close range to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Jota with a cross.
Post update
Foul by Morgan Fox (Sheffield Wednesday).
Post update
Maikel Kieftenbeld (Birmingham City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Post update
Corner, Sheffield Wednesday. Conceded by Marc Roberts.
Substitution
Substitution, Sheffield Wednesday. Lucas João replaces Steven Fletcher.
Post update
Corner, Birmingham City. Conceded by Tom Lees.
Post update
Attempt saved. Steven Fletcher (Sheffield Wednesday) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Barry Bannan.
Post update
Morgan Fox (Sheffield Wednesday) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Post update
Foul by Marc Roberts (Birmingham City).
Post update
Corner, Birmingham City. Conceded by Michael Hector.
Post update
Attempt blocked. Kristian Pedersen (Birmingham City) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Maikel Kieftenbeld.
