Chris Davies offers support to James Beadle and says Birmingham players didn’t want ball enough

Birmingham City manager Chris Davies told BBC WM:

“Very disappointing. We haven’t had many nights like this at home since I’ve been here.

“It was a good start, we really got after them, we were on the front foot, exactly the type of start we wanted to make and then a goal out of nothing really. It’s a really soft goal from our point of view.

“It rocked us a little bit and then the second goal was really poor, some wrong decisions, we end up in a ridiculous situation where it’s bouncing around our box and they score.

“It gave us a lot to do against a good team and from that point, I wasn’t happy with how we responded. We played back too much, we stopped running forward.

“Second half, we came out with more impetus, more forward runs, got ourselves into a great position with a good goal but the third goal was a killer. Once that went in, it was very difficult to get something.

“So yes, a tough one.”

On his side’s struggles playing out from the back in his post-match press conference: 

“We were struggling in our build-up. In that period of the game, when it was at its most obvious, we weren’t wanting the ball enough.

“It was going back to him as if we were going to play out from the back, but there wasn’t really a conviction to go and do it. Then you’re in trouble because you’re half and half.

“We need to have more conviction and decisiveness in our position and what we need to do. We weren’t good enough in that period leading up to half-time.

“I’m quite happy for him to go long as long we’re all doing it together, but I thought there were a lot of opportunities to play forward and beat the press.

“Playing out from the back and losing the ball a lot has not been a problem in my time here, usually we’re good at it, but tonight we didn’t have enough. You might say their press was quite effective in that sense.

“If you just boot the ball long and it goes out for a throw-in then that’s not great either. You’ve got to try to be good in your build-up, whether that’s short or long, and tonight we weren’t.

“The crowd are obviously upset because we’re two-nil down and that’s understandable. We have to take that.

“We need to keep doing what we’ve done for lots of games really well.

“I wouldn’t encourage the players to invite pressure when it’s not necessary but I would encourage them to get into position and look to take the ball as much as possible.

“As a manager, you can go two ways, you can support your players or make life a lot harder for them and my instinct is to support my players when they’re going through difficult periods on the pitch and that’s what I did at half-time with him.

“The reason we lost this game tonight wasn’t because of James Beadle. It was because as a team we weren’t good enough.

“My work as a coach is to get the team to play, and when it comes to James getting on the ball there’s certain patterns and options that I want him to have, so when he passes the ball and it doesn’t work it might not always be him that’s doing something wrong. It might be that other players aren’t in positions as well.

“I will always support them. When it’s good you can’t be patting everyone on the back and when it’s bad you throw people under the bus. That’s not what I believe so we’ll support James and learn from this game.”

Davies, per Sky Sports:

“I was really pleased with how we started the first half. The goal was really out of nothing.

“From there we weren’t as good, and then we conceded a sloppy second. We lost our way after that and it put us in a really tough position. It rocked us, and we’re not used to being in that position at home.

“We regrouped well, got the goal and it put us in a great position to come back. Then we conceded another disappointing goal from our point of view. It’s a good header, but poor defending.

“It was a very difficult night for us, and we’ve not had too many like that at home. There are 11 games to go now, and we’re going to need a lot of points to get [to the play-offs].”

🗣️ “Such a disappointing goal… poor, poor defending.”

Chris Davies reacts to a tough defeat under the lights against Middlesbrough 🌙 pic.twitter.com/tjOhY3jChF

— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) March 2, 2026

🗣️ “It’s a beautiful goal from our side.”

Kim Hellberg reflects on a strong win for Boro 💬 pic.twitter.com/l7wMbxfCx8

— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) March 2, 2026

Middlesbrough head coach Kim Hellberg told BBC Radio Tees:

“You come to this place – one loss in two years – they’ve been absolutely brilliant and you can see that, a very good squad, a lot of good players.

“For most of the game, we were very, very good, especially in the first half. It was well deserved.

“Our pressing today was outstanding. How hard we worked, how many balls we won high, how we frustrated them. The high pressing and energy today was the key and it’s good to see we can win like that, absolutely brilliant.”