Birmingham boss Chris Davies relieved to get late point against Bristol City
Jhon Solis had an 88th-minute equaliser controversially ruled out for offside before Demarai Gray’s penalty in added time rescued a point.
Birmingham boss Chris Davies said it would have been “painful” had his side not come away with something after a dramatic 2-2 Championship draw at home to Bristol City.
Jhon Solis had an 88th-minute equaliser controversially ruled out for offside before Demarai Gray’s penalty in added time rescued a point.
“I was furious and in disbelief to be honest to have that goal disallowed from Jhon Solis for some involvement on the goalkeeper,” said Davies.
“I just don’t see it and I don’t think they even appealed for it. I thought that was a poor decision in that context and that would have been very painful to take.
“For the penalty, we forced an error really, a handball in a melee in the box. I think it was a penalty we deserved and we got a goal from it so it was a pretty eventful end.”
Davies denied the solution would be to introduce VAR for those decisions.
“I am not a big fan of it but it should be used for goal line technology and for offsides,” he added.
Davies admitted it was not the most convincing performance from Blues.
“We could have been a lot better defensively and they showed a real appetite, and it meant we were defending our box far more than we should have been,” he said.
“They showed a real desire to break on us and sometimes they were running away from us. That was uncharacteristic of us and too many second balls landed to them. We weren’t quiet getting our timing right to engage their midfielders.”
Bristol City manager Michael Skubala said of the penalty: “I’ve seen it back since – the linesman gave it for a handball from Jason Knight, and yet Rob Atkinson headed the ball.
“It was a crazy decision which didn’t need to happen. The referee has two angles – his and the linesman’s – and the decision was not the right one.
“It was a frustrating afternoon for us because I thought we did enough to win.
“The one (Solis) before was offside, so he got that one right. But maybe the occasion and the environment got a little bit to the linesman in the corner.
“Rob Atkinson comes through and heads the ball and we should have come away with three points.
“We created the bigger chances, opened their back line up at times and looked the most threatening team.”
Bristol City went ahead on 33 minutes when Scott Twine bundled home after his header came back to him from Rob Dickie’s aerial challenge to meet Jason Knight’s 60-yard pass.
Carlos Vicente’s sidefooted effort levelled three minutes before half-time after Alex Cochrane crossed.
Substitute Dom Ballard scored with a bizarre flick with his back to goal after 85 minutes to restore the Robins’ lead.
Solis thought he had equalised when he steered home Cochrane’s corner only for it to be disallowed, before Gray coolly tucked away his spot-kick late on.