Chris Davies feeling hard done by after watching Birmingham lose at Norwich

Birmingham manager Chris Davies was feeling hard done by after watching his side lose 2-1 at Norwich to slip to their first Championship defeat of the season.

The Blues thought they had taken the lead midway through the first half at Carrow Road through Liam Millar, only for a tight offside decision to cut short the celebrations.

And Norwich took full advantage of their narrow escape by going ahead on 28 minutes as Oscar Schwartau lashed the ball home from just outside the D.

Papa Diallo then slid home his first goal for the club 11 minutes later after good work on the right from Andre Brooks.

Birmingham reduced the arrears after 64 minutes when Millar cut the ball back for Carlos Vicente to convert and the visitors should have equalised near the end when Vicente fired wide with the goal at his mercy.

“In my 118 games in charge I can’t remember feeling so disappointed with the officials as I am tonight,” said Davies. “So many decisions went against us.

“We started really well and scored a goal from an onside position so I have been told.

“I hate VAR re-refereeing games for fouls because that is subjective, but offside is objective, you are either on or off, and I think it should be used in this league for incidents like that.

“Having said that we have to take responsibility for the next 15 minutes when we were far too open and conceded two goals that were far too easy for them.

“In the end that gave us too much to do but outside that spell we kept on going, got a deserved goal and might have got an equaliser at the end but unfortunately it wasn’t to be.”

Norwich head coach Philippe Clement was delighted to see his side come through a tough examination for a third win in four league games.

He said: “We were up against a team who are very direct, a team who have won the most headed duels in the Championship this season, so it was important that we stepped up to the challenge.

“I am delighted to say that all the players did that. I think the fans could see they were giving everything out there to get the result we all wanted.

“At times we were able to play our football but we had to win our battles too.  It is a really important step in the journey we are taking with this club.

“It is not the sort of football I like to see too much but I am delighted with the result. We have a really good group of players here, I love them all, and I feel they can do something special.”