Birmingham boss on losing to Newcastle United, player stretchered off and goal over the line?

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The Mag

·9 febbraio 2025

Birmingham boss on losing to Newcastle United, player stretchered off and goal over the line?

Birmingham boss Chris Davies has been reflecting on his team losing 3-2 to Newcastle United.

The home side taking the lead in the opening minute but Newcastle United the eventual victors.

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Eddie Howe’s side clearly deserving the victory overall, although Birmingham made it a pretty even contest the first half.

After the break Newcastle dominating and they could and should have won by more the eventual one goal winning margin.

Chris Davies after Birmingham 2 Newcastle 3:

“It’s never nice to lose a game of course but I’m just so proud of the players for the efforts they gave.

“I think they [Newcastle United] were right in a game, right until the very end, and there were periods where I thought we were the better team.

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t win it, but I’m very proud of the players.

“In terms of football, I think we were as good as Newcastle on that side of things.

“We had periods where we were a bit lower in the pitch, naturally, but I thought we were well organised for that, and we did jump in and press well.

“We didn’t change who we were and that’s really important for the players’ confidence.

“I know what it’s like here now, the atmosphere is amazing, the fans even at the end were supporting the boys and obviously it means a lot to us.

“To see the support from the fans is incredible, but when that first goal went in or Tomoki’s goals, these are the nights and the moments we want.

“Football is about memories, and we gave the fans some memories tonight.”

Chris Davies on Marc Leonard, the Birmingham player ironically the one to get injured following a reckless out of control challenge on Lewis Miley:

“It’s a deep gash to the knee.

“Whether there’s any other issue there I’m not sure, but it was an unlucky sort of incident, I don’t think there was any malice there [from Lewis Miley], it was just unfortunate, but it was a really painful one, so he’s getting treated.”

Chris Davies on the Newcastle United equaliser from Joe Willock that was adjudged to have crossed the line:

“I have not actually seen the footage everyone’s talking about.

“It sounds like it was inconclusive as to whether it was over [the line] or not.

“In that case, it’s a 50-50 chance it goes in your favour and it’s gone in their favour.

“You could say it’s a bit harsh in that sense but there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Birmingham 2 Newcastle 3 – Saturday 8 February 2025 5.45pm

(Stats via BBC Sport)

Goals:

Newcastle United:

Willock 21, 82 Wilson 26

Birmingham:

Laird 1, Iwata 40