Tom Wagner reacts in 3 words to Birmingham City's win over Sheffield United | OneFootball

Tom Wagner reacted on Instagram to Birmingham City's EFL Cup victory over Sheffield United on Wednesday night.

Birmingham City chairman Tom Wagner praised the players after Chris Davies’ side overcame Sheffield United to reach the second round of the EFL Cup.

Blues endured a frustrating start to the Championship campaign on Friday, as a late penalty meant Ipswich left St. Andrew’s with a point despite being second best for large parts of the game.

After that, attention turned to the cup, and Birmingham beat the Blades with goals from Kyogo Furuhashi and Jay Stansfield either side of a remarkable effort from Gustavo Hamer.

Tom Wagner reacts to Birmingham City’s 2-1 victory over Sheffield United

In truth, Blues should’ve won by a much bigger margin, with Davies selecting a strong side against their fellow promotion hopefuls, and only wasteful finishing kept the Yorkshire side in the game.

Kyogo, who was seemingly everywhere before being replaced by match-winner Stansfield, had a number of opportunities to add to his tally and notably failed to convert a one-on-one against Blades' shot-stopper Davies after racing through on goal.

However, the hosts continued to press after Hamer’s goal from the halfway line had cancelled out Kyogo’s opener, and they deservedly booked their place in the next round after Stansfield’s deflected shot in the 87th minute.

And, taking to his Instagram story, Wagner reacted to the win with a simple three-word message, as he stated ‘on the rise’.

Of course, this is a competition that means a lot to Blues following their memorable win over Arsenal at Wembley in 2011, and the win over Sheffield United has set up a home tie against Port Vale, which represents a great opportunity to reach the third round.

Wagner's message is one that will resonate with Bluenoses, too, with the simple three-word reaction epitomising the journey that Birmingham have been on over the last twelve months.

Birmingham City will hope to build momentum as they target promotion

Obviously, promotion to the Premier League is the main aim, but Davies has a big, talented squad at his disposal, so the cup will give him a chance to give players game time, even if he didn’t make as many changes as some expected against the Blades.

The team will take confidence from the way they played last night, and it’s always good to get a first win of the season on the board, particularly when they were so dominant in terms of creating chances.

Ultimately, since Davies’ appointment, he has developed a winning culture at the club, and even with the high turnover of players this summer, he will want that mentality to continue - so there were plenty of positives to take from the Sheffield United game.

Now, all focus is on Saturday's trip to Blackburn Rovers, with Blues set to be backed by over 7,000 fans at Ewood Park as they seek their first league win of the season.