Birmingham manager Chris Davies says his side are in a strong position to be promoted from League One after extending their lead at the top of the table to 12 points with a 1-0 win over second-placed Wycombe.
An impressive strike from Taylor Gardner-Hickman, after 21 minutes, proved to be enough to win the game against their nearest challengers, who were reduced to 10 men before half-time when midfielder Xavier Simons was shown a straight red by referee Ben Toner for a dangerous challenge on Birmingham full-back Ethan Laird.
The result extended Birmingham’s unbeaten league run to 18 games, and they are also 14 points ahead of Wrexham in third place.
Davies said: “We’ve put ourselves in a strong position from our point of view, and I’ve said to the players that it’s not a case of slowing down, it’s about speeding up now.
“I don’t want to change anything about what we do, we’ll push ourselves individually and as a team to improve, because we can still improve.
“Anyone would say this is an important win against a team who are also flying high. They’re having a great season. But we can win this and lose the next one, if that happens, you’ll wonder if this mattered. It was a big game, and we know what this result means, but for me, it’s all about keeping a level of consistency.”
Davies praised Gardner-Hickman’s volleyed strike after the player scored in successive games for his first Birmingham goals.
The Birmingham manager added: “His positioning was good, he was disciplined, he made his decision and executed it. Then it was all about technique, taking the ball on the chest, controlling it and then volleying it. The quality was too much for the goalkeeper.
“We’re dangerous when we’ve got the ball, but we can also play it over and that makes if difficult for teams to know how to play against us.
“I’ve worked with top keepers at Premier League level, and Ryan Allsop’s up there, he does have that real quality to pick someone out and make those decisions. Ryan had to be really dominant in goal, and with his feet, he’s exceptional.”
Wycombe manager Mike Dodds were more concerned with the manner of the goal his side conceded than he was with Simons’ sending off in first-half stoppage time.
He said: “From my point of view, I’ve had five games now and we’ve been really solid in all the games, and it boils my blood, I’ll be honest with you, when we concede goals that are so simple like that.
“When you do all your work in the week to be really organised and diligent and you concede such an easy goal. So I’m frustrated, it’s really poor from my perspective.
“We try to nullify their threats, to sum it up; it’s not something either me, nor this football club, should be associated with.
“I don’t want to say it’ll never happen again, but we’re all aware that it’s nowhere near good enough.
“The red card changed the whole complexity of the game, we had to shuffle the pack and change our game plan, but I thought our second-half display was really good. I showed me that we have more than enough and we’ll be fine this season.
“Had it not been for the red card, would the game have been different? Maybe. But, the type of person I am, I don’t dwell on the past.”
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