Birmingham City 0-3 Barnsley
- Published
Barnsley striker Sam Winnall scored twice at St Andrew's as Championship promotion contenders Birmingham City lost for the first time in five games.
The Tykes led on 38 minutes when Barnsley defender Marc Roberts headed in from close range.
But Blues buckled after home midfielder David Davis was red-carded for his second booking on 71 minutes.
Davis's former Wolves youth team-mate Winnall then cashed in, scoring twice in the final six minutes.
Barnsley took the lead seven minutes from the interval when Davis was booked for a foul on Sam Morsy and Roberts found the bottom corner after getting his head on Conor Hourihane's resulting right-wing free-kick.
Off-colour Blues had a penalty shout on Lukas Jutkiewicz turned down before he became part of a double substitution on the hour which brought on Greg Stewart and Che Adams.
But Barnsley twice went close, Hourihane putting his curling shot just over and Tom Bradshaw's shot being tipped over by home keeper Tomasz Kuszczak, before Davis was sent off, following his foul on James Bree.
Winnall was then twice set up by Hourihane to head home, on 84 and 87 minutes, to end Barnsley's poor run, earning them their first win in five games, while Blues lost at St Andrew's for the first time in eight league matches.
Birmingham City manager Gary Rowett:
"We were not good enough, although 3-0 flatters them. We had opportunities and caused them problems. You could see that they had not won for a while and they were determined to do something about it.
"We have not played well in the last three or four games. We got results, but didn't play well enough and, against Barnsley, it was a culmination of not playing well.
"We have lost four games in 18 matches, so there is not too much wrong, but against Barnsley we were nowhere near that level."
Barnsley boss Paul Heckingbottom:
"For the last two weeks we have been working really hard on set-pieces. It is important and it paid off against Birmingham.
"We have only had one defeat in six games. We've only had two matches this season when we have not been in the game.
"This is the level of performance you need to be successful in the Championship. Sometimes you have to admit that is not good enough against some teams with the quality they possess."
- Published26 November 2016
- Published25 November 2016