Birmingham City 2-1 Reading: Blues beat Royals to extend unbeaten run
- Published
Lukas Jutkiewicz's header made it 2-0 for the hosts
Birmingham City extended their unbeaten run in the Championship to 10 games by beating Reading.
Second-half goals from Gary Gardner and Blues' top scorer Lukas Jutkiewicz sealed the three points for Garry Monk's side at St Andrew's.
Gardner latched onto Michael Morrison's knock-down from a corner to fire into the back of the net before Jutkiewicz directed his header across the diving Anssi Jaakkola into the top corner.
Paul Clement's side got a goal back in stoppage time when Yakou Meite looped the ball over keeper Lee Camp, but City hung on to extend their unbeaten home run to 12 games.
The teams shared the chances in a hard-fought first half which ended goalless.
Meite came close for the visitors by forcing Camp to beat away his left-footed strike after he twisted and turned his way into the City penalty area.
Camp almost handed the Royals the lead when he misjudged and fumbled a 20-yard strike from Liam Kelly onto the post and behind for corner.
But the Royals gifted the hosts a corner when Tiago Ilori failed to keep Kelly's backpass from 40 yards out in play, which was converted by Gardner to make it 1-0.
Monk's side then took control of the game as Che Adams muscled off Ilori before he floated a cross for Jutkiewicz to steer past Reading shot-stopper Jaakkola.
The win extends Blues' unbeaten run in the Championship to 10 games, of which they have drawn six, which is the longest current run in the division.
Birmingham manager Garry Monk:
"We're realistic. Let's not forget this club, in three out of the last five years, has been fighting relegation on the last day.
"Our aim is to make sure we're not doing that, our aim is to make sure it's not a season where we're coming into the last day and there's the possibility of relegation.
"We've all got dreams and ambitions but let's be realistic. We're still very early.
"It's now three wins in a row and 10 unbeaten in any league is a hard thing to do. The effort and commitment in the second half was huge."
Reading manager Paul Clement told BBC Radio Berkshire:
"My overall feeling is we took a step forward again and now it's a step back, we are finding it really difficult to string together back-to-back performances.
"Win-win at this level is such a big thing to do both in terms of confidence but also what can happen with your position in the table.
"I think it was a missed opportunity tonight. I thought it would be a difficult game because they are a very hard side to beat.
"But when I saw the game developing and half we were playing and how they were playing I thought we've got a great chance.
"But they are a team that prey on your mistakes. They are happy to not have the ball and they capitalise on those errors and you know that's the story of the night."