Birmingham City 1-0 Brentford: Jeremie Bela gives Blues win
- Published
Jeremie Bela scored Birmingham's first goal of the Aitor Karanka era
Aitor Karanka made a winning Championship start to his reign as Birmingham City boss with victory over last season's losing play-off finalists Brentford.
Jeremie Bela scored the only goal, neatly flicking in a near-post header from Ivan Sanchez's whipped corner eight minutes before the break.
Birmingham, who also beat the Bees on the opening day last season, were impressive in the first half, with Bela earlier forcing a fine diving save from Luke Daniels with a shot from the edge of the box, while Jon Toral saw an effort blocked behind.
But Brentford arguably had the better openings as Josh Dasilva hit the post with a shot from outside the box and Bryan Mbeumo blazed over the bar from 15 yards.
The chances continued to come after the break, but the Bees, who missed out on promotion after losing to Fulham at Wembley on 4 August, were frustrated by a mixture of wasteful finishing and resilient Blues defending.
After Sergi Canos saw his acrobatic overhead kick hit the bar, teenage Birmingham keeper Zach Jeacock, making his debut after summer signing Andres Prieto suffered a calf injury, produced a fine double save to deny Emiliano Marcondes.
Mbeumo - the only remaining member of Brentford's BMW strikeforce of last season after Ollie Watkins' move to Aston Villa and Said Benrahma's omission ahead of a potential move - then fired a decent chance wide of the far post from an angle, and Pontus Jansson headed down and over from a corner.
Birmingham showed little as an attacking force after the break but held on to secure their first victory in 17 attempts in all competitions, dating back to their 1-0 win at Barnsley on 11 February.
But after losing at home to Cambridge in the Carabao Cup last weekend, former Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest boss Karanka will have been pleased to see his new side start their league campaign with three points and a clean sheet.
Brentford only showed flashes of the type of football they played on their way to the play-offs this season, with new striker Ivan Toney only getting occasional glimpses of goal.
Bees 'should have won' - post-match reaction
Birmingham City boss Aitor Karanka told BBC Radio WM:
"The effort of the players, the attitude they had on the pitch and on the bench where everyone was supporting their team-mates because they know the only way to be successful is when you are together.
"We showed we are a committed team on the pitch. It is a good step to build on.
"To win a game is always important and to keep a clean sheet is even more important because with team spirit, work ethic and quality players we will improve and win games."
Brentford boss Thomas Frank told BBC Radio London:
"We created seven big chances. Bryan Mbeumo had three - one on the six-yard box, one on the penalty spot and was played through one time - Emiliano [Marcondes] has a free header, Josh Dasilva hit the inside of the post, Sergio [Canos] hit the bar, Pontus [Jansson] had a big header - and that's without counting half chances.
"They scored on the only big chance they had. They had maybe one or two half chances and didn't create anything besides that.
"From that perspective I'm relatively satisfied. I'm never satisfied when we don't win but we need to look at the performance. We should have won."