Birmingham City 1-3 Bournemouth: David Brooks double helps Cherries beat Blues
- Published
David Brooks's had only scored one goal in 17 months - in a 2-1 loss to Manchester City last season - before his double at St Andrews
David Brooks' double helped Bournemouth move up to fourth in the Championship after a comfortable win at Birmingham City.
Arnaut Danjuma gave the Cherries an early lead as he calmly finished Junior Stanislas' through-ball after some good build-up play.
Brooks doubled the lead shortly before the break when his effort from 25 yards deflected off Marc Roberts and wrong-footed Blues goalkeeper Neil Etheridge
The Wales winger's second followed soon after the restart as he lashed home off the underside of the bar after reacting first to Dominic Solanke's powerful shot coming back off the post before Blues pulled one back five minutes later when Scott Hogan glanced home Jeremie Bela's free-kick.
The win was only the second in seven games for Bournemouth, while Birmingham drop to 17th place after a fourth loss in seven games.
Bournemouth were good value for their victory and could have had more than their three goals - the first time they have scored that many in more than a month.
Jason Tindall's side would have been further ahead before half-time had Etheridge not saved well from Solanke after 28 minutes, while Jefferson Lerma curled an effort over soon after.
Gary Gardner headed wide five minutes before the break for the hosts and Bournemouth keeper Asmir Begovic had to tip a cross around the post after it took a deflection off Diego Rico.
Blues tried to force a second goal with the scores at 3-1, but it was the Cherries who finished stronger with Etheridge saving well from Lerma 12 minutes from the end.
Birmingham City head coach Aitor Karanka told BBC WM:
"They are a team who we can't compare to because they have been working for many years with the same style but we have only been working for three months and we're building.
"The most important thing was the attitude and in some aspects of the game we were competitive but the second goal maybe killed us.
"I knew that Scott had a lack of confidence so the goal today was perfect for him."
Bournemouth manager Jason Tindall told BBC Radio Solent:
"We were disappointed with the result against Sheffield Wednesday and we put that behind us to take three points I thought we thoroughly deserved.
"The early goal gave us a lot of confidence because we knew Birmingham are a deep-block team and that opened them up a little.
"We spoke about our attacking play and taking our opportunities so I'm delighted to score three and deliver a really good winning performance."