Cheltenham Town 0-2 Birmingham City: Juninho Bacuna scores two in EFL Cup win

Juninho Bacuna had not scored for Birmingham City since Blues' 1-1 draw at Wigan Athletic in MarchImage source, Rex Features
Image caption,

Juninho Bacuna had not scored for Birmingham City since Blues' 1-1 draw at Wigan Athletic in March

Juninho Bacuna scored both Birmingham City goals in the space of eight first-half minutes as the Blues eased into the EFL Cup second round by beating League One side Cheltenham Town.

The midfielder put the Championship team ahead on 24 minutes with a right-foot shot into the bottom right corner, which deflected off defender Liam Smith past goalkeeper Luke Southwood.

Blues also had efforts blocked from Keshi Anderson and Koji Miyoshi, who was then tripped by former Blues defender Curtis Davies on the edge of the box seven minutes later.

It earned the much-travelled defender a yellow card on his Robins debut - one of six cautions.

And Bacuna then doubled City's lead on 32 minutes when he found the top left corner with a right-foot free-kick.

John Eustace's men were comfortably the better team on a night when the hosts failed to get a single shot on target.

Blues will host Leeds United on Saturday, when the club's new American owners will make their grand entrance, while Cheltenham will be at home to Bolton Wanderers.

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