Birmingham City 1-3 Stoke City: Potters give Steven Schumacher first win as boss

August deadline-day signing Lynden Gooch scored his second goal in three games

Stoke City won for the first time under new boss Steven Schumacher as the rampant Potters comfortably beat Birmingham City.

Schumacher won the battle of managerial wits with his former Everton academy contemporary Wayne Rooney to make it four points out of a possible six from his first two games in charge.

After starting with a disappointing 0-0 home draw against Millwall in his first game, Stoke struck twice in the first 31 minutes.

Jordan Thompson hit his first goal since Christmas 2020 before a second from Lynden Gooch put the visitors in command.

Andre Vidigal then added a third on 53 minutes - his first goal in three months - only for Birmingham top scorer Jay Stansfield to get one back on 69 minutes.

But Stoke closed the door again to leave Blues boss Rooney with a record of just two wins from his first 13 games in charge.

With his team booed off, and in the Championship's bottom six, Rooney is now urgently awaiting the transfer window to open in six days' time.

The defeat maintained Birmingham's poor Boxing Day record, being the seventh time in eight games they have failed to win, while Stoke have lost just one of their past eight Boxing Day league games - a 2-0 loss at St Andrew's under Gary Rowett in 2018.

Stoke's Jordan Thompson scored his first goal in three years, having not netted since 29 December 2020

Although Blues have so far only fleetingly shown what they might be capable of under Rooney, they did at least go into this fixture with a psychological edge.

The hosts had lost just two of their past 18 league matches against Stoke, who had not won at St Andrew's in 14 league matches since a 1-0 win under Mick Mills in October 1988.

The Potters had scored just one goal in their past nine visits to St Andrew's. But just after the half-hour mark, they had two.

After a break down the left, Gooch had an effort from the edge of the penalty area cleared off the line by Marc Roberts, but his clearance went only as far as Thompson, whose follow-up effort deflected in off Juninho Bacuna.

Stoke then doubled their lead when, less than 60 seconds after Vidigal had blasted over, they attacked again and Gooch got clear on the left side of the box to slide a low finish under keeper John Ruddy.

Vidigal seemed to have secured Schumacher's first win when he bagged goal number three, only for Stansfield's seventh goal of the season to give the home fans some hope.

But Blues never came close to adding any further goals - and many home fans were leaving long before the end.

Who's next?

Birmingham are at home again on Friday (19:45 GMT) against improving Bristol City.

Stoke, who leapfrogged above Blues into 18th, are away again on Friday night, at Watford (19:45).

Birmingham City boss Wayne Rooney told BBC Radio WM:

"It's hard to put into words. I didn't see that performance coming. I didn't recognise the team out there on the pitch.

"That's frustrating as, over the last few games we'd made some real strides - and this was difficult to take.

"We just weren't doing the right things, the basics. It wasn't lack of effort. That would be unfair to say. It was lack of game knowledge.

"Ideally, you wish you could have 11 subs - as I could have changed all 11 players at half-time."

Stoke City boss Steven Schumacher told BBC Radio Stoke:

"To come away from home and score three goals at such a tough place to come is really pleasing. If it had been a clean sheet, it would have been perfect.

"We looked threatening and dangerous and could have scored more. It's a good win against a team who I think are a good team.

"We played the same system we did against Millwall, but we had a bit more energy this time to play the attacking football we want.

"Birmingham play differently to Millwall, so there was a little more space for us to try and be positive."