Birmingham below usual standards - Davies

Birmingham City head coach Chris Davies admits his side looked "disjointed" as they were knocked out of the EFL Cup following a 1-0 loss to Port Vale.

Davies made 10 changes to the starting XI that beat Oxford United 1-0 on Saturday. However, Vale took advantage of their rotated rivals through a single headed goal from Jaheim Headley just before half-time.

The loss marked Blues' first competitive defeat since the EFL Trophy Final against Peterborough in April.

"There's disappointment there, that was well below our normal level," Davies told BBC Radio WM.

"I made 10 changes to the team, a lot of new faces, a few debuts so there was a lot going on. We looked quite disjointed, we weren't quite as fluid as we normally are."

Despite Birmingham having 69.9% possession and the most touches inside the opposition's box at 20 compared to Vale's 14 - the League One champions weren't able to produce a shot on target.

"We know we can play better than that and they can play better than that." Davies added.

"Although there was a lot of change. Some of them haven't played a lot and we're trying to bring it all together with three games in a week to make sure we have enough energy for all three.

"We couldn't quite find that rhythm that we normally have and that continued into the second half despite a few substitutions. We couldn't find that normal presence around their box and threat on their goal."

Listen to the full interview with Chris Davies on BBC Sounds