Birmingham City boss Chris Davies on 'deserved winners' of Leeds United cup tie and penalty shout
Leeds United were made to fight for their place in the FA Cup fifth round by Championship opposition.
Birmingham City boss Chris Davies says Leeds United would have had no complaints had they exited the FA Cup at St Andrews rather than winning on penalties.
The Blues were dominant in the first half, leading Whites boss Daniel Farke to admit Davies' men were the better side. Goalkeeper Lucas Perri pulled off a fine save from dangerman Jay Stansfield, tipping the ball onto the woodwork, and the hosts were unable to turn possession and territory into a lead. Instead they went behind in the second half as Lukas Nmecha rifled in an opener.
It wasn't until the final minute of regulation time that Birmingham found a breakthrough, Patrick Roberts' long-range effort deflecting off James Justin's head to beat Perri and level the tie. And when extra-time failed to split the sides, penalties were required. Neither Tommy Doyle nor Roberts were able to find the net and Leeds were perfect from the spot, scoring all four of their efforts to reach the fifth round.
"It's a word I used to the players after but don't use a lot - I'm proud of them, think we should be," said Davies after. "There's a tinge of frustration there, we were deserved winners in terms of the overall chances. We should have probably won that. We played Newcastle at a similar stage last season and they came away from us in the last 20 minutes. Today we were there to the very end. We had all the grit and fight we wanted and showed quality."
Birmingham made it difficult for their top flight visitors from the off and kept their crowd in it. All they were guilty of was wastefulness at crucial moments, particularly late on as Ibrahim Osman got the ball in some golden positions without taking full advantage.
"I was really happy with how we started, really aggressively, quick on the ball, moving it well," said Davies. "We were straight up there [to the speed of a Premier League team], pressed them really well, had them going long which isn't like them. We were dominating. I was really pleased with that. The keeper makes a really good save from Stansfield's volley. We should have been up at half-time. We kept going. You try and dig in a goal down, threw everything at it, went for it and got our reward. Penalties you've got to execute as well as you can, it can happen."
Birmingham boss on wasted chances and penalty shout
Davies was left to rue a last-gasp miss prior to extra-time, when Osman hit the post and Kanya Fujimoto's follow up was blocked by Jaka Bijol.
"It's hit the post, it's gone across and I saw it in slow motion really," he said. "I don't know if he can do much more, get it either side of the defender, it's a good block, a big block. If that goes in we don't have extra-time. Had that gone in we'd have won 2-1 I don't think there'd be any complaints from anyone."
Leeds' tactical changes at half-time and later on as Farke changed his formation surprised Davies, while the visitors' goal disappointed him because he felt it was soft. And though he had not yet had the benefit of a replay to be certain, his gut feeling was Birmingham should have had a penalty for an Ethan Ampadu push in the box.
"I did, I made that point [to the fourth official]," he said. "I haven't watched it back but that was my instinct, I thought it was [a penalty]."