Irish international on target as Birmingham frustrate Middlesborough

There was plenty of Irish involvement in the Championship this afternoon, but Scott Hogan was the only goalscorer.

TWO GOALS INSIDE three minutes early in the second half — one courtesy of Irish international Scott Hogan — secured Birmingham a 2-0 win on a frustrating afternoon for Neil Warnock’s Middlesbrough.

Warnock had hoped to enjoy a fourth straight win but the Middlesbrough boss was left wondering how Birmingham were able to take the comfortable lead after the restart.

Boro goalkeeper Joe Lumley was guilty of gifting Marc Roberts the opening goal for Birmingham eight minutes into the second half.

And Hogan scored his fourth of the season soon after to secure back-to-back wins to move Birmingham up to 14th in Sky Bet Championship.

That meant Middlesbrough’s hopes of moving back into the top six were dashed.

The game started slowly with neither side causing the goalkeepers trouble in the opening 20 minutes.

Birmingham, who ended a run of seven matches without a win by beating Swansea a week earlier, recorded the first effort when Jordan Graham curled over from distance.

A few minutes later striker Uche Ikpeazu headed wide at the other end for the home side when Onel Hernandez and Martin Payero had linked well down the left to create space to cross.

Middlesbrough felt Birmingham should have been reduced to 10 men soon after when defender Dion Sanderson, who had earlier been booked for pulling down Andraz Sporar, conceded a free-kick for wrestling Ikpeazu to the floor.

But referee Joshua Smith insisted that the error did not deserve a second caution and Sanderson survived.

Birmingham goalkeeper Matija Sarkic made the best save of the half when he dived right to push away Payero’s free-kick that threatened to fly straight in from a tight angle.

With seconds remaining of the first half Sarkic was on hand again to deny Jonny Howson from picking out the bottom left corner of the Montenegro goalkeeper’s net.

Birmingham showed plenty of nice touches in possession but were unable to create a meaningful opening for strikers Troy Deeney and Hogan during that opening period.

But Middlesbrough gave the visitors a helping hand soon after the restart when Lumley left his goal completely unguarded.

Lumley charged 12 yards from goal to try to punch a Graham free-kick into a crowded area and Roberts jumped first to head the ball into the empty net in the 53rd minute.

Less than three minutes later it was two when Deeney’s ball in behind the defence allowed Hogan to beat Lee Peltier and Sol Bamba to it before he slotted low and beyond Lumley.

Despite having 34 minutes remaining Middlesbrough could not find the spark required in the final third to pull level.

The nearest Sarkic came to conceding before the end was when he missed a deep cross into his area and Roberts was on hand to clear with red shirts lurking.

britain-soccer-league-cup Sean Maguire (file pic). Jon Super Jon Super

There was plenty of Irish involvement elsewhere in the Championship this afternoon; Sean Maguire and Alan Browne both helping Preston North End to a 2-0 win over Luton, while Richard Keogh’s Blackpool enjoyed a 1-0 away victory over the heavy Irish contingent at Sheffield United (John Egan and Enda Stevens played the full game, David McGoldrick came on, and Conor Hourihane was an unused substitute).

Meanwhile, Michael Obafemi was sprung from the bench and Ryan Manning chipped in with an assist as Swansea saw off Peterborough – for whom Sammie Szmodics and Jack Taylor started, with Conor Coventry among the subs – on a 3-0 scoreline, and Darragh Lenihan helped Blackburn to a 2-1 away win at Derby County, with Festy Ebosele introduced as a second-half sub for the Rams and Louie Watson held in reserve.

Sean McLoughlin came off the Hull City bench halfway through their 1-0 home defeat to Coventry, and Mark McGuinness started for Cardiff, with Joel Bagan an unused substitute, in their 3-3 draw with Stoke City. Callum O’Dowda and Max O’Leary were both unused subs in Bristol City’s 2-1 defeat to Barnsley, while Alex Pearce was likewise in Millwall’s 1-0 loss to Huddersfield.

Earlier today, Jayson Molumby and Callum O’Dowda came on for West Brom in the second half of their 3-0 loss to Fulham.

And tonight, AFC Bournemouth made it 15 league matches unbeaten this season as they regained their five-point advantage at the top of the Sky Bet Championship with a hard-earned 2-0 win at Reading.

Although the Royals dominated long spells of the first half, Bournemouth went in front in the 43rd minute when leading scorer Dominic Solanke headed home.

They increased their lead just before the hour mark when substitute Jamal Lowe curled in a low shot and held on for victory without any major alarm.