'I was in disbelief' - Birmingham boss' view on pair of controversial calls in Bristol City draw

Bristol City secured their first point of the Championship season in a chaotic 2-2 draw with Birmingham City at St Andrew's on Saturday lunchtime. The Robins had been the team in the ascendancy for much of the clash, but a late comeback from the Blues left the visitors with mixed emotions.

Demarai Gray scored a late penalty to secure a draw for Birmingham City and deny Bristol City their first win of the season. Chris Davies has admitted he was left in 'disbelief' that Birmingham City's late leveller in their draw with Bristol City was ruled out for an offside, while offering his view on two controversial decisions that occurred late in the contest.

The Robins secured their first point of the Championship season, and Michael Skubala's tenure in a chaotic fashion at St Andrew's on Saturday lunchtime, with a Scott Twine goal and a spectacular Dom Ballard strike ultimately cancelled out in a 2-2 draw. Ballard's first in City colours, an audacious back-heeled volley, restored the Reds' lead in the 86th minute, after a Sam Tickle own-goal, and looked to have wrapped up the points.

Birmingham, however, appeared to pull level with just two minutes of regular time to play, when Jhon Solis headed home from a corner. Long after goal celebrations had got underway, referee Will Finnie ruled out the equaliser, adjudging that Marvin Ducksch had impeded Tickle from an offside position. Birmingham were given one final chance to salvage a point, though, when Finnie pointed to the penalty spot in the third minute of injury time.

As explained by Skubala in his post-match press conference, the officials believed that Jason Knight had handled the ball inside the penalty area, therefore conceding the penalty from which Demarai Gray scored. The Robins boss believed the ball had come off the head of substitute Rob Atkinson, not his captain's shoulder. His Blues counterpart, however, sat on the other side of the fence.

Speaking to our sister publication, Birmingham Live, post-match, Davies said, 'The disallowed goal… I would have been furious, to be honest. I was in disbelief that they would disallow that goal from Jhon Solis for something involving the goalkeeper. 'I just don’t see it, and I don’t think they even appealed for it. That would have been very painful.'

On the penalty decision, the Blues boss added, 'We forced an error [and] there was a handball. We forced it with a bit of a melee in the box, and I think that’s a penalty that we deserved. 'It was a pretty eventful end.'

After a disappointing season-opener against Millwall, the Reds had been the team in the ascendancy for much of Saturday lunchtime's clash at St Andrew's. Twine's opener shortly after the half-hour mark came after each of the attacking midfielder, Rob Dickie, and Lorent Tolaj had spurned chances to hand Skubala's side the lead. Picked out in the centre of the box by a Dickie nod-down, the 27-year-old saw an initial header blocked, before slotting into the bottom right corner.

Birmingham were level before the break when Carlos Vicente's left-footed strike struck the post and rebounded up into the back of Tickle on its way into the back of the net. Despite that setback, the Robins had the better of the opportunities after the restart, before Ballard's moment of magic. Picked out with his back to goal by a Rio Cardines cross, last season's League One top goalscorer volleyed beyond the outstretched James Beadle with his heel to find the top corner. It was a goal that would have been fit to win the game, and it would have, had it not been for Blues' late comeback, which left Davies with mixed emotions.

'I’ve got mixed feelings,' the Birmingham head coach explained. 'The one side is obviously we came back, but as I said to the players, that was quite a way below our level, and we have to be honest about that and reflect on why and what we could have done better. 'The fluency of our attacking play; [with] 65 per cent of the ball, I would want us to generate more chances. We are obviously using set-pieces a little bit more, which can break the flow up, but I would want us to generate more chances. 'On the flip side, we ended up giving quite a few counter-attacking chances away. It reminds me in some ways of my first game against Reading in League One, which we drew to get a point with a late penalty. We had a similar kind of performance. 'Perhaps it’s that first-day feel, [with] the tension, expectation and everything, that contributed to that level of performance. It wasn’t the worst, but it could have been a lot better.

Bristol City's recent form has seen them win two of their last five games, with a draw and two losses in between. They currently sit 12th in the Championship, 33 points behind leaders Coventry, with 59 goals scored and 59 conceded this season. Their last result was a 2-0 win over Stoke City on May 2nd.

Bristol City drew 2-2 with Birmingham City at St Andrew's on Saturday lunchtime, with Demarai Gray scoring a late penalty to secure a point for the visitors.

Why it matters for Bristol City

The draw was a disappointing result for the Robins, who had been in the ascendancy for much of the game. The late comeback from the Blues will be a concern for Michael Skubala and his team, who will need to regroup and refocus for their next game.

Bristol City will look to bounce back from this disappointing result when they take on their next opponent. They currently sit 12th in the Championship, 33 points behind leaders Coventry, with 59 goals scored and 59 conceded this season. Their recent form has seen them win two of their last five games, with a draw and two losses in between.