Game Report: Birmingham City 1-2 Sheffield United

Yet again, Birmingham City failed to perform in front of its increasingly restless home crowd, losing in a rather uninspiring match with Sheffield United.

After a fairly tedious first half, in which the Blues managed just three total shots and the Blades none, things heated up in the second half. 60 minutes in Birmingham were denied a clear penalty for handball, but capitalized less than a minute later when Lyle Taylor slotted home a Juninho Bacuna pass to take the lead. Taylor has now scored twice in just two games for the Blues.

The lead was short-lived, though as Sheffield United finally woke up and responded with a Billy Sharp goal. Ten minutes after that Jaden Bogle gave them the lead, despite the objections of Lee Bowyer on the sidelines, who earned himself a yellow card for his trouble. His claims of offside were probably unfounded, however.

That proved the end of the scoring and the Blues went down to defeat. City now have just 6 points from their last 6 games, and remain mired in 17th place. The good news though is that the team should soon be back up to full strength. Notably, Manchester United loanee Tahith Chong, who has been out since mid-November, is back in training with the team and should be ready to play by the end of his month.

The big story remains the ongoing protests against the team’s ownership, which are now gaining national news attention in England. This time, many fans could be seen wearing blank white masks, representing the faceless Hong Kong ownership of the club.