Report | Birmingham City 2 Swansea City 1
Ten-man Swansea City showed tremendous character but were denied a point at St Andrew’s as Jay Stansfield’s late deflected strike gave Birmingham City the spoils.
Vitor Matos’ side had missed a penalty and struck the post as they made the better start, but then lost Marko Stamenic to a red card in the 26th minute, and conceded a Jay Stansfield goal soon after.
The visitors bravely kept themselves in the game and drew level when Christoph Klarer put a corner into his own net.
However, there was late heartbreak for the Swans as – seconds after losing Goncalo Franco with what looked to be a bad hamstring injury – Stansfield’s deflected strike flew into the net to leave them with nothing to show for a herculean effort.
The Swans had shown four changes from the midweek defeat at Portsmouth as captain Ben Cabango, Jisung Eom, Moussa Yeo and Ross Stewart all came into the starting line-up.
The hosts, meanwhile, were unchanged from the win over Millwall that had moved them into the automatic promotion places.
The Swans were presented with an early opportunity to take the lead when Alex Cochrane was adjudged to have fouled Jenson Seelt in the area after manhandling him at a corner.
Stewart stepped up to take the spot-kick but saw his effort saved low to his left by Ryan Allsop.
A goal would have rewarded a composed Swansea start, and they went agonisingly close when Eom swung in an excellent cross and Franco glanced a header beyond the keeper but against the inside of the post.
Their frustrations only grew as Stamenic was dismissed by referee Anthony Backhouse after a strong challenge on Ethan Laird in which he won the ball and appeared to make little if any contact with the Birmingham man.
Swansea woes were only added to when Stansfield then swept in the opener from Birmingham’s first real attack, the striker arriving to dispatch Patrick Roberts’ pull-back.
It nearly got worse for the visitors, but Lawrence Vigouroux made a brilliant double save to deny Liam Millar and Max Bird in quick succession.
After that succession of body blows, the Swans regathered themselves with Filip Lissah forcing Allsop to parry away his firm drive from 25 yards.
That started a strong end to the half with Yeo, Stewart and Fulton prominent in giving the Swans a foothold and ability to build attacks with the ball, with Vigouroux denying Roberts again in stoppage time to ensure his side trailed by just a solitary goal at the interval.
Matos sent on Josh Key for Eom at the break as the Swans switched to five at the back.
The hosts had Laird booked for a blatant dive as he and Josh Tymon closed in on a ball on the left side of the Swansea area.
Elijah Just and Zan Vipotnik were the next Swansea subs to be introduced as the hour mark came and went with the visitors battling hard to keep themselves in with a chance of getting something from the contest.
Carlos Vicente curled an ambitious effort over the Swansea bar, but Key’s pace was giving the Swans an outlet to lift pressure and get up the pitch.
And one such surge won the corner from which the equaliser came.
Tymon delivered and the ball came through to strike Klarer and bobble into the Birmingham net.
Key was soon causing problems again, winning another corner that was just over the head of Ben Cabango, who had got ahead of keeper Allsop.
Heading into the final 15 minutes and the visitors began to have to deal with sustained pressure. Key made an important block as Stansfield set his sights.
But the striker would land the decisive blow in the final moments of the 90 as a final Swansea push in the eight minutes of added time came up short.
Swansea City: Lawrence Vigouroux; Filip Lissah, Ben Cabango (captain), Jenson Seelt, Josh Tymon; Jay Fulton (Melker Widell 80), Marko Stamenic, Goncalo Franco (Joseph Opoku 86); Moussa Yeo (Elijah Just 60), Jisung Eom (Josh Key 46), Ross Stewart (Zan Vipotnik 60).
Unused Substitutes: Andy Fisher, Tom Iorpenda, Adam Idah, Carter Heywood.
Birmingham City: Ryan Allsop, Ethan Laird (Luis Vazquez 78), Christoph Klarer (captain), Phil Neumann, Jhon Solis (Paik Seung-ho 69), Patrick Roberts (Carlos Vicente 60), Liam Millar (Demarai Gray 60), Max Bird (Marvin Ducksch 69), Alex Cochrane, Tomoki Iwata, Jay Stansfield.
Unused Substitutes: Bradley Mayo, Taylor Gardner-Hickman, Dael Fry, Bright Osayi-Samuel,
Referee: Anthony Backhouse
Attendance: 28,005 (1957 away)