Birmingham City vs Stoke City. Sky Bet Championship.
St. Andrew's StadiumAttendance21,640.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Birmingham City and Stoke City at St Andrew's on Boxing Day | Jordan Thompson fires in Potters opener before Lynden Gooch adds another; Andre Vidigal scores third and then Jay Stansfield pulls one back for hosts
Tuesday 26 December 2023 21:57, UK
Steven Schumacher claimed his first victory as Stoke manager with a 3-1 win at Birmingham to pile the misery on Blues boss Wayne Rooney.
Rooney has won just twice in 13 games, losing eight, since his appointment in October which has seen Birmingham slip to 19th in the Championship, seven points above the bottom three.
Stoke left-back Jordan Thompson fired in the opener at St Andrew's via a deflection after just 12 minutes before Lynden Gooch finished tidily from Ryan Mmaee's clever flick to prompt boos at the half-time whistle.
Andre Vidigal added the third with a deft chip shortly after the break although Birmingham were able to pull one back through Jay Stansfield, but it wasn't enough to inspire an unlikely comeback.
Schumacher claimed his first win in only his second match in charge, and the first since they beat Middlesbrough 2-0 on October 28.
Rooney can only look on in envy at the record of his former Everton youth team-mate as the former England and Manchester United captain has now taken nine points from a possible 39 available as Birmingham were jeered off.
Stansfield was twice denied as Birmingham started on the front foot but it was Stoke who stunned a raucous St Andrew's by taking the lead after just 12 minutes.
Skipper Gooch's shot was cleared off the line by Emanuel Aiwu after Vidigal's cross was allowed to travel right across Blues' box.
But the ball fell for Thompson, whose 25-yard bullet flew past goalkeeper John Ruddy into the bottom right-hand corner after being deflected off Juninho Bacuna.
Birmingham huffed and puffed as they tried to find a way back into the game.
Boos rang out from frustrated home fans as Vidigal ballooned over on the half-hour mark when he should have scored as Birmingham's back-four disappeared yet again.
The boos rang right around the ground just a minute later as Gooch darted down the left in a lightning counter before coolly slotting under Ruddy to double Stoke's lead.
James held his head in his hands after coming within a whisker of sliding home Aiwu's fantastic ball deep into the first 45, but Vidigal nearly bagged a third for the visitors as he volleyed just over with Ruddy well off his line on the brink of half-time.
Marc Roberts wasted the chance to pull one back when he headed Bacuna's dinked ball wide from five yards and Birmingham were made to pay a heavy price as the Potters made it 3-0 after 54 minutes.
Wouter Burger fed Vidigal, who twisted inside skipper Dion Sanderson before lifting the ball over Ruddy to send shell-shocked Birmingham fans heading for the exits.
Stoke supporters chanted "You're getting sacked in the morning" at Rooney as the Blues struggled to lay a glove on them.
Ruddy smothered at the feet of Mmaee before the hosts grabbed a goal back after 69 minutes through Stansfield.
Teenage substitute Romelle Donovan, 17, saw his effort saved by keeper Jack Bonham after a brilliant mazy run before the loose ball was swept in by Stansfield.
Birmingham's Wayne Rooney:
"Ideally, you wish you could have 11 subs as I could have changed all 11 players at half-time.
"We just weren't doing the right things - the basics. It wasn't lack of effort, that would be unfair to say. It was lack of game knowledge.
"It's hard to put into words. I didn't see that performance coming. I didn't recognise the team out there on the pitch.
"It's frustrating because over the last few games we'd made some real strides, so this was difficult to take.
"It wasn't the result, or the performance, or anything we wanted to be honest. It was unrecognisable in the way we played.
"I felt the players didn't want to take the ball, they didn't press the way we wanted them to.
"The goals we conceded were crazy and we didn't deserve anything out of the game."
Stoke's Steven Schumacher:
"What we've tried to do with the lads is just set some pretty basic, simple ground rules.
"These are about how we're going to try to behave at the training ground and what we expect, what are the non-negotiables and how we're going to try to play, with and without the ball.
"We showed some bits of quality so that was really pleasing and we managed to do enough to get the three points that we desperately wanted and needed.
"When you come into a job, you're desperate just to get the first win and we've done that now."
