Birmingham 1-0 Nottingham Forest: Che Adams lifts Blues out of bottom three

Che Adams lifted Birmingham out of the bottom three by scoring the only goal in their 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest.

The air of indecision which had previously existed at St Andrew's was banished with a vastly improved display, stimulated by Adams' fifth-minute strike. Nottingham Forest, who had won four of their previous six games to romp up the Championship table, produced some fine attacking play but could not find a way past the home defence.

Birmingham, without a win in four going into the game, displayed little anxiety as they made a blistering start. They had failed to score in their last four matches, stretching back to October 13, and there was an obvious determination to make amends for this dreadful record.

The result was that they stormed into an early lead thanks to a superb goal from Adams, which capped an aggressive attacking onslaught. Sam Gallagher set up the move with an astute pass to put Adams in the clear. The former Sheffield United forward calmly pulled the ball back and scored with a low angled shot into the far corner of the net.

Boosted by this early lead Birmingham should have gone further in front but Adams failed to take advantage of a low cross from Gallagher. Forest's response was some strong play in which Ben Brereton was heavily involved. The 18-year-old's best effort was a shot which was deflected just over the crossbar by Marc Roberts, while a powerful low drive from Tyler Walker was well saved by Tomasz Kuszczak.

Birmingham, however, quickly regrouped and it was obvious that Adams was proving a handful, particularly for Forest defender Joe Worrall. It was Adams who set up Maikel Kieftenbeld for another goalscoring opportunity, while Gallagher, operating on the left, also made a major contribution with his best performance since his arrival on loan from Southampton.

But Birmingham's initial flush of enthusiastic forward play began to wane as Forest slowly got to grips with the game, and they started to build some promising attacks, with Ben Osborn going close.

Birmingham displayed their commitment with Jota and Marc Roberts both going close to adding a second goal just before the break. Forest pushed for a second-half equaliser and put Birmingham's defence under considerable pressure, with the result that the home side struggled to reproduce their earlier attacking flair.

Barrie McKay, Jason Cummings and Zach Clough all had chances for Forest but Birmingham, with their backs to the wall, held out for a much-needed win.

The managers

Birmingham assistant Lee Carsley: "Che is a good finisher and if he is to up his goals tally he needs to get into more goalscoring positions.With his ability, what he needs is more and more goals and to really build up his reputation. The good thing about Adams is that he has a good attitude and wants to improve.

"The world is a better place with a win on a Saturday. What we need to do is to follow up this win at Middlesbrough on Wednesday with the mindset that we can go away and get a result. That will be the test."

Mark Warburton: "It is all about taking rewards. We gave away a soft goal when we made a mistake after five minutes. We gave our opponents something to cling onto and gave ourselves a hill to climb. In the second half there was only one team in the game. It is about taking your rewards. We lacked a little bit of finesse and quality with the final pass and strike.

"Birmingham had lost four games and we knew they would be scrapping for their lives. We were aware that during the international break would have worked on certain things. They have some talented players but it is hard to gel in a high number of new players and form the unity you need."

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