Brentford 0-2 Birmingham: Lee Carsley loses first game in charge

Lee Carsley tasted defeat in his first game in charge of Brentford after Clayton Donaldson and Michael Morrison sealed a 2-0 Birmingham win.

Morrison headed home a 71st-minute opener for the visitors before former Bees striker Donaldson chipped in their second deep into stoppage time.

Alan Judge rattled the crossbar late on for the hosts but Carsley and his side were left frustrated with a second successive Championship defeat at home.

Carsley - promoted to development coach to head coach on Monday after Marinus Dijkuizen was sacked - made two changes and adjusted the formation from the side that lost to Sheffield Wednesday at the weekend.

Jack O'Connell replaced the suspended James Tarkowski while Ryan Woods came in for Josh Clarke, and Konstantin Kerschbaumer was moved to right-midfield as Lasse Vibe joined Marco Djuricin up-front.

Austrian Djuricin missed the target from close-range twice in the opening 15 minutes before forcing Birmingham keeper Tomasz Kuszczak into two low saves before the half-hour mark.

David Cotterill and Donaldson threatened at the other end but Judge also forced a decent save from Kuszczak at the end of a goalless first period.

The disappointing Kerschbaumer shot over just after the break before Vibe forced Kuszczak to save, but only Judge came close again when he rattled the bar on 87 minutes.

Morrison rose to power in a corner with 19 minutes left and after Bees committed players forward in search of a leveller, Donaldson broke clean through at the death before lifting the ball over David Button.

The result sees Birmingham climb to fifth place in the Championship after nine matches, while Brentford are down in 19th.