Scotland international duo embroiled in opening day drama as ex-Celtic hero makes debut impact

The Portman Road outfit are favourites for promotion this term, but faced a tough opening day challenge against the big spending Blues, who included ex-Celtic duo Kyogo Furuhashi and Tomoki Iwata in their starting XI. Former Hearts defender Alex Cochrane also started the game for the home side, while Scotland international Lyndon Dykes was named on the bench.

Despite the visitors entering the game as favourites, it was the home side who enjoyed the lion’s share of the chances. It was no surprise when they took the lead in the 55th minute through Jay Stansfield, with Furuhashi - who joined Birmingham from Rennes for a reported fee of £5million in the summer - directly involved in the goal. The Japanese forward’s was unlucky to see his audacious chip bounce back off the inside post, only to see it slammed home by his strike partner in front of the raucous home crowd.

However, just as it looked like the three points would be staying in the Midlands, Birmingham were dealt a late blow in the dying embers of the game. In the 93rd minute, referee Andrew Kitchen adjudged that the ball had hit the arm of substitute Dykes, who had replaced Stansfield in seven minutes from time, and his Scotland international teammate Hirst made no mistake from 12-yards out to level the scores.

“I felt fine,” said Hirst when questioned about his late pressure penalty. “That’s what I get paid to do. That’s my bread and butter. Their centre-half said it was a rubbish penalty, but in slightly different terms. But it went in the back of the net, and that’s all that matters at the end of the day. We fought it out. We knew what it was going to be coming here. We stuck in, got the point, and now we move on.”

Birmingham head coach Chris Davies admitted his side were disappointed to concede so late in the game, and felt that ex-Livingston striker Dykes was extremely unlucky to see a penalty given against him. “I watched it back on the video,” admitted Davies. “It’s extremely harsh. You could go around all the games at the weekend, and you’ll not see many of those given. It’s also the context of it, that late in the game as well. It’s more painful. It is really harsh.

“You can see he goes up there, and it scrapes his finger. I haven’t seen that angle actually - that makes it ridiculous. But you know, over the course of the season, you’ll get that back your way. So we can’t just talk about that, there’s a lot of good to talk about the game.”

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