Birmingham City’s 18-game unbeaten run in League One came to a halt at The Toughsheet Community Stadium with a 3-1 defeat to Bolton Wanderers.
Blues took the lead through Emil Hansson before John McAtee caught Bailey Peacock-Farrell out to equalise shortly before half-time. George Thomason and Aaron Collins scored in the second half to hand Bolton a deserved victory over league leaders Blues.
Stand-in goalkeeper Peacock-Farrell made a positive start to his first League One start since September to keep out Jordi Osei-Tutu early on after Taylor Gardner-Hickman had been outwitted by the Bolton wing-back.
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The other player who came into Blues’ line-up provided the game’s opening goal in the 23rd minute. Kieran Dowell and Willum Willumsson toyed with Bolton on the right before the latter threaded the ball through to Gardner-Hickman and his driven cross was converted by Hansson at the far post.
Blues had control of the game in the first half before Bolton equalised against the run of play and Peacock-Farrell didn’t cover himself in glory.
McAtee found space in behind the left side of Blues’ defence and ignored the options in the middle to beat Peacock-Farrell with a low shot at the near post.
McAtee found the net again a few minutes later after the ball ricocheted to him inside Blues’ penalty area but the assistant referee raised his flag for offside.
Bolton would have taken the lead straight after the restart had it not been for Ben Davies’ smart positioning. The on-loan Rangers man retreated to his goal-line to clear Aaron Morley’s shot with Peacock-Farrell beaten.
Bolton did take the lead four minutes into the second half through captain Thomason. A free kick from the left wasn’t cleared by Blues’ defenders and Thomason headed home from close range.
Chris Davies used all of his attacking substitutes by minute 67 in an attempt to change the flow of the match but Bolton didn’t relent.
Bolton substitute Joel Randall caught Blues out with an intelligent run in behind Alex Cochrane 20 minutes from time and pulled the ball back for Collins who turned inside his man and finished emphatically beyond the helpless Peacock-Farrell.
That Collins strike concluded the scoring on a night to forget for Blues. A first league defeat since November 23 will be hard to take for Davies, but Blues still have a nine-point cushion to second and a game in hand.
Bailey Peacock-Farrell 5
The goalkeeper is clearly lacking confidence and must take his share of the blame for McAtee’s equaliser having been beaten at his near post. Peacock-Farrell’s distribution wasn’t great, but we can’t hold him to the same standards with the ball at his feet as the exceptional Ryan Allsop.
Taylor Gardner-Hickman 6
Gardner-Hickman had a mixed bag at right-back. He got forward well in the first half and assisted Hansson’s winner but he was given the runaround by Osei-Tutu at times. Gardner-Hickman could quite easily have been sent off for a second yellow card twice before Chris Davies substituted him.
Christoph Klarer 6.5
Klarer defended very well against Collins a couple of times in the first half. You can’t put the blame at his and Davies’ door for this defeat.
Ben Davies 7
Davies looked classy in the first half and acquitted himself well after half-time, despite Bolton being in the ascendancy and Blues’ defenders being given little respite. The defender made one excellent clearance to prevent a goal just after half-time.
Alex Cochrane 6
Blues were caught out in behind Cochrane a couple of times and he looked jaded in the second half. Maybe the time has come to give Blues’ left-back a breather after a relentless schedule.
Tomoki Iwata 6.5
Iwata was excellent at times in the first half in the way that he regained possession and played one and two-touch passes. He lost control of the game after McAtee’s leveller against the run of play.
Paik Seung-ho 6.5
Paik had plenty of influence on the game in the first half and cleverly worked Blues up the pitch. The one criticism of the South Korean has been his scoring record and we are still waiting for him to open his account for the season.
Kieran Dowell 6
Dowell was involved in the build-up to Blues’ opener and played with invention in the first half. It wasn’t his best performance for the club, but Dowell showed some creativity.
Willum Willumsson 6.5
Willumsson’s performance wasn’t dissimilar to his showing against Wycombe. He was better in the first half and tailed off dramatically as the game wore on. He was heavily involved in Hansson’s goal with a nicely weighted pass for Gardner-Hickman to cross.
Emil Hansson 6
Hansson took his goal very well but he wasn’t that dangerous in possession. He was reluctant to take his man on and open up, which maybe isn’t surprising given his injury record this season.
Alfie May 5.5
The striker’s goalless run extended to 13 matches and he was always on the fringes of the match. May might return to the bench now that Stansfield is back.
SUBS
Alfons Sampsted (for Gardner-Hickman, 56) 5.5
Sampsted looked a little bit rusty having played very little football of late.
Luke Harris (for Hansson, 56) 6
Harris couldn’t provide any presents for Blues on his birthday in a lengthier outing than usual from the bench.
Jay Stansfield (for Dowell, 68) 6
The top scorer’s return was the overwhelming positive on a night where Blues didn’t hit their usual heights. Stansfield will surely start against Lincoln on Saturday.
Lukas Jutkiewicz (for May, 68) 6
Jutkiewicz put himself about in attack against one of his former clubs but the damage had been done.
Krystian Bielik (for Iwata, 81) N/A
Not used: Mayo, Hanley
Attendance: 23,023
