Birmingham boss Chris Davies: That’s the best we’ve played this season

Chris Davies claimed Birmingham’s four-goal show was their best performance of the season as Portsmouth were deservedly beaten 4-0 at St Andrew’s.

The home boss was delighted on a number of different fronts as three set-piece goals laid the groundwork for this victory.

Paik Seung-ho, Tomoki Iwata and Christoph Klarer all found the net from dead-ball situations. Keshi Anderson’s deflected late fourth added gloss to the scoreline.

Birmingham even overcame the disappointment of Jay Stansfield’s missed fifth-minute penalty to take the spoils.

Davies said: “Obviously, that’s the best we’ve played this season.

“I don’t think they had a shot at our goal and we had probably six or seven big chances.

“So there was a lot in there. And a lot I’m happy about because I think it’s been coming.

“We’ve been close in games, it’s been tight and it’s come down to fine margins, but I’m pleased we managed to bring that all together today.”

Davies was particularly happy that practice paid off on the training ground.

He added: “We’ve spent a bit more time on set-pieces this week because last week against Bristol City there was nothing in the game.

“We had six corners, they had none. I told the players that if we score one out of those six, the game’s different.

“Maybe we draw, maybe we win. They can unlock a game. So we’ve been working on them and the three deliveries were very good.

“They don’t always come off, but we have been practising them.”

Birmingham took a ninth-minute lead when Paik nodded home Alex Cochrane’s corner from the right.

Iwata stole in at the near post to flick home the second just after the interval from Tommy Doyle’s corner on the left.

Klarer headed the third in the 61st minute from Cochrane’s left-wing free-kick before Anderson’s deflected fourth two minutes from time.

While Davies was a picture of contentment, Pompey chief John Mousinho was anything but.

Asked if his team had a problem at set-pieces, he replied: “Yes,” before delivering a brutal verdict.

He said: “We were really poor and deserved everything we got. We could have lost it by more.

“We started extremely badly and gave ourselves a mountain to climb.

“Birmingham missed a penalty early on and then the ball is in our net from a set-piece because we don’t actually deal with it.

“They were all over us. But we got some good possession towards the end of the first half and we had a foothold in the game.

“Getting in at half-time just one down was a pretty good result considering some of the chances Birmingham had.

“That gave us a chance. But it was probably worse in the second half than it was in the first.”