Brentford were beaten by an 89th-minute goal at Birmingham – only the second defeat under Dean Smith. Here’s how we rated the Bees players at St Andrew’s.
David Button: 6
Wasn’t tested until the 47th minute, by Viv Solomon-Otabor’s shot, but will be disappointed with the way he was so easily beaten by Jacques Maghoma’s opener shortly afterwards. Was left too exposed by his defence for the winning goal.
Maxime Colin: 6
Struggled occasionally against the pace of Solomon-Otabor, Maghoma and, in the second half, James Vaughan, as Birmingham seemed to target his side. Got forward well, though, delivering a great cross for Hofmann at 1-1.
James Tarkowski: 5
Made a sluggish start and never really recovered. He backed off Jon Toral as he fed Maghoma for the first goal and looked shattered as he tried to keep pace with half-time substitute Vaughan in the build up to the winner.
Harlee Dean: 5
Booked in the first half for a foul on Toral and his lax pass gave Birmingham the chance to counter for the winning goal. His battle with former team-mate Clayton Donaldson ended abruptly at half-time when the ex-Bees striker came off injured.
Jake Bidwell: 7
Fortunately escaped injury from the Toral tackle which Bees head coach Dean Smith reckoned was red card offence. Not at his best defensively at times but his crosses were dangerous.
Toumani Diagouraga: 6
A mixed display. Massively over-committed on one tackle which allowed Solomon-Otabor a shooting chance early in the second half and failed to track Maghoma’s run for the first goal. But his tenacious tackle and beautifully weighted pass set up a chance for Alan Judge, who wasted it.
Ryan Woods: 7
Scored having started on the right wing at Reading on Monday but couldn’t repeat the trick from a deeper, more central role this time. Did have a couple of sighters and one dangerous cross flashed across goal.
Sergi Canos: 6
Regained his place in the side following his spectacular winner at the Madejski Stadium and linked up play well, particularly when the Bees had a lot of possession in the first half. However, Birmingham’s deep-lying defence frustrated him and he was replaced with 10 minutes to go by Andy Gogia, for his first appearance since 17 October.
Alan Judge: 6
Will have been relieved that his long-range shot was fumbled by Tomasz Kuszczak and bundled in by Hofmann, given the glaring miss a few minutes earlier. The pain he felt, after hammering the ball into the stand when through on goal, was clear for all to see, as he sat in the Blues’ penalty box with his head in his hands. Busy on the ball but unusually inconsistent with his output.
John Swift: 6
Made a few good runs in the first half but lacked an end product, as Birmingham sat back and soaked up the early pressure.
Lasse Vibe: 6
One good effort which flashed just wide of the far post but other than that another difficult day for the Dane, whose touch too often let him down.
Philipp Hofmann: 7
Won’t score too many easier goals but he was in the right place when Kuszczak spilled Judge’s effort. Scuffed a difficult volley at 1-1.
This post was last modified on 04/01/2016