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Birmingham logo
Championship | Gameweek 8
Oct 28, 2020 at 7.45pm UK
St. Andrew's Stadium
Huddersfield logo

Birmingham
2 - 1
Huddersfield

Gardner (27'), Jutkiewicz (90')
Sunjic (35'), San Jose (75')
FT(HT: 1-0)
Mbenza (85')
Diakhaby (19')

Aitor Karanka lavishes praise on Lukas Jutkiewicz after late winner

The striker returned from a positive coronavirus test to seal Blues' victory.

Birmingham head coach Aitor Karanka hailed Lukas Jutkiewicz after the striker scored a last-minute winner in a 2-1 victory over Huddersfield following his recovery from Covid-19.

Jutkiewicz, who missed two games recently after testing positive, came off the bench to give Birmingham their first win in seven games after Isaac Mbenza cancelled out Gary Gardner's opener.

"I am so pleased for Jukey," said Karanka. "He was ready to play the first day he went home (self-isolating).

"We were in touch with him and he was desperate to come back. He felt bad on one or two days but the rest of the time he was working the way the doctors allowed him to.

"He's a player who can score and we know when he's on the pitch he will always give 150 per cent.

"It was a really difficult finish because of the moment of the game when it came – we were defending. It was really important for him and for the team."

Karanka insisted Birmingham deserved their victory.

"One hundred per cent we deserved this win because maybe if you'd seen only the last 30 minutes you'd think I was wrong, but if you'd seen the first half, we could have been winning 2-0 or 3-0," he added.

"We were comfortable – we scored a goal and we had another two or three clear chances and then in the second half we were defending and organised.

"Even after we conceded the goal, the attitude and mentality was amazing and we came back again, which was really important for us."

Huddersfield manager Carlos Corberan felt his side deserved at least a point after a dominant second-half performance.

"It was hard to take, especially after the second half we had and we tried our best," he said.

"I think we needed the second half we had but the team didn't start the game the way we should have done.

"In the first half we had the ball but we didn't create the chances we should have.

"We didn't deal well with one set-piece and they scored a goal. We knew they would be focusing on counter-attacks and set-pieces – that was the way we expected them to play.

"But it was hard to take after the second half we played. We will have to analyse how we played in the first half because we played really well but we should have created more chances. We didn't do enough.

"We created enough chances in the second half but only had one lapse in defence.

"The team improved and it was hard to take because we deserved a point and that was the minimum we should have had."

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Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Birmingham CityBirmingham38278365263989
2Wrexham40239856322478
3Wycombe WanderersWycombe392112665362975
4Charlton AthleticCharlton402191055361972
5Stockport CountyStockport402011958362271
6Bolton WanderersBolton39196146157463
7Reading391711115550562
8Huddersfield TownHuddersfield391871452391361
9Blackpool4015151062511160
10Leyton Orient391851655401559
11Barnsley40159165457-354
12Lincoln CityLincoln401411155446853
13Stevenage391310163542-749
14Peterborough UnitedPeterborough39139176166-548
15Rotherham UnitedRotherham39139174449-548
16Exeter CityExeter39139174254-1248
17Mansfield TownMansfield39138184654-847
18Wigan AthleticWigan381111163438-444
19Northampton TownNorthampton401013173859-2143
20Bristol Rovers40126224165-2442
21Burton Albion39912184156-1539
22Crawley TownCrawley4099224775-2836
23Cambridge UnitedCambridge40711223965-2632
24Shrewsbury TownShrewsbury3978243566-3129


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