Birmingham City Keep The Pressure On
Birmingham City have closed to within a point of League One leaders Wycombe Wanderers after coming from behind to pick up victory on the road at Barnsley.
The Vertu-backed outfit headed for Yorkshire on the back of a home win over Stockport to face a side looking to try and move up towards the playoff places by ending a run of four games without a win.
Barnsley started the game well enough and had one of the best chances of the first half when a rasping drive from Adam Phillips from the edge of the box forced Ryan Allsop into a smart save.
Level at the break, Barnsley almost went ahead when Paik Seung-Ho was forced to clear a header off the line with Allsop beaten but the Korean international was inadvertently involved when the home side did hit the front when he turned a cross from Stephen Humphrys into his own net.
Birmingham fought back however and levelled two minutes later when Jay Stansfield beat two men outside the box before pinging a shot into the corner, with the Blues given a boost when Barnsley were reduced to ten men – with Phillips dismissed for two yellow cards.
With a man advantage, Birningham grabbed the points when a corner from Paik went all the way to the back post where Stansfield nodded in to secure the win.
Birmingham are now a point off top spot but have a game in hand on Wycombe, and two in hand on second-placed Wrexham.
Next up for the Blues is a trip to Exeter in the Round of 32 in the Vertu Trophy.