Birmingham City exited the FA Cup to Leeds United after extra-time and penalties
Chris Davies acknowledges the fans following the teams defeat in the Emirates FA Cup Fourth Round match between Birmingham City and Leeds United
Chris Davies acknowledges the fans following the teams defeat in the Emirates FA Cup Fourth Round match between Birmingham City and Leeds United(Image: Getty Images)
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Chris Davies believes Birmingham City deserved to defeat Leeds United in their FA Cup tie – and felt his side should have been awarded a penalty.
Leeds edged past Blues 4-2 on penalties after a gripping 120 minutes ended in a 1-1 draw at St Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park.
Blues were in the ascendancy before and after Lukas Nmecha’s 49th minute strike and got their rewards in the 89th minute when Patrick Roberts’ shot deflected in off James Justin.
The ball dropped invitingly to substitute Kanya Fujimoto in stoppage time after Ibrahim Osman’s shot had bounced back off the post, but the Japanese midfielder’s effort was blocked by Jaka Bijol.
“It’s hit the post, gone across and I don’t know if he can do much more,” Davies said of Fujimoto’s chance. “The defender has come out and got a very good block. It’s a big block and a big moment.
“If that goes in, we don’t have the extra-time. And if that goal had gone in and we’d won the match 2-1, I don’t think there would have been any complaints from anyone and that says everything.”
Davies – who said he was ‘proud’ of his players – added: “There’s a tinge of frustration there as well because I think we were deserved winners really in terms of the overall chances in the match and how we played. We should have probably won that.
“We can naturally go back to last season, we played Newcastle at a similar stage and they came away from us in the last 20 minutes but today we were a match for 120 minutes, there till the very end,
“We had all the fight, grit, determination that we want and we showed quality.”
There were few contentious calls in the game but those of a Blues persuasion felt that Jay Stansfield was shoved in the box by Leeds skipper Ethan Ampadu before he could pull the trigger in the second half.
Referee Paul Tierney didn’t deem the contact to be worthy of a penalty – but Davies did.
“I made that point,” he said. “I haven’t actually watched it back and I don’t go through every penalty decision but, with that one, I instinctively thought it was. I’ll have to watch it back more slowly to see.”