Birmingham City’s survival hopes in the Championship took a significant blow as Aston Villa won the Second City derby 1-0.
Birmingham City manager Harry Redknapp
Harry Redknapp has hit out at the quality of the Aston Villa squad and taken a swipe at Gabby Agbonlahor after his Birmingham City tenure began with a narrow defeat in the Second City derby, the Daily Mail reports.
The Blues’ survival hopes in the Championship were dealt a significant blow as they missed the chance to move five points clear of the bottom three with two games to go as a second-half goal from Agbonlahor handed the Villans the bragging rights on an emotional day at Villa Park.
But Redknapp stopped short of praising Bruce’s men and took a shot at the goalscorer, whose goal was his first for 14 months.
“Gabby? He’s done well today, he’ s had ten minutes, that’ll keep him happy for another year won’t it. Fantastic,” he said, as reported by the Mail.
Aston Villa’s Gabriel Agbonlahor celebrates after the match
“We can’t sit here and say Villa were good can we? Be honest. We’ve seen fantastic teams here over the years and Steve has a lot of work to do if that’s the best they can do.
“We didn’t deserve to lose the game.”
Hearing Redknapp’s comments will surely make the victory all the more satisfying for Villa fans, who will surely be delighted that Birmingham go into the final two games of the season just two points above the bottom three and still in serious danger of falling into the third tier.
Birmingham City manager Harry Redknapp looks dejected as Aston Villa fans celebrate after Gabriel Agbonlahor scored their first goal
And the comments would have perhaps actually done little for the Blues’ confidence heading into the games with Huddersfield and Bristol City.
Redknapp has openly admitted to not being impressed by a side that his Birmingham side could not get the better off – and only registered one shot on target against (via BBC Sport) – so the loss and the manager’s subsequent comments would have probably done little for their belief.
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