Championship
BirminghamBirmingham City3FulhamFulham1

Birmingham City 3-1 Fulham

Lukas Jutkiewicz's sixth goal of the season was his second in three home games
Lukas Jutkiewicz's sixth goal of the season was his second in three home games

Birmingham City survived the final-day threat of relegation for the third time in five seasons as they ended Fulham's automatic Championship promotion hopes.

With Cardiff drawing, a win for Fulham would have seen them go up.

But they were always struggling after first-half goals from Lukas Jutkiewicz and home skipper Harlee Dean.

Tom Cairney briefly gave Fulham hope with six minutes left, but Che Adams jinked his way into the box to slide home a low right-foot shot.

The Cottagers' first defeat in 24 league games since December leaves them third, and facing Derby County in the play-offs as they bid to return to the Premier League after a four-year absence.

Blues, the EFL's joint lowest scorers with Burton with 38 in 46 games, hit three in a league match for only the third time this season.

But, after a season-long battle against the drop in a second successive campaign of three managers, Garry Monk's men finally finished five points above the bottom three, again in 19th - just as they did under Harry Redknapp 12 months ago.

It always looked on the cards once confident Blues had taken the lead when Jutkiewicz converted Wes Harding's low cross for his sixth goal of the season - and his fourth in seven games.

Home keeper David Stockdale then saved from Stefan Johansen before unmarked defender Dean, back from suspension, was left free to steer home Jota's left-wing cross, his first goal for the club.

Stockdale maintained Blues' two-goal half-time advantage when he saved from Cairney, who did pull a goal back when he headed in on 84 minutes.

The Blues keeper then turned over Aleksandar Mitrovic's header before Adams breezed through to cheekily finish Fulham off.

Birmingham City boss Garry Monk told BBC WM:

"We knew we were playing against an exceptional team that had been on the best run in the country, 23 games unbeaten, but I could sense it in the week.

"It's what the fans want to see. They want to see commitment and fight and then, on top of that, they want to see some quality, and we had that.

"We thoroughly deserved that win. Te key point was making sure that we finish it on our terms.

"We had an opportunity last week to do that. We didn't do that, so the response needed to be there and it was."

Fulham boss Slavisa Jokanovic:

"I always believe we are going to win the next game. Because we lost one game, I am not going to change my mind.

"We showed quality. The character we showed many times - and we are going to be ready for the next game.

"We're disappointed, not because we're in the play-offs. We're disappointed because we lost a great chance to win the game.

"It's part of football and we must be ready for the challenge. We cannot be satisfied. It's simple. We didn't play well enough."

Line-ups

Birmingham

Formation 4-4-2

  • 13Stockdale
  • 45Harding
  • 28Morrison
  • 12Dean
  • 5ColinBooked at 82mins
  • 27Jota
  • 6Kieftenbeld
  • 26DavisBooked at 64mins
  • 19MaghomaSubstituted forRobinsonat 90+1'minutes
  • 18GallagherSubstituted forGardnerat 71'minutes
  • 10JutkiewiczSubstituted forAdamsat 62'minutes

Substitutes

  • 4Roberts
  • 8Gardner
  • 14Adams
  • 17Ndoye
  • 25Dacres-Cogley
  • 29Kuszczak
  • 40Robinson

Fulham

Formation 4-3-3

  • 1Bettinelli
  • 2FredericksSubstituted forChristieat 72'minutes
  • 4OdoiBooked at 49mins
  • 13Ream
  • 21TargettSubstituted forKamaraat 45'minutesBooked at 47mins
  • 8Johansen
  • 6McDonaldBooked at 70mins
  • 10Cairney
  • 20PiazonSubstituted forAyitéat 64'minutes
  • 32Mitrovic
  • 3R Sessegnon

Substitutes

  • 9Fonte
  • 11Ayité
  • 16Norwood
  • 22Christie
  • 26Kalas
  • 27Button
  • 47Kamara
Referee:
Stuart Attwell
Attendance:
27,608

Match Stats

Home TeamBirminghamAway TeamFulham
Possession
Home27%
Away73%
Shots
Home11
Away13
Shots on Target
Home7
Away5
Corners
Home3
Away4
Fouls
Home14
Away8

Live Text

  1. Post update

    Match ends, Birmingham City 3, Fulham 1.

  2. Full Time

    Second Half ends, Birmingham City 3, Fulham 1.

  3. Post update

    Denis Odoi (Fulham) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

  4. Post update

    Foul by Che Adams (Birmingham City).

  5. Post update

    Foul by Cyrus Christie (Fulham).

  6. Post update

    David Davis (Birmingham City) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

  7. Post update

    Attempt missed. Kevin McDonald (Fulham) right footed shot from outside the box is too high. Assisted by Aleksandar Mitrovic.

  8. Post update

    Foul by Floyd Ayité (Fulham).

  9. Post update

    David Davis (Birmingham City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

  10. Post update

    Attempt missed. Stefan Johansen (Fulham) left footed shot from outside the box is too high. Assisted by Aboubakar Kamara.

  11. Substitution

    Substitution, Birmingham City. Paul Robinson replaces Jacques Maghoma.

  12. Goal!

    Goal! Birmingham City 3, Fulham 1. Che Adams (Birmingham City) right footed shot from a difficult angle on the left to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Jota.

  13. Post update

    Corner, Fulham. Conceded by Harlee Dean.

  14. Post update

    Attempt missed. Tom Cairney (Fulham) header from the centre of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Stefan Johansen with a cross following a corner.

  15. Post update

    Corner, Fulham. Conceded by David Stockdale.

  16. Post update

    Attempt saved. Aleksandar Mitrovic (Fulham) header from the centre of the box is saved in the top centre of the goal. Assisted by Cyrus Christie with a cross.

  17. Post update

    Attempt blocked. Jota (Birmingham City) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Jacques Maghoma.

  18. Goal!

    Goal! Birmingham City 2, Fulham 1. Tom Cairney (Fulham) header from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Floyd Ayité.

  19. Post update

    Offside, Fulham. Ryan Sessegnon tries a through ball, but Aleksandar Mitrovic is caught offside.

  20. Booking

    Maxime Colin (Birmingham City) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

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As It Stood

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Wolves46309782394399
2Cardiff462791069393090
3Fulham462513879463388
4Aston Villa4624111172423083
5Middlesbrough4622101467452276
6Derby4620151170482275
7Preston4619161157461173
8Millwall4619151256451172
9Brentford4618151362521069
10Sheff Utd46209176255769
11Bristol City461716136758967
12Ipswich46179205760-360
13Leeds46179205964-560
14Norwich461515164960-1160
15Sheff Wed461415175960-157
16QPR461511205870-1256
17Nottm Forest46158235165-1453
18Hull461116197070049
19Birmingham46137263868-3046
20Reading461014224870-2244
21Bolton461013233974-3543
22Barnsley46914234872-2441
23Burton461011253881-4341
24Sunderland46716235280-2837
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