Chris Davies reacts to Jay Stansfield penalty decision after Kieran Dowell clinches win
Chris Davies wasn’t expecting Kieran Dowell to step up for Birmingham City’s clinching penalty against Lincoln – but he was happy with the result.
Top scorer Jay Stansfield has scored seven of his eight penalties this season, but he passed up spot-kick duties to Dowell when Tomoki Iwata was fouled in the second half of Saturday’s game at St Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park.
Dowell dispatched the penalty emphatically into the top corner to score the second goal of his loan spell from Rangers.
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Blues manager Davies reacted: “I thought Jay was going to take it but I’m comfortable with them deciding on the pitch who takes it, that’s ultimately their decision – as long as they’re not fighting over it and they weren’t.
“It was pretty clear that Kieran was going to take it and Jay was OK with that.
“It was a high quality penalty. When you put penalties high like that and get good speed and good accuracy on it, it was a really good penalty.”
The victory extended Blues’ lead at the top of League One to 11 points over Wycombe Wanderers, who failed to win at Peterborough.
From the moment Dowell beat Lincoln goalkeeper George Wickens, the game was never going to end in anything other than a Blues win.
“It was a big win,” Davies reflected. “We had the disappointment in the week so it was good to bounce back, you don’t want to lose two games in a row and we haven’t done this season.
“We were utterly dominant in the game. I was very wary of Lincoln’s threat, they have scored more goals in League One since we last played them and I think they can be really competitive in a game and they’ve always got a threat.
“To limit them to no shots on target and to have that level of dominance, it was excellent.”
