‘If one of my players did that’: Birmingham City boss Chris Davies takes aim at Portsmouth after final-day controversy
Pompey and Birmingham played out a 1-1 draw to bring the Championship season to a close at Fratton Park.
Birmingham City boss Chris Davies has slammed Adrian Segecic and Pompey for a controversial incident during Saturday’s final-day encounter.
And the head coach stressed he wanted to spoil the Blues’ party as they celebrated Championship survival at Fratton Park.
The contest came to life with 10 minutes remaining, when players from both sides were involved in a mass confrontation.
Birmingham City boss slams Pompey after controversy
After the Croatia U21 international fired a shot over the bar, Davies’ players reacted angrily, which saw the Pompey forward end up in referee John Brooks book - much to the confusion and displeasure of Mousinho.
And the Birmingham boss was far from impressed with the Blues’ actions, stating the events were not ‘in the spirit of the game.
‘You can’t do that. That’s wrong,’ the head coach told Birmingham Live.
‘They say we left the ball but if it had gone in there would have been uproar and rightly so.
‘If one of my players did that I would be criticising him and saying he shouldn’t do that. That’s not in the spirit of the game. Thankfully we’re not having to talk about it too much.’
Birmingham boss trying to spoil Pompey party
Segecic’s eighth-minute opener was quickly cancelled out by August Priske after 19 minutes, with both sides earning a point on the final day.
And with the Blues returning to Fratton Park for the first time since their Championship survival was confirmed, Davies made it clear he wanted to spoil the end-of-season party and believed his side were a different beast after their leveller.
Speaking to BBC Radio WM, he said: ‘I knew it would be a party atmosphere for them.
‘They’ve survived in the league and had some good wins here (at Fratton Park) recently at home so I had a feeling we had to spoil that party a little bit.
‘I think we didn’t start fantastically well obviously the goal was really sloppy and then we grew back in but after our goal we looked a different beast really.
‘Much better and in the end I think we’ve had a few clear chances to go and win it.
‘Our pressing is a huge part of our game. We had two or three transitions from pressing that ended up in good goal situations and chances.
‘Pompey wanted to get on the ball and be comfortable on the ball and we never let them do that.’