Troy Deeney scored a brace to help Birmingham produce one of the high-scoring football results of the weekend in the Championship. At St. Andrew’s, the striker opened the scoring in the opening minute before winning and converting his second penalty kick in the middle of the opening frame. Tahith Chong then added a third just before the break. Birmingham enjoyed a terrific night in front of Jude Bellingham as the best young player in England made his first appearance for the Blues since departing for Borussia Dortmund in 2020. He even saw his brother Jobe, who is two years younger and 17 years old, make a late replacement appearance.
Deeney gave his team the lead in just 63 seconds by capitalizing on Mamadou Loum’s careless touch on Juninho Bacuna’s cross to turn and score past Joe Lumley. On his 600th professional outing, Deeney got off to the perfect start. Deeney’s second goal came as a result of yet another poor defensive error in minute 23. He executed a superb one-two with Chong before being whacked in the box by Naby Sarr. He then rose to his feet and fired the ensuing penalty at the bottom corner.
Reading’s situation got significantly worse in the 36th minute. They let their guard down, and last week’s Coventry hero Amadou Mbengue failed to make a play as he tried to clear the ball. Chong was able to score to make it 3-0 by sprinting in from behind, dodging Lumley, and scoring.
When Andy Carroll’s shot bounced off Jeff Hendrick and into the path of Joao, who snuck in a header from half a yard out, two of Reading boss Paul Ince’s replacements combined to potentially save his team after 82 minutes. Tom Ince’s attempt was deflected past John Ruddy in the final seconds of stoppage time, allowing the Royals one final chance to tie the score before time expired.
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