Chris Davies gives Birmingham City players a Christmas gift after seven straight wins

Birmingham City returned to the top of League One with a victory over Crawley Town

Alex Dicken Senior Football Writer

23:21, 23 Dec 2024Updated 23:23, 23 Dec 2024

Birmingham City manager Chris Davies after the victory over Crawley

Birmingham City’s players will get Christmas Day off after accepting Chris Davies’ challenge to win seven games on the spin.

When Blues were at their lowest ebb this season following the defeat at Shrewsbury Town on November 23, Davies challenged his players to win every game before Christmas – and their 1-0 victory at Crawley Town ensured they returned to top of the League One table. Blues have recorded wins over Exeter, Blackpool, Stockport, Barnsley, Exeter, Bristol Rovers and Crawley.

Davies explained: “After the Shrewsbury game, it was obviously a bit of a low moment for us, and I said to the players if we win every single game between now and Christmas Day then they can have Christmas Day at home with their families. That was seven games ago and they have won seven in a row.

“We are going to train and work and be prepared tomorrow, absolutely, then they will get Christmas at home with their families which is unusual in football. They fully deserve it.”

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Blues didn’t have it all their own way against Crawley before Jay Stansfield’s 79th minute strike clinched another three points. For the second league away game in succession, Stansfield provided the telling contribution.

Davies added: “As I said to the players in the dressing room, we are used to this League One now, we know what it’s like, and there are going to be more days like this. It’s physical, conditions weren’t great, there was a partisan crowd and we had to wait for the game to settle a little bit and compete.

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“First half was quite frantic, they tried to press us, but I thought their legs weren’t going to be able to sustain that as the game went on and that was the case. Then we settled into the game a little bit more and finished the game strongly.”