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Chris Davies was far from pleased with Andrew Kitchen’s decision to hand Ipswich Town a stoppage-time penalty after the cold verdict he gave in his post-match interview.
Birmingham City were held by Ipswich Town on the opening weekend of the 2025/26 Championship season.
The Blues looked to be sailing towards a brilliant win in front of a barmy St Andrews crowd after Jay Stansfield put Birmingham City ahead. Aside from Stansfield’s finish, many Birmingham City players were putting in a top performance, with new signing Kyogo Furuhashi notably shining for Chris Davies’ side.
In the midst of a lengthy injury time period, Birmingham City were brought back to earth after conceding a penalty after Andrew Kitchen spotted an alleged handball from striker Lyndon Dykes inside the box. Ipswich Town’s George Hurst stepped up and scored the penalty, which led to the contest finishing 1-1.
Davies reflected on the game, as well as the penalty decision, which he branded with one word.
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Chris Davies’ one-word response to Andrew Kitchen penalty decision
Birmingham City were on course for an opening weekend victory at home until Andrew Kitchen pointed towards the spot to give the Tractor Boys a chance to level up the contest late on.
It was a positive performance for Birmingham City overall; however, the penalty decision took centre-stage in the post-match discussions, with Chris Davies showing a clear verdict on the decision.
After watching back a replay of the pivotal moment that saw Lyndon Dykes’ hand struck by the ball, Davies, when speaking to Sky Sports, labelled the decision as ‘ridiculous’.
Birmingham City were on the end of several difficult calls by the referee, including Kyogo Furuhashi’s ruled-out goal in the opening half.
Chris Davies verdict controversial penalty decision and Blues performance in Birmingham City vs Ipswich Town
Despite the last-minute decision that took the three points away from Birmingham City, Blues boss Chris Davies appeared to remain optimistic and positive following the game against Ipswich Town.
Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: “It was a very good game, I thought. I was really pleased with how we played. I think we’re very, very disappointed with the penalty and to concede so late that’s always a sore one, but I think for a large part of the game, we were the better team, we played well.
“I was really intrigued to see how we cope with it tonight, and there was a lot of positives. It’s always difficult, and they put so much into the game, but I thought actually we were the better team.”
When asked specifically about the injury-time penalty that Birmingham City conceded, Davies said: “Well, I’ve sort of seen the video back and it’s really harsh.
“I think you could go around the whole weekend and all the games and you won’t see many of them ones given, and it’s also the context of it, that late in the game as well, it’s just even sort of more painful, but.
“I think it’s just scraped his finger, I mean.
“I haven’t actually seen that angle,” continued Davies when looking back at the decision. “That makes it ridiculous actually, that decision.”
Despite the scoreline, Birmingham City were arguably superior across the pitch comparison to Ipswich Town, and there are plenty of positives for Davies to take from the contest as they kick off their Championship season in incredibly exciting fashion.