Birmingham City stand-in boss Gary Rowett admitted he thought either Sheffield Wednesday, Blackburn or Plymouth would fail to reach their goal on a final day in which the Blues dropped into League One.
Birmingham beat Norwich City and were then hoping the rest of the relegation-threatened group slipped up, but Wednesday cruised to a comfortable 2-0 win over Sunderland, Plymouth beat play-off pushing Hull City and Blackburn saw off champions Leicester City, 2-0 at the King Power Stadium.
That series of results appeared unlikely at the start of the day and it added more disappointment for Rowett and the Blues who put on a good display at St Andrews to beat the Canaries who still managed to make it into the top six and will now take on Leeds United in the Play-Offs.
“Sometimes it’s easier on a last day when you’ve got to do it,” said Rowett. “It’s more difficult if you’ve got to do it on a Wednesday night in November somewhere when the weather’s not so nice when it doesn’t feel like it matters so much. That’s probably why the team is in the position it’s in.”
Despite the odds being stacked against Birmingham, Rowett admitted he was surprised with the outcome.
“It’s incredibly disappointing. We did our side of our bargain but I felt we’d get a result somewhere in our favour,” he added. “You look at these last-day moments or last-day goals and in the end it didn’t really seem like there was anything going on out there.
“I was pleased with the performance and the atmosphere was probably the best I’ve ever heard before the game – it was absolutely electric.”
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