Birmingham C 1 Huddersfield 2: Robins looks up as Town bounce back and leave Clark fuming

The Terriers were poor in their 3-0 midweek defeat at home to Nottingham Forest but bounced back in style at St Andrew’s to leave them seven points away from the play-offs.

Town went ahead early on through Oliver Norwood and were coasting when Adam Clayton smashed home a second, with former Town manager Lee Clark’s side showing nothing in return until Olly Lee’s consolation deep into stoppage time.

“I thought we controlled the game for long parts and deserved it,” said Robins. “But it would have been great to have the clean sheet. I thought we were good and controlled the game.

“Adam Clayton was outstanding and I won’t have a go at him for trying ‘worldies’, because some come off and some don’t.

“We’d like to be challenging for promotion. Are we there yet? No, not at all. We will try and get some run of games and wins against teams around us. They are all tough matches coming up, but, mid-table or not, we want to catch the team above us.”

Norwood had made the breakthrough in the 10th minute with a well-taken finish following an effervescent start, Danny Ward’s super pass teeing up the opener.

Clayton then extended the lead with a drive from 25 yards which left goalkeeper Darren Randolph with little chance.

Birmingham, meanwhile, offered barely anything going forward until substitute Nikola Zigic nodded down Paul Caddis’s cross for Lee to smash home.

A visibly raging Clark took no positives from an afternoon which saw his side’s winless run at home extended to 11 games following an abject showing.

“That was probably our worst performance of the season and that’s not taking anything away from Huddersfield, who played well,” said the Blues chief, who fumed at suggestions his job may be under threat before storming out of the post-match press conference.

Clark, operating on a shoestring budget with an inexperienced squad as the club’s owner Carson Yeung fights legal problems in Hong Kong, bristled when asked whether he had any concerns over his position.

“I think I’m doing an unbelievable job under my circumstances,” he said. “You ask that question because you don’t know the implications of what’s going on.”

Birmingham City: Randolph, Caddis, Packwood, Martin, Robinson, Burke, Adeyemi (Zigic 59), Huws, Brown (Lee 46), Macheda, Novak (Lovenkrands 75). Unused substitutes: Howard, Doyle, Rusnak, Blackett.

Huddersfield Town: Smithies, Smith, Gerrard, Lynch (Clarke 46), Hammill, Clayton, Norwood (Southern 87), Hogg, Dixon, Wells (Scannell 89), Ward. Unused substitutes: Woods, Bennett, Paterson, Lolley.

Referee: D Deadman (Cambridgeshire).

Man of the match: Adam Clayton.