Birmingham City boss has 'no concerns whatsoever' about being dragged into battle with Sheffield Wednesday and co

The experienced Blues boss tasted defeat thanks to two goals from Ike Ugbo, a player The Star understands was offered to Birmingham in the January transfer window. Another one of their new year targets, Ian Poveda, was a star man on the night as the Owls cut the shortfall on the Championship safety spots to five points.

Two defeats on the spin left the St Andrews side four points clear of 22nd-placed QPR heading into the weekend, with those around them still to fulfil their round of fixtures. Despite the look of the table, Mowbray insisted he doesn't feel his side are in a relegation battle. Birmingham have played one match fewer than Wednesday, who in 23rd are six points behind them.

"How many games have we got left? Sixteen games," he said. "We have got some hard fixtures to be honest but I look forward to the hard fixtures. If you watch football for a long time and you see a team having 25 shots, we’re not going to not score goals in football matches. We are going to score goals and we are going to win games. Sixteen games to go, I’ve got no concerns whatsoever."

Birmingham took the lion share of possession on the night but created few clear-cut chances. Of their 25 shots, only four were on target. Wednesday on the other hand showed a more clinical side to their game on recent weeks, with Owls boss Danny Röhl admitting as much in his post-match press engagement.

"We’re very disappointed and frustrated because it was a game we thought we could win," added Mowbray. "I thought we controlled lots of it, we probably had double the shots they had, and yet you have to score.

"I just talked to them there about taking more care with their final pass, with their technique. You get nothing for having 60-odd percent possession, you have to put the ball in the back of the net. That’s the third game on the bounce where we’ve done pretty well and had a lot more shots than the opposition."