Manager of Sheffield Wednesday's relegation rivals makes 'soft' admission amid missed opportunity

Birmingham City boss Gary Rowett has made a ‘soft’ admission about his team following a key defeat on Wednesday night. The Midlands side had the chance to climb outside the bottom three on Wednesday when they faced a Cardiff City side with little to play for at St Andrew’s.

But Josh Bowler’s second-half goal meant the Bluebirds took all three points back to South Wales, and Birmingham remain in 23rd place, one point behind Sheffield Wednesday and safety. It gets no easier for Rowett’s men, facing playoff hopefuls Coventry City away from home next time out, and after a winnable game against bottom club Rotherham United, they face Huddersfield Town in a relegation six-pointer before facing playoff hopefuls Norwich City on the final day of the season, with both clubs likely needing a win for very different reasons.

As for the defeat to Cardiff, Rowett is unhappy with his side’s habit of conceding ‘soft goals’. He said after the game: “When you have an opportunity, you have to do everything you can to take that opportunity and we just didn’t do that. “We petered out with a little bit of a whimper and it’s incredibly frustrating and frustrating for the fans who came out in good numbers. I thought we started OK and I thought we had some good control and I felt we got into some good areas without finding the quality to open them up. “We’ve given goals away far too easily, we’ve conceded soft goals, tonight we had a chance to react to their goal and we didn’t react. We lacked character in that second half and how the game ended. We know we’ve got another tough game on Saturday and we need to show a little bit more urgency, fight and character.”