Birmingham City moved up to third in the Championship standings after a 4-0 win over Preston North End at St Andrew's at Knighthead Park, with August Priske scoring twice in a dominant home performance. The result was Birmingham City's third win in four matches and left Preston bottom of the table after a difficult night on the road.
The breakthrough came on 34 minutes when Liam Millar gave Birmingham City the lead. From there, the game tilted further in the hosts' favour in first-half stoppage time, when August Priske struck twice to make it 3-0 before the interval. Priske's brace not only settled the contest, it also doubled his league tally and underlined his recent improvement after a slow start to the season.
Preston's challenge got harder after the red card
Preston North End, who were playing their second game under new manager Graham Alexander, were already under pressure when Stanley Mills was shown a second yellow card just before the hour mark. That left Preston with 10 men and made an already steep climb even harder against a Birmingham side that was in control of the match.
Birmingham added a fourth goal on 76 minutes through Demarai Gray to complete the scoreline. The result moved Chris Davies' side up four places and onto four points above the teams around them in the table, while Preston remained stuck at the bottom with just one win all season.
Davies pleased with the approach
After the match, Chris Davies said it was a great night for Birmingham and praised the patience shown by his players. He said he wanted them to be calm and confident on the ball, and felt the fans helped by understanding that it would take time for the team to find its rhythm.
Davies also singled out August Priske, saying the striker has now got going. That is a notable development for Birmingham City after Priske managed one goal last season following his January transfer-window arrival, and he has now followed up his winning penalty against West Brom last Saturday with another influential performance.
