Tony Mowbray praises Birmingham substitutes after FA Cup win over Hull

Posted Wednesday, January 17, 2024 by PA

Birmingham manager Tony Mowbray said his substitutions changed the game after his side’s late FA Cup replay 2-1 win over Hull.

Mowbray made five changes just after the hour-mark and the substitutes made an immediate impact.

Jay Stansfield equalised in the 66th minute after Jason Lokilo had opened the scoring with his first Hull goal after 12 minutes.

Another of Mowbray’s substitutes, Koji Miyoshi, scored the winner in stoppage time to set up a fourth-round tie at Leicester.

“The substitutions undoubtedly changed the game with the quality they brought,” said Mowbray.

“My intention was always to provide energy so I was always going to make substitutions. The supporters will get used to that.

“Modern day football is why you have to have a squad, you don’t weaken your team by making substitutions, you freshen it up.

“You make sure the lads who aren’t starting know they have an important part to play in the match.

“You have to love the players and trust them, they have to know the gaffer’s on their side. You can’t just have 11, everyone has to be part of the team.”

“The lads who came on brought how we want to play and what we want to do, they got their rewards.”

Mowbray praised his side’s determination to win the game in stoppage time.

“There were lots of positives from the game and we got the job done,” he said.

“That’s two games on the bounce where we’ve got something late on.

“I saw a message at the training ground, ‘Keep Right On’ and that’s what we’ll do.

“We’ll go right to the end and see if we can get the benefits.”

Mowbray says Fulham can recall Stansfield from his loan at St Andrew’s, but feels the player wants to stay. Stansfield scored one and assisted the winner.

“There is a small, tight window for Fulham to recall him,” said Mowbray. “It hasn’t closed, but I get on well with Marco Silva and he’d tell me if there were any issues.

“I think the kid loves it here when I look him in the eye, there are other interested parties but I think he wants to stay, score goals and progress his career. He’s in a good place here.”

Hull manager Liam Rosenior says it is time his side stopped receiving praise for their performance without getting the result.

“I was proud of the young players and their performance. But we ran out of legs.

“I have to be so careful at the moment as we have injuries coming out of our ears and two players on AFCON duty,” said Rosenior.

“We also have an important game against Sunderland coming up on Friday.

“I have to manage the squad in the right way. We couldn’t fill the bench here. But, yet again, we’ve somehow managed to throw away a comfortable position and lose the game.

“It’s hard, I’m frustrated. I’m sick and tired of coming in after the game and saying ‘Well done, the performance was great, but we didn’t get the rewards’.

“This has to be the last time. It’s a watershed moment in our season, this result has summed up a lot of our games.

“But I don’t throw players under the bus, but we have to knuckle down. We’ll come through this.”