Side's need for speed in second tier all too clear after Poku show

BIRMINGHAM City brought the League One title with them to Wembley and hoped to leave the famous old stadium with the Vertu Trophy and a double to emulate Barry Fry's 1995 vintage.

- By BRIAN DICK

Instead, 50,000 Bluenoses departed with such disappointment at a missed opportunity that it was easy to forget that five days earlier they had completed Objective A and just 24 hours ago they had won the division without lifting another finger.

For all the suffocating sense of frustration the reality is that Chris Davies' team handsomely exceeded Fry's in the bread and butter of the league, winning it at a canter and surpassing every club record you care to name.

In the EFL Trophy they fell one game short, an underwhelming first half which featured two Peterborough goals that would have fittingly won the FA Cup, League Cup or Grand National, too much of an obstacle to overcome.