Birmingham City head coach Chris Davies dedicated Tuesday night's Carabao Cup victory over Swansea City to defender Lee Buchanan, who made his first competitive appearance in more than 19 months during the match. August Priske's first-half strike proved decisive at the Swansea.com Stadium, sending the Blues through to the second round of the competition.
Buchanan's long-awaited return
Buchanan was introduced at half-time as a replacement for the injured Alex Cochrane, and his presence helped Birmingham keep a clean sheet on the road. The 24-year-old last featured in a competitive fixture in December 2024, having endured a lengthy spell on the sidelines due to injury setbacks. Davies selected Buchanan ahead of new signing Kristoffer Lund, citing the former's superior match fitness, and gave him a special mention in his post-match dressing room address.
Explaining his decision, Davies said: "Kristoffer has been training and not playing games in pre-season so he's probably got 20 minutes in him and this is a problem with the transfer window. You're playing catch up sometimes. We had it last season, players playing catch up fitness wise because they maybe haven't been playing, so that's something we've got to navigate through because we don't have fixtures for those players at the moment."
A tribute to resilience
Davies then paid an emotional tribute to Buchanan, who has been at the club since the head coach's arrival. "But if I was going to dedicate it to anyone it would be Lee Buchanan – I said that to the players in the dressing room. Two and a bit years I've been here and he's been here since day one, and the suffering and the setbacks he's had and the way he's handled it and approached it… I had no doubt," Davies said.
"I looked at him before the game and thought if he's called upon he's ready to go now and it says a lot for the man, as well as the player." Buchanan's return marks a significant milestone in his recovery, and his performance in helping the Blues secure a clean sheet underlined his value to the squad.
Set-piece specialist pays off
The winning goal came from a set piece, a testament to the work of specialist coach Scott Fry, who joined the club from Rangers in July. Alex Cochrane delivered a deep free-kick that Carlos Vicente fired across goal for Priske to convert from close range just before half-time.
Davies highlighted the importance of the extra sessions dedicated to set pieces, saying: "We've been doing a lot on the set pieces, extra sessions, and I've kept reinforcing to the players that this will pay off. We have to keep believing in it but they will only believe that when they score from them."
Defensive resilience and attitude
Birmingham had to withstand pressure from Swansea before Priske's opener, but limited their hosts to very few shooting chances in the second half. Davies was pleased with how his side managed the game, noting the difficulty of playing at Swansea, who typically dominate possession.
"No team in the Championship is going to come here and have more possession than Swansea, I'm confident to say that, so I wasn't aiming to do that, I just wanted to make sure that we put them under pressure from our pressing game and our set pieces," Davies said. "I said to the players before the game that it's not about being perfect today, it's about having the right attitude, and I thought we saw that."
The victory provides a boost for Birmingham as they continue their campaign, with Buchanan's return adding depth to the defensive options. The Blues will now look ahead to the second round draw, with the squad's morale high after a hard-fought away win.
