Twine Shines as Teams Trade Goals in Dramatic Contest

The contest started in a fog of half-chances and loose touches. Twine dragged an early effort wide, then Bright Osayi-Samuel and Lorent Tolaj traded misses at opposite ends as both sides searched for any kind of rhythm.

The game cried out for a jolt. The visitors supplied it.

A long ball dropped into the Birmingham half, nodded on into the penalty area and suddenly chaos broke loose. Twine’s first header was smothered, but the attacking midfielder reacted before anyone in blue, stabbing the loose ball past the stranded James Beadle to register his side’s first goal of the season.

That shock finally woke Birmingham up.

On the stroke of half-time, they levelled in equally scruffy fashion. A cross from the flank caused panic, Vicente’s effort cannoned off the post and bounced back into the six-yard box, where the unfortunate Tickle could do nothing as the ball ricocheted off him and into his own net. Birmingham’s first goal of the campaign, delivered by an opposition shirt.

The restart brought no respite. Twine almost doubled his tally shortly after the break, bursting through as Birmingham’s back line lost its shape. Beadle just about clawed the shot away, a vital touch with the Robins suddenly full of belief.

The pressure told again. This time it was Ballard who supplied the moment of real class, a brilliant backheel finish that sent the travelling supporters wild and underlined the visitors’ growing control.

Birmingham, though, refused to fold. And controversy arrived late.

Deep into the contest, Atkinson was penalised for handball in the box by referee Will Finnie, a decision that sparked immediate protests from the Robins’ players. The whistle had gone, the spot-kick stood, and Gray stepped up to roll home the equaliser, leaving the visitors to stew over a night that swung on a deflection, a backheel and one fiercely disputed call.