Birmingham boss Chris Davies was delighted by the control his team exerted in their 2-0 win at Oxford.
A Myles Peart-Harris own goal in the 23rd minute and Martin Ducksch’s seventh goal of the season after 67 minutes brought Blues a fourth away win this campaign.
Davies said: “I was pleased with the result obviously but also very pleased with the performance.
“We’ve been working on controlling games and the way that we got control and worked the ball, and had the calmness to play around and switch the play rather than just go forward early and maybe lose the ball, was great.
“That level of control worked them hard and took away from them a little bit. I liked the way that we played that match.
“You get battling performances where you smash and grab, but this was a professional away performance where we knew what we were doing and deserved the win.
“We looked solid and aggressive without the ball, and then with the ball there was a composure and a control – and that’s when we’re at our best.”
It was Oxford head coach Matt Bloomfield’s first defeat since taking charge, and he argued that the free-kick that brought Blues their opening goal was not taken at the right place.
Bloomfield said: “Brodie Spencer just mistimed his tackle and has given away a foul in the corner, and they’ve moved the ball and taken it from a better angle to have almost like a shot – and that was quite decisive because where the foul was it should have been in the corner.
“I’m a little bit annoyed with that because those moments make a big difference to the end result.
“It had a big bearing on the game but after that we have to make sure we react better. It knocked the stuffing out of us a bit because until then our shape had been really good.
“First defeat and don’t like losing – hate it. But we need to move on quickly and look forward now to Tuesday evening (at Sheffield United).
“It’s going to be a roller-coaster between now and the end of the season. The last week has typified that.
“We go and put on such a good performance last week and get such a good result. Today we didn’t hit those same levels.
“To be honest, I don’t think we’ve created enough today to win the game, but we’ve had more shots than the opposition, so we are getting goalscoring opportunities. We just need to create clearer-cut chances if we can, and take those when they come along.”
