Chris Davies will not consider promotion until it’s “mathematically done and dusted” despite seeing Birmingham move 14 points clear at the top of League One after beating Stevenage 2-1.
Kieran Dowell’s 27th-minute penalty – his second in as many games – and Paik Seung-ho’s effort extended the country’s only unbeaten home league record to 19 games before Jake Young’s last-gasp reply at St Andrew’s.
Second-placed Wycombe and Wrexham in third have 11 and 10 games left respectively.
“Never – until it’s mathematically done and dusted,” said Davies when asked at what point Blues cannot be caught.
“What has got us this far is focusing on performances, and if you do that and all the processes around it, you get the right results, and if you get the right results, the table will look good.”
On the game, Davies added: “I was really pleased with our first-half performance and at half-time I tried to reinforce some of the things we did with video clips.
“It felt ridiculous to be at 2-1 in those last closing moments after the way we’d played, but it was a reminder for us to always be alert.”
It was not all one-way traffic for the leaders and Jamie Reid’s fierce drive was tipped behind, and Brandon Hanlan twice and Dan Kemp went close for Stevenage.
Dowell slotted home from the spot after Louis Thompson pushed Alfons Sampsted – on his Blues full league debut – following Jay Stansfield’s pass.
Paik’s low drive from just inside the box made it 2-0.
Stevenage failed to clear Alex Cochrane’s corner and half-time substitute Alfie May teed up the South Korean.
Substitute Young’s cushioned angled volley halved the deficit after Blues missed Dan Butler’s free-kick.
Davies believes Thompson should have been sent off for the challenge on Sampsted.
“It was a clear penalty – if you don’t attempt to play the ball, and you pull a man, that’s a sending off,” he said.
Stevenage sit 12th in the table.
Manager Alex Revell said: “The two goals conceded were really disappointing – the penalty was soft at best.
“I was disappointed with the penalty – that’s 11 we have conceded now. But we reacted well. We started really brightly and, but for a fantastic save, it could have been a really bright start.
“We conceded a really soft goal to go 2-0 down, but after, we started to play with more freedom and showed what a good team we can be.
“We deserved the goal from Youngy and we deserved more from it. But there were loads of positives to take.
“They have players way above League One and you have to match them and I thought we did. At the end they were desperate for the final whistle to be blown.”
