Chris Davies was speaking after Birmingham City earned a point on the road at Wrexham
Chris Davies, manager of Birmingham City
Chris Davies kept calm at half-time to guide Birmingham City to a battling point at Wrexham.
Rather than rant and rave, or bemoan another set piece goal after George Dobson had Wrexham in front at the interval, Davies decided to keep it light.
His words had the desired effect when Patrick Roberts equalised 22 seconds into the second half and that is how the latest edition of the ‘Hollywood Derby’ finished.
“If anyone was going to win it it was going to be us,” said Davies. “I would have liked to have taken three points for the way we played and we pushed on in the second half.
“I said to the players after the game that we were here last year, we drew one-all, but we didn’t play as well as that. That’s promising.
“In the end, if you can’t win it, don’t lose it. Away from home it’s never easy and we got something from it.”
Asked what he said to his players at the interval, Davies explained: “My message at half-time was to ensure that they stayed calm. I was angry about the goal, as you can imagine, and I told them about that but outside of that we looked like us; we had the ball, we had control and it looked like a Birmingham game, not a Wrexham game.
“I just said to them we can turn more, we can make more forward runs, there’s more space than you think, there’s gaps, and we just need to think about that. We just needed to be proactive and more forceful with the ball at times.
“I didn’t want them to overreact to being down in the game. I wanted them to stay calm and clear.
“There’s a time for shouting and screaming – they need direction. They want to do well. Shouting at them is usually unhelpful. I was comfortable with how we were playing, I just thought we could be more forceful with the ball.”
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