Blues\u2019<\/a> defeat means they still haven\u2019t reached round three of the competition they won in 2011 since 2015.<\/p>\nMarvin Ducksch and Lyndon Dykes dovetailed up front and both provided Lewis Koumas with shooting opportunities in the opening 15 minutes.<\/p>\n
Koumas couldn\u2019t quite get Ducksch\u2019s through ball under his spell and was snuffed out by Jordan Gabriel before the on-loan Liverpool man fired wide from the angle after being teed up by Dykes\u2019 cute flick round the corner.<\/p>\n
Blues fielded 10 changes from their weekend victory over Oxford United and their first half performance was disjointed.<\/p>\n
Vale\u2019s main threat came via set pieces and James Beadle had to pull off a fine save to deny Mo Faal when the striker met Ronan Curtis\u2019s right-wing corner.<\/p>\n
Ryan Crossdale was presented with an even better chance six minutes before half-time but he couldn\u2019t convert Headley\u2019s corner from six yards out.<\/p>\n
It was roles reversed a few minutes later when Crossdale whipped a ball in from the right that Headley simply couldn\u2019t miss. The left-sider stooped to head home unchallenged after sneaking in behind Blues\u2019 defence.<\/p>\n
Chris Davies introduced Alex Cochrane, Paik Seung-ho and Jay Stansfield at half-time and the ante was upped immediately. Koumas charged down Vale goalkeeper Joe Gauci who dallied on the ball and was fortunate that the ball rebounded over the crossbar.<\/p>\n
![\"Chris](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_JS378840858.jpg\")
Chris Davies, manager of Birmingham City, looks on prior to the Carabao Cup Second Round match between Birmingham City and Port Vale at St Andrew\u2019s @ Knighthead Park<\/p>\n
The increased tempo didn\u2019t last long though and it was Vale who created the first proper chance of the second half when Curtis cut inside from the right to flash a shot inches wide of Beadle\u2019s left upright.<\/p>\n
Eiran Cashin had a sight of goal with 12 minutes to play and his shot appeared to be destined for the bottom corner before it was blocked.<\/p>\n
That was as good as it got for Blues who lost on home soil for just the third time under Davies.<\/p>\n
Blues\u2019 wait to reach the third round of the Carabao Cup has now extended beyond 10 years.<\/p>\n
James Beadle 6<\/strong><\/p>\nThe back-up goalkeeper made a couple of really good stops from Faal in the first half and stood no chance with Headley\u2019s header. One criticism of Beadle is that he could have released the ball quicker with his feet.<\/p>\n
Taylor Gardner-Hickman 5<\/strong><\/p>\nGardner-Hickman made a bright start at right-back and swung a few crosses in that weren\u2019t attacked well enough but his attacking influence soon disappeared. Switched to the left-wing late on and he will need that versatility to get minutes this season.<\/p>\n
Phil Neumann 4.5<\/strong><\/p>\nThe German didn\u2019t command Blues\u2019 box in the first half and it ultimately led to Headley scoring for Vale. Neumann didn\u2019t look the same player without Klarer next to him and gave the ball away twice late on when he simply didn\u2019t have to.<\/p>\n
Eiran Cashin 5<\/strong><\/p>\nCashin didn\u2019t cover himself in glory in the first half in what was, in fairness, an untried defence. He was sharper in possession after half-time but could have played forward more quickly at times.<\/p>\n
Alfons Sampsted 4<\/strong><\/p>\nSampsted hasn\u2019t had much football in pre-season and struggled at left-back. He played a horrible loose ball to Headley that put Blues in trouble in the first half and the cross that set up Vale\u2019s goal arrived from his side. It was no surprise that he was replaced at the break.<\/p>\n
Marc Leonard 5<\/strong><\/p>\nIt wasn\u2019t the result or performance Blues\u2019 captain for the night wanted. Leonard looked a little ragged at times with Vale often going direct and cutting out Blues\u2019 midfield.<\/p>\n
Tommy Doyle 5.5<\/strong><\/p>\nDoyle constantly tried to get on the ball and make things happen and struck a few precise passes in the first half that deserved better attacking outcomes. You would have expected a player of Doyle\u2019s talent to force his way into the game but he didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Kanya Fujimoto 5<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Japanese playmaker has waited patiently for a debut after being an unused substitute three times but he struggled to get involved on his debut.<\/p>\n
![\"Jaheim](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_JS378840532.jpg\")
Jaheim Headley of Port Vale and Kanya Fujimoto of Birmingham City(Image: Photo by Joe Toth\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n
Marvin Ducksch 5<\/strong><\/p>\nDucksch tried a lot and some of it came off but most of it didn\u2019t. You could at least see his ability in the opening 15 minutes before Blues lost control of the game. Given his lack of a pre-season, Ducksch was never expected to last much longer than 45 minutes.<\/p>\n
Lewis Koumas 6*<\/strong><\/p>\nKoumas was a bright spark for Blues going forward and had two half-chances early on. He didn\u2019t give in and showed more urgency than most after half-time.<\/p>\n
![\"Birmingham](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_JS378842477.jpg\")
Birmingham City’s Lewis Koumas during the Carabao Cup tie with Port Vale<\/p>\n
Lyndon Dykes 5<\/strong><\/p>\nLike Ducksch, Dykes showed some decent touches early on and created an opening for Koumas, but he was eased out of the game far too easily. The Scotland international did little to suggest he should be starting Championship games at the moment.<\/p>\n
SUBS<\/p>\n
Alex Cochrane (for Sampsted, 46) 5.5<\/strong><\/p>\nShored up the left side but couldn\u2019t find a telling pass when he found himself in advanced positions late on.<\/p>\n
Paik Seung-ho (for Fujimoto, 46) 5.5<\/strong><\/p>\nPaik injected some quality into midfield and all of his work was neat and tidy without ever really threatening the goal.<\/p>\n
Jay Stansfield (for Ducksch, 46) 5.5<\/strong><\/p>\nStansfield tried to force Vale back in the second half without success. He took a whack late on and limped around for the final few minutes.<\/p>\n
Kyogo Furuhashi (for Dykes, 67) 5<\/strong><\/p>\nThe striker\u2019s touch wasn\u2019t on point and he wasn’t able to get involved much.<\/p>\n
Ethan Laird (for Doyle, 76) N\/A<\/strong><\/p>\nNot used:<\/strong> Allsop, Klarer, Hall, Isichei<\/p>\nAttendance:<\/strong> 21,052<\/p>\nHow did you rate the Blues players? Let us know HERE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Birmingham City were defeated by League One side Port Vale in the second round of the Carabao Cup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375907,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,1205,748,393,4884,131301,118990,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-375906","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-birmingham-city-fc","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-kanya-fujimoto","14":"tag-marvin-ducksch","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115097128119177943","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Alex](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Alex-Dicken-Birmingham-Mail.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Marvin](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_JS378845476.jpg\")
Marvin Ducksch of Birmingham City<\/p>\n