Vladimir Ivić did not witness the complete performance he had hoped for at St Andrew’s, but was pleased with how his players adapted after a stalemate of a first half to grind out a second away win of the season.
The opening period yielded no shots on goal for either team as Birmingham City shut up shop on a heavy pitch, yet Troy Deeney had two chances to win it after the break before taking his third with gusto from the penalty spot.
“We had to change our philosophy in the second half because it was very difficult to do what we prepared for the game,” said Ivić.
“We couldn’t shoot at goal because they had 10 players behind the ball. We changed our philosophy and brought on Stipe [Perica], who can get us deeper, who is strong in the air and a fighter. He won the penalty because he will fight for every ball.
“Our plan was to play, to be more active with the ball, to have more possession and create something after our passing. After the first 45 minutes we understood it was very hard today. In the second half we changed totally the way we want to play, we adapted to the condition on the pitch and I believe this is a great three points.”
Deeney admitted to Hive Live immediately after full-time that he should have had a hat-trick but Ivić was impressed with his captain’s performance as a leader as well as a goal scorer, knowing there was nobody better placed to convert a late pressure kick.
“Deeney is an experienced striker, we’ve played a lot of games without him and now he’s in good shape, he’s ready,” said the Head Coach.
“He’s a very important player for us, he’s a winner and his mentality is very positive for the team. He, together with players like Cleverley and Kabasele, can be like the second coach. During the game we need players who are strong characters who can push other guys.
“He can score from a half chance. Today he’s had two chances but after his flick we won the penalty, after fantastic movement from Stipe Perica, and he scored the goal that means he did his job.
“In a penalty, the player is the only one who can lose; everyone expects him to score so he can lose and the keeper can win, because everyone already expects the player to score, but it’s not easy to score.”
If it weren’t for the late winner, a third consecutive away 0-0 would have been on the cards and the mood around camp could have been very different. Equally, the manner of the victory proved that keeping things tight on the road can pay dividends and the Hornets are perhaps unlucky to have only won twice on their travels.
“I’m happy because it’s the second game we’ve won away. If you ask me if I’m satisfied with our games away, I cannot be because if you speak generally about all the games, we have just two victories,” said Ivić.
“We are pleased when we finish the game with a clean sheet. We work hard and every game our target is to concede zero and to score three, four, it depends. But it’s important first of all to score one, and then to win the game you then need to protect your goal. Then after one goal you can win 1-0, like we did today.
“Normally the target is to score two or three goals, and all of us want this, but again from this game we can be happy with three points.”
