Gary Rowett's first match in charge of Birmingham City ended goalless after a hard fought and resolute defensive display from his team.

Wolves went into the match with the incentive of going top of the SkyBet Championship with a result against their struggling opponents and came out of the traps early on a mild lunchtime at Molineux in front of a partisan backing and the opening chance of the game fell to the hosts with 7 minutes on the clock. Birmingham City failed to clear their lines properly and Michael Jacobs pinched the ball from the toes of Koby Arthur before picking Leon Clarke whose goal bound header was tipped over by Darren Randolph. Just four minutes later the home side came forward again. The Birmingham back line briefly lost its organised and compact structure as Liam McAlinden came through on goal. Paul Robinson however managed to do enough to usher McAlinden out wide and his shot was then easy for Randolph to deal with from a difficult angle.

Following a sticky start by the travelling team, Rowett's men grew into the contest as the half progressed and following some half chances from Koby Arthur and Andrew Shinnie, Blues had arguably the best chance of the first half on 26 minutes. David Davis did well to win the ball back in midfield on his own stomping ground and he played the ball into Clayton Donaldson but his effort from 16 yards was just the  wrong side of the right-hand post. Following this, there was then a shortage of real chances before the half time whistle as the away side continued to frustrate and stifle Wolves with a high tempo and determined approach to proceedings.

Early on into the second half, Kenny Jackett introduced Dave Edwards and Bakary Sakho to the mix in the hope of breaking the deadlock and that was nearly the case on the hour mark. Jonathan Grounds tried to back heel is way out of the defence but was dispossessed by Matt Doherty. Fortunately for Birmingham, Darren Randolph was more alert to gather the cross at the near post.

A minute later though Grounds almost became the hero for Blues  as his fine header from a Birmingham corner looked to be heading in but a smart stop from Karl Ikeme kept the scores level.

Five minutes after that, Darren Randolph should have easily claimed Bakary Sakho's cross into the area but the Irish international goalkeeper could not gather the ball properly and ended up presenting a golden to chance to Wolves substitute Dave Edwards but a superb stop from Randolph made up for his error and kept his side on level terms in the match. Edwards was involved again on the 71st minute as Wolves stepped things up a gear in their search for the elusive first goal. Edwards linked up perfectly with Leon Clarke and Clarke was slightly unfortunate to see his ambitious effort clip the top of the crossbar.

As Wolves continued their onslaught, the Birmingham team began to retreat inside their own half and it became a real backs to the wall effort from Rowett's charges to see out the game and secure a point. Wolves attacked and attacked as the match reached its close but could not real test the Birmingham keeper until the clock ticked into stoppage time. James Henry found himself with plenty of time to fire an effort across goal and this was stopped superbly by the feet of Darren Randolph before Bakary Sakho made a mess of the rebound and blazed his effort over. After that, Bakary Sakho had the final effort of the match but his powerful shotv was blocked by Paul Caddis which secured a share of the spoils for Birmingham and Rowett in his first match in the hot seat.

Next up for Birmingham following this point is Rowett's first match ion front of his home supporters against the new leaders of the SkyBet Championship, Watford. Wolves meanwhile travel to Ipswich.

 

Wolves: Ikeme, Doherty, Batth, Ebanks-Landell, Rowe, McDonald, Evans, Henry, Jacobs (Sako 56), McAlinden (Edwards 56), Clarke (Sagbo 79)

Subs not used: Stearman, Saville, van La Parra, Flatt

Birmingham: Randolph, Caddis, Morrison, Robinson, Grounds, Gleeson, Davis, Cotterill, Shinnie (Reilly 66), Arthur (Shea 64), Donaldson (Thomas 77)

Subs not used: Eardley, Hall, Doyle, Brown

Attendance: 25,135

Referee: Anthony Taylor