Tom Brady celebrated victory over Wrexham’s Hollywood owners as Jay Stansfield, who was signed for a large sum of money in the summer, scored twice to help Birmingham secure a 3-1 win at St Andrew’s.
In attendance at the match were the seven-time Super Bowl champion and Blues minority owner Brady, Wrexham co-owner Rob McElhenney, and former England captain David Beckham. The fans at St Andrew’s were treated to an early goal from Jack Marriott before Stansfield, making his first league start, scored twice in front of a crowd of 27,980.
Stansfield’s move from Fulham for a significant fee was highly anticipated, and it proved to be a wise investment as he scored his first goal early in the second half to put City in the lead.
A stunning goal from Tomoki Iwata helped seal the victory, with Krystian Bielik being shown a red card towards the end of the game.
Wrexham took the lead early on through Tom O’Connor’s corner, but Birmingham fought back with Stansfield capitalizing on a rebound to equalize.
Birmingham's fortunes changed when Alex Cochrane delivered a superb cross to Stansfield, who scored his second goal of the night with a header.
In the 59th minute, Iwata unleashed a powerful shot from distance that beat the goalkeeper to make it 3-1.
Tensions rose during a scuffle between Cochrane and Paul Mullin, resulting in a brawl on the pitch involving James McClean. Birmingham fans were vocal in their support as McClean was substituted.
Birmingham played the final minutes with a player less after Bielik received a second yellow card, but by then the damage was done to end Wrexham’s unbeaten run this season.
With this result, Birmingham and Wrexham are now tied on 13 points at the top of the table.