Championship round-up: Pressure mounting on Wayne Rooney after Birmingham slump to home defeat against Stoke

The pressure is mounting on Wayne Rooney after his Birmingham team fell to a dismal 3-1 home defeat by Stoke. The visitors were 2-0 up inside half an hour before Andre Vidigal rounded off the scoring in the 53rd minute, prompting some Blues fans to make an early exit.

The defeat was Rooney’s eighth in 13 matches as Birmingham boss and his side are now three places above the relegation zone.

‘It’s hard to put into words,’ he said. ‘I didn’t see that coming. I didn’t recognise the team out there.

‘That’s frustrating as, over the last few games, we’d made some real strides. We just weren’t doing the right things, the basics. It wasn’t lack of effort. It was lack of game knowledge. You wish you could have 11 subs as I could have changed all 11 at half-time.’

Rooney’s former Manchester United team-mate Michael Carrick didn’t fare much better. His promotion-chasing Middlesbrough slipped to a surprise 1-0 defeat at ROTHERHAM, who remain rooted to the foot of the table despite their victory.

The only goal of the game came in the 72nd minute. Cohen Bramall’s cross-cum-shot looped over goalkeeper Tom Glover to give the Millers their first win in 12 games.

‘The harder you work, the luckier you get,’ said new Rotherham boss Leam Richardson, echoing the words of golf great Gary Player.

Swansea legend Russell Martin is unlikely to be welcomed back to south Wales with open arms any time soon after his SOUTHAMPTON side hammered the Swans 5-0 at St Mary’s to move up to third in the table.

The Saints have won their last seven games and are unbeaten in 16.

The day’s other big winners were BRISTOL CITY, who swept aside WATFORD 4-1 at Vicarage Road. ‘The scary bit is I think we can play a lot better than that,’ said victorious manager Liam Manning.