Gary Rowett admitted that he is extremely disappointed with the professionalism shown by his players in the game with Preston North End.

Birmingham have little to play for in the season after their recent disappointing results ruled them out of a play-off place. Even then, Rowett claimed that his professional players will give their best in the remaining few games of the season. This was not the case against Preston after the team lost a 2-0 advantage to draw the game. Clayton Donaldson produced a brace to see Birmingham played with a two-goal advantage just after the hour mark.

It seemed that the club was heading for their first win in three games. The 2-0 win over Reading is the sole victory achieved by Birmingham in the recent games. It has been a major factor in their failure to take advantage of teams like Sheffield Wednesday dropping points at an alarming pace. Wednesday still occupy the sixth spot despite their poor run. The first signs of discomfort appeared when Alan Browne pulled one back for Preston in the 73rd minute. The opposition were back on level terms with one minute of normal time remaining. Gregory Cunningham came up with the equaliser that saw Rowett become disappointed with his team.

“I can’t tell you some of the words I used in the dressing room.Short of me saying we were spineless, I’ve gone pretty tough on them.To be 2-0 up at home and end up drawing the game 2-2, I can’t accept that lack of desire.It looked to me like the game was won and I think my players thought it was too. We started thinking we were on the beach, making bad decisions and not defending when we need to defend,” said the Birmingham manager, as the club remained ninth in the table.