The one American owner present at Cae Ras was Birmingham’s Tom Wagner, bobble-hatted in the Blues away end having also been spotted at the adjacent Turf Inn pub before the game sharing pints with both sets of supporters.
He lead a rallying cry at half-time with a video posted on social media admitting the energy on the pitch “wasn’t great” and urging more noise from the fans.
What manager Chris Davies could do with is a little less noise about his own position.
Remarkably given the way they stylishly stormed to promotion last year, there have been supporter grumblings about the start to the season with one win in five league games going into this fixture.
He and his side were late out of the dressing rooms at half-time, although he said it was due to giving “direction” rather than “shouting and screaming”.
Regardless, it felt like a key moment and his team responded as such with the goal coming within 20 seconds and as the result of an upping of intensity.
Although lacking the killer edge as they finished the better side, it still represents steady progress for a manager who made a point of reminding after the game that ambition is one thing – and Birmingham have plenty under Wagner and Brady – but it doesn’t have to be rushed.
“The idea that we were going to cruise the Championship would be a deluded mindset for me,” said Davies. “We knew from the off it would be a very, very hard season and you have to earn anything you get.
“But now I’ve seen how we’ve competed, we’ve got quality, we can enjoy the challenge, and I’m more optimistic now than at the start of the season.”
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