Birmingham v Bolton reaction

Bolton boss Owen Coyle directed his ire at the match officials after seeing Birmingham beat his side 2-1 at St Andrew's on Tuesday night.

Marlon King grabbed the winner for the hosts from the penalty spot three minutes into the second half, after linesman Steven Copeland had flagged for an apparent foul by Wanderers full-back Marcos Alonso.

A frustrated Coyle said: "It was never a penalty in all the years I've played football.

"(Goalkeeper) Adam Bogdan picks the ball up six yards before any alleged incident. I've seen it back and it's never a penalty; it's never even a soft penalty."

The Trotters have yet to avoid defeat on their travels this season, but Coyle believes that has much to do with key decisions going against his team.

"That's three away games (in the league) now and three terrible decisions," he added.

"At Burnley there was a clearly offside goal and these are obviously crucial turning points in the game."

Bolton, who initially cancelled out Leroy Lita's opener through a stunning Chris Eagles free-kick, called home goalkeeper Jack Butland into action on several occasions in the closing stages.

"We had great opportunities to get an equaliser, which I feel would have give us a platform to go on and win it," Coyle concluded.

"We certainly do feel hard done by. We offered enough not to be leaving here with no points, but you do get uncontrollables in football and that's happened again."

Birmingham assistant manager Terry McDermott claimed to have missed the incident that led to the game's decisive goal.

"I'm going to do my Arsene Wenger (impression) and say I didn't see it," explained McDermott with a smile. "And I honestly didn't!

"The linesman was in a great position and he gave it straight away, but I'll have to see it again.

"We've been on the wrong end of one or two decisions. They say they even themselves out over a season. We'll see."

McDermott was pleased with the grit and determination shown by a Birmingham side who threw away a two-goal lead against Nottingham Forest at the weekend.

"We had to battle today and we did," he said.

"Bolton are going to be there or thereabouts at the end of the season and if we carry on with that effort there's no reason why we can't be up there as well."

There was bad news for the hosts, however, in the form of a serious injury to right-back Paul Caddis, who laid on Lita's 16th-minute strike.

"We're hoping for the best - he's dislocated his (left) shoulder," revealed McDermott.

"It popped out and they put it back in again, so we'll have a look tomorrow. He'll have a scan and we'll have a bit more of an idea how long he will be out for, but I think it will be a minimum of four weeks."