Soccer
Tonda Eckert praises Keven Schlotterbeck for sticking to his guns
Southampton head coach Tonda Eckert praised Keven Schlotterbeck’s “courage and bravery” after he stuck to the gameplan before finding the net in a breathless 1-1 Sky Bet Championship draw with Birmingham.
Schlotterbeck’s error let in Jay Stansfield to hit the post before the new defender, signed from Bundesliga side Augsburg, powered home a header to give Saints the lead prior to August Priske equalising.
Eckert said: “Fair play to Keven – it was a great header and a great delivery from Leo Scienza.
“It was a proper header, there is so much conviction in everything he does.
“I take that (error) on me because we try to play football and sometimes that can happen if the ball goes back and you try to find a solution.
“That one slipped through but I will take the blame for that.
“It was an excellent decision from Daniel Peretz not to come rushing out – it allowed the striker more time to think and delay the shot.
“It shows the courage and bravery in which he (Schlotterbeck) continued to play the game, especially in an atmosphere like this, so all credit to him.”
There were chances at both ends and Eckert added: “It was a good advertisement for the Championship – a good game of football.
“There were a couple of moments that went in our direction to win it, but overall a very good quality Championship game.
“It was quite an even game – there were a couple of chances for us and the same for Birmingham.”
Schlotterbeck’s towering aerial effort in the third minute of time added on at the end of the first half gave Saints the lead from Leo Scienza’s corner for his first goal since January 2025.
Priske equalised in the 55th minute when he headed home Patrick Roberts’ cross for his first league goal of the season.
Blues manager Chris Davies said: “It was a very good game. We had an electric start – I was really pleased with how we got after them.
“Our tails were really up which is exactly what we want to be here, St. Andrew’s was rocking.
“So to go in at half-time a goal down was a real sucker punch as they had had little periods of control with the ball without hurting us too much.
“We deserved to get the goal and could have won the match. August worked his socks off and was a real handful so it was great for him to score.”
