English Football Returns: Late Drama as Birmingham and Ipswich Share the Spoils

The new EFL Championship season is officially underway, and it kicked off with a dramatic opener between Birmingham City and newly-promoted Ipswich Town. In front of a buzzing home crowd at St Andrew’s, Birmingham were minutes away from securing all three points — until stoppage time heartbreak struck.

Jay Stansfield put the hosts ahead in the 55th minute, calmly slotting home after a rebound off the post fell kindly into his path. It looked like the perfect start for the Blues, who controlled large spells of the second half.

But Ipswich had the final say. Deep into injury time, a late penalty gave George Hirst the chance to salvage a point — and he made no mistake from the spot, smashing the ball past the keeper to make it 1-1 in dramatic fashion.

2025-26, England - Championship

Birmingham City - Ipswich Town 1:1 (0:0)
Goals: Stansfield, 55 (1:0); Hirst, 90 (penalty) (1:1)

Birmingham City: Allsop; Klarer; Neumann; Cochrane A.; Osayi-Samuel; Iwata; Seung-ho Paik; Gray (Laird, 83); Anderson K. (Gardner-Hickman, 89); Furuhashi (Doyle T., 77); Stansfield (Dykes, 83)
Bench: Beadle; Bielik K.; Cashin; Leonard M.; Willumsson W.
Yellow Cards: Osayi-Samuel 19; Seung-ho Paik 71

Ipswich Town: Palmer; Davis L.; Johnson (Young, 68); Greaves; O'Shea D.; Matusiwa (Humphreys C., 85); Taylor Ja.; Ogbene (Broadhead, 68); Szmodics (Chaplin, 68); Hirst; Clarke J. (Al-Hamadi, 79)
Bench: Walton C.; Kipre; Woolfenden
Yellow Cards: Taylor Ja. 19; Matusiwa 44; Chaplin 90