‘We have a point to prove’ – Birmingham boss John Eustace

New Birmingham head coach John Eustace admitted his team has a point to prove after overcoming last season’s brush with relegation.

A narrow 2-1 win over Huddersfield thanks to first-half goals from Scott Hogan and home debutant Przemyslaw Placheta, on loan from Norwich City, gave Eustace’s outfit a seemingly comfortable platform for victory.

But it was a different story after the break and Danny Ward pulled one back for Huddersfield as the hosts had to defend for long periods.

Blues would have gone down from the Sky Bet Championship last season but for Derby’s 21-point deduction and Eustace believes his players have plenty of questions to answer despite taking four points from two games.

“Last season we didn’t finish well and we should have been relegated if Derby hadn’t had all the points deducted, so the group has a point to prove and the players we’re bringing in do too,” said Eustace.

“We’ve showed we’re very competitive and hard to play against.

“Collectively this group want to play for each other and most importantly they want to make the fans very proud here at Birmingham City.

“We have started OK but no one’s getting carried away – there’s a hell of a lot of hard work and dark days to come as well.

“But you could see today the fans really got us through that second half and our job is to get the fans, players and staff connected again.

“Hopefully with performances like that, a good footballing performance and a good strong, collective defensive unit in that second half, that’s all going to help.”

Hogan gave Blues a fifth-minute lead when he headed home Juninho Bacuna’s cross from the right for his first goal since January.

It was 2-0 in the 45th minute when Placheta’s first-time angled drive was palmed into the