Chris Hughton enjoyed a double victory as Birmingham beat Club Brugge 2-1 and Pablo Ibanez was given a clean bill of health.
Blues defender recovers after nasty clash of heads in crucial win
Chris Hughton enjoyed a double victory as Birmingham beat Club Brugge 2-1 and Pablo Ibanez was given a clean bill of health.
The defender was knocked unconscious after a sickening clash of heads with Joseph Akpala in the 83rd minute which left some of his Blues team-mates visibly upset.
Coincidentally, it was the Nigeria striker Akpala who scored his seventh of the campaign to put Brugge ahead after just three minutes.
The Belgians had a 100 per cent record in the Europa League but were pegged back when David Murphy scored in the 26th minute in his 100th appearance for Birmingham.
Substitute Chris Wood sent the travelling fans, who numbered almost five-and-a half thousand, delirious by scoring in the 10th minute of added time.
Concussion
"Pablo was a real concern for us so we're very happy it was just concussion and he's okay," said Hughton.
"We feared the worst, as you always do with incidents like that when it is always a real concern. But fortunately, it usually works out okay and thankfully it did today.
"We're delighted for him. He had a very good game and also thinks he scored the winner!
"It is as big for us as the win. It's always a difficult moment. But we're very relieved he's okay and that comes before football.
Scoreline
"We've had two results today. One is the scoreline and the other is the fact he is okay. It showed great professionalism to do what we did after a stoppage of six minutes.
"It was a vulnerable time for us with the long stoppage and when you know there are 10 minutes of added time it's always a massive lift for the home team.
"At 1-1 I would have been quite happy but we've got a group of lads who felt they could get more and they drove through to the end to get the win."
Brugge boss Adrie Koster said his side had only themselves to blame as they suffered their first home defeat against English opposition.
"We had the good start, we pressed them from the start and then scored the early goal," he said.
"After that we had to press but didn't. We weren't aggressive enough and didn't defend the two goals well. That's why we lost the game.
"Even though they play in the English second division we always knew they were a good team and we saw that today."
