Long wait over for Zola

Italian claims first Blues win after 11 games in job

-  Colin Henrys

IT WAS 11 games in the making, and Gianfranco Zola could not hide his relief at finally securing his first win in charge of Birmingham against ten-man Fulham.

Lukas Jutkiewicz scored the only goal of the game after Ryan Fredericks had seen red for a reckless tackle on Craig Gardner.

Zola admitted the doubts had started to creep in as his search for a first victory went on, but was full of praise for the way his players responded.

And the Italian admits the hard work is just beginning, as Birmingham look to rediscover the form which saw them flirt with the play-off places before Zola replaced Gary Rowett in the dugout in mid-December.

“You can imagine, it’s the moment which we’ve been waiting for,” he admitted. “Of course I’m relieved because when you’re working and you don’t get results the doubts start to come.

“It was a difficult game – tough opposition, and then tough conditions because the confidence is not 100 per cent and we were missing players at the back.