Birmingham extend lead at League One summit with victory over 10-man Orient

Birmingham beat 10-man Leyton Orient 2-0 at St Andrew’s to extend their lead at the top of League One to nine points.

The visitors were dealt an early blow when Jack Currie was sent off in the 12th minute for a late lunging challenge which caught Tomoki Iwata on the ankle.

Richie Wellens’ side survived a barrage of chances in the 32nd minute when Josh Keeley spilled Paik Seung-Ho’s shot into the path of Taylor Gardner-Hickman, whose close-range effort hit the crossbar before another follow-up was blocked in the box.

Blues finally breached the visitors’ defence in the 53rd minute when Keeley palmed Kieran Dowell’s effort across the face of the goal where Gardner-Hickman was waiting to finish into an empty net.

A clever pass through the defence from Christoph Klarer played in Ethan Laird, who beat Keeley at his near post in the 84th minute to double Birmingham’s advantage and seal the points.