Rangers loanees Ben Davies and Kieran Dowell saw their hopes of ending the weekend with EFL Trophy silverware dashed as Birmingham City were undone by Peterborough United at Wembley.
Fresh from celebrating promotion back to the English Championship and being crowned League One champions on Saturday without kicking a ball — courtesy of Wrexham's draw against Wigan Athletic — it wasn’t to be a weekend of double delight for Davies and Dowell, who both started in the Vertu Motors Trophy final under the arch.
Instead, it was Darren Ferguson’s Peterborough who made history in front of over 71,000 fans, becoming the first club to retain the EFL Trophy after a 2-0 victory built on two first-half moments of real quality, both with an Aston Villa connection.
Teenager Harley Mills — once on the books at Villa Park — opened the scoring with a sublime free-kick on 15 minutes, before his dangerous cross was guided home by Hector Kyprianou just before the break.
Birmingham, for all their second-half possession, couldn’t find a way past another Villa graduate in Posh keeper Jed Steer, who produced a commanding display to protect the clean sheet.
Davies and Dowell, both looking to end their loan spells at St Andrew’s with more silverware, had played their part in securing Birmingham’s promotion push, but it was a day to forget in London as Peterborough - who languish 16th in England's third tier - upset the odds.
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“Yeah, we’ve made a bit of history. We knew we had to give a really top performance and I felt the players did that,” Peterborough manager Ferguson told Sky Sports.
“Birmingham are a top team. They are one of the best teams League One has seen and you have to congratulate them, they’ve won the league — but today was our day.”
Dowell, operating in right-midfield, and Davies, at the heart of defence, were both unable to prevent Peterborough from seizing an early initiative.
Mills’ precise set-piece left Blues goalkeeper Ryan Allsop with little chance, and Kyprianou’s clinical finish in first-half stoppage time left Birmingham with too much to do.
Former Celtic player Tomoki Iwata and ex-Hearts full-back Alex Cochrane also featured for Chris Davies' Blues at Wembley.
Despite the disappointment, Davies vowed his squad would grow from the rare defeat.
“It wasn’t our best day. It was obviously Peterborough’s day, so firstly congratulates to Peterborough,” Davies said.
“Suffering is part of life, part of football and you have to feel it, take your medicine, grow from it and learn from it.
“We’re suffering because we’ve come to Wembley with all our fans and lost and that’s going to hurt obviously, but we do have to grow from it and we will do.”
