Birmingham manager Gary Rowett praises "absolutely brilliant" Blyth Spartans for giving them a real scare in an FA Cup third-round tie which ended 3-2 to the Blues.

Birmingham City manager Gary Rowett has admitted that "absolutely brilliant" Blyth Spartans gave them a real scare in the FA Cup this afternoon.

The seventh-tier side went two up in the third-round clash before three goals in the space of six second-half minutes saw the nervy Blues win 3-2.

Rowett was concerned with Birmingham's first-half performance and believes that scoring so soon after the interval was key to denting Blyth spirits, but was nevertheless pleased to have been involved in a tie which he feels epitomises the romance of the competition.

"It was a very, very nervy first half. You know what Blyth are going to do and they were absolutely brilliant this afternoon," he told reporters. "That is what the FA Cup is all about. You all want to play in it and they ran us very close.

"The key for us is that we had used 13 players over 10 games so we had to give them an opportunity and make changes. Don't forget that all of our players today have played in at least the Championship. That is no excuse to how we started the game.

"We didn't expect to be 2-0 down at half time and we needed to give the fans more. As soon as we got one Blyth's heads went down."

Blyth are currently 18th in the Evo-Stik League Northern Premier League, 126 places below Championship Birmingham in England's footballing pyramid.