Willum Willumsson’s first half opener was enough to seal victory at the VBS Community Stadium, as Sutton United were knocked out the Emirates FA Cup at the First Round stage at the hands of League One leaders Birmingham City.

The U’s held their third tier visitors for large portions of the first half, but were pegged back just after the half-hour mark when Willumsson turned home a cross from the left.

The Blues subsequently dominated the ball throughout the match, and despite a late chance for substitute Ashley Nadesan and a penalty shout at the death, couldn’t find a leveller as Birmingham progressed to the Second Round.

Steve Morison’s side will take plenty of positives from their display though, and will look to take it into the visit to Rochdale AFC next Saturday.

Two changes to the side saw Finley Barbrook and Jayden Harris return from suspension and enter the starting XI in place of Dillon De Silva and Nadesan, while there was also room on the bench for Hayden Muller following his return from injury.

With the ITV cameras in attendance, the Blues looked to take a positive run of form in League One into the match, and the first half saw chances for both sides as both keepers were tested early on. Sutton’s first effort of the game fell to Barbrook, as a corner into the box from Josh Coley would fall as far as the Ipswich Town loanee who hammered his effort at goal but saw his shot blocked.

Jeremy Sivi later did well to intercept a Birmingham pass and drive from one penalty area to the other, although the ball just ended up out of his reach and Birmingham won a free kick in the process.

This was followed by a period of Birmingham pressure, which soon saw Ethan Laird deliver a ball towards the back post, with the cross eventually falling to Paik Seung-Ho who fired his effort over. Birmingham would then fire over their next chance when Jack Sims punched the ball out as far as Willumsson, who hit his effort into the fanzone.

Soon after, Jay Stansfield found himself in space within the Sutton penalty area, but the former Fulham man struck his effort at goal straight at Sims.

Birmingham soon took the lead though when a ball into the box would fell to Willumsson inside the penalty area who placed his effort into the bottom corner.

The hosts responded well though, and would see their best chance of the first half not long after. Harris intercepted a loose ball before driving the ball up the pitch and found himself one on one with Ryan Allsop, but couldn’t convert as he hit wide of the target.

This was followed by a moment of controversy in the Birmingham penalty area, as a long ball fell to Eduino Vaz in the penalty area. Ben Davies reacted by dragging the full back turned midfielder down, but the referee waved away any shouts for a penalty.

The first action in the second half would see Nadesan replace Will Davies as Morison searched for an equaliser, but it was Birmingham who had the first chance after the restart as Willumsson found himself free on the byline before squaring the ball towards Luke Harris, with Sims equal to his effort.

As United looked for an equaliser, Morison looked to his bench for attacking options once again, and saw De Silva replace Vaz shortly before Matt Rush replaced Sivi.

This followed another opening for the visitors when Birmingham won the ball back on the edge of the penalty area, with a ball towards Ayumu Yokoyama requiring a crucial intervention from Tyler French.

Substitute Lukas Jutkiewicz soon had the best effort of the second half for Birmingham, seeing his effort deflected just wide of the far post before having another effort at goal, firing a tame effort at Sims.

The best chance for Sutton would fall to Nadesan moments later, with Coley doing well to control the ball and play through De Silva. The Sri Lanka international did well to make space for a cross, with his delivery to the back post meeting Nadesan on the volley, but he could only hit his effort into the ground and over.

The U’s late surge for an equaliser saw Harris go over in the box at the death, but the referee once again waved away any shouts of a penalty, and was enough for Birmingham to seal the victory.

Sutton United: J Sims; T French, A Kirk, C Waller; J Sivi (sub M Rush 75), S Odelusi, F Barbrook, J Coley; J Harris, E Vaz (sub D De Silva 61);  W Davies (sub A Nadesan 50). Subs n/u A Arnold, C Okoli, H Muller, N Boateng. Booked Sivi, Barbrook.

Birmingham City: R Allsop; E Laird (sub A Sampsted 79), C Klarer, P Seung-Ho, K Anderson (sub A Yokoyama 66), W Willumsson, A Cochrane, T Iwata, B Davies, L Harris (sub A May 66), J Stansfield (sub L Jutkiewicz 79). Subs n/u D Sanderson, M Lennard, L Dykes, T Gardner-Hickman, B Peacock-Farrell. Booked: Allsop, Laird, Anderson, Cochrane.

Referee: Ben Atkinson

Attendance: 4,804(1,582 away)