Match Report: Birmingham City 3-1 West Bromwich Albion

Blues made it back-to-back home wins with victory in Friday night's local derby. Report and breakdown from a fantastic evening.

Birmingham City made it back-to-back home wins after seeing off local rivals West Bromwich Albion at St.Andrews.

The visitors took the lead early through John Swift but a controversial penalty and Dion Sanderson header turned the game on its head.

The second half was a dull affair with both sides struggling with a third game in six days but life was breathed back into proceedings when Gary Gardner curled a late free-kick into the top corner.

John Eustace unsurprisingly decided to go unchanged after

the 4-1 win in midweek, meaning Siriki Dembele was risked with a second start in three days while Jay Stansfield once again led the line.

Blues started slow and were punished quickly, a needless clearance being pushed into the path of Grady Diangana. He turned back and found Swift who calmly slotted home from 20 yards.

While not giving up much, Blues were struggling to get the ball down and play. A clever corner routine threatened but it took a controversial penalty decision to give Blues the big chance they needed.

Ivan Sunjic found the run of Koji Miyoshi who slipped as he went to cut back inside. Cedric Kipre who also slipped and it led to a fine tackle perhaps looking two-footed to the referee. A penalty was awarded to the surprise of everybody. Juninho Bacuna stepped up and side-footed the ball into the bottom corner.

Baggies had a couple of chances through Swift and Mowatt before Eustace's side settled down and started to find a way out of the press. Miyoshi was key, being found via either flank, first to set up Dembele then Bacuna for deflected strikes.

Blues had ascendancy and made the most of it, a corner was cleared to Cody Drameh whose return found Dion Sanderson in space - the ex-Wolves youngster heading home then holding a Zulu sign up to the travelling fans.

The second half was a tame affair, Blues' raw attack unable to find the right pass and Baggies seeing a lot of the ball but struggling to consistently create openings.

Their best chance came on the hour when Matt Phillips found an unmarked Darnell Furlong to volley wide. Furlong had another chance ten minutes later but his header was tame at the back post under pressure from Dembele. That delivery came from Mowatt and another ten minutes later he found Cedric Kipre to head wide.

Blues were running down the clock and Scott Hogan looked to have done that when he was brought down 25 yards from goal. Gardner stepped up and to the disbelief of most at St.Andrews, he produced a peach of a free-kick that Alex Palmer couldn't quite keep out.

It almost got better when Pipa connected with Oli Burke"s cross only for Palmer to get a fine hand to it. At the other end, they huffed and puffed to little avail.


Lineups

Blues

Ruddy; Drameh Sanderson Long Buchanan; Sunjic Bielik; Bacuna (Gardner 82) Miyoshi (Burke 68) Dembele (Jutkiewicz 72); Stansfield (Hogan 82). Subs: Etheridge; Roberts Aiwu James Khela.

WBA

Palmer; Kipre Bartley Pieters (Townsend 46); Furlong (Pipa 81) Yokuslu (Chalobah 65) Mowatt Phillips; Diangana Swift (Fellows 72); Wallace (BTA 65). Subs: Griffiths; Taylor Ajayi Molumby.


Tactics

Blues lined up nominally in a 4-2-3-1, WBA were a fluid 3-5-2.

Both sides had the same idea out of possession. They were happy to sit off, let the centre-backs have the ball and then pounce once the ball moved forward rather than a full press.

They would look to try and force the ball towards Blues' left. Once Longelo received in either a left-back or left-centre-back role, Diangana would step out of midfield and press, but in a way that blocked the pass to the midfield, where Mowatt or Yokuslu would also step up. Wallace and Swift would step onto Long and Sanderson. The other midfielder would sit on Miyoshi, Phillips was tasked with Drameh, Pieters with Bacuna and Kipre and Bartley combined to marshall Stansfield.

Early doors, it worked well. Long was under pressure and went long for the first, leading to an easy header and Diangana setting up Swift with the space too big. Blues had to find a way around the press and they did by physically finding a way around it.

The full-backs and wingers were key, as they were against Huddersfield. Longelo would take possession and find a couple of different options: Play back to Long who, after clearing for the first, would tend to go back to Ruddy to go long, find Dembele or simply beat Diangana and drive forward, the latter working well as Sunjic and Bielik started taking themselves out of the game to open some space inside.

As for the right, more patience allowed Blues to find Sanderson who in turn could find Drameh. Swift wasn't as sharp in the press as Wallace and Phillips was tasked with a half-and-half role, needing to step onto Drameh but also protective of Pieters up against Bacuna, meaning Drameh often had time to receive and play. Drameh started being clever and dropping off more, which either gave him space or brought Phillips on more, allowing the pass into Bacuna.

Both avenues allowed Miyoshi to find some space either side of the remaining WBA defensive midfielder and this became the best route towards the West Brom goal, finding Miyoshi who could turn as others moved forward.

At the other end, WBA were 3-5-2 in possession with Diangana stepping into midfield. The game plan appeared to be isolating Kevin Long with Jed Wallace and making something of that battle due to the difference in pace. Draw Blues on, spring forward, back then over the top.

What made it difficult for Blues was that in possession, they isolated the Blues defensive box. Initially, Bacuna would sit on Mowatt, Miyoshi on Yokuslu and Sunjic on Diangana, leaving Bielik or Sanderson spare depending on Swift's position. But once Pieters or Phillips came into play, Bacuna would have to step on, drawing Bielik and Sanderson forward to man mark and if they didn't win the first pass forward, it allowed the player receiving the lay off to look towards the run of Wallace. Fortunately, it never came to anything.

Baggies made a half time change that improved their attacking output down the left. Conor Townsend was a lot more progressive than Bacuna in making forward runs which dragged Bacuna back to defend. This also meant that with Phillips and Townsend combining for the cross, Longelo could no longer follow the runs of Furlong and instead had to cover further inside, forcing Blues to rely on Dembele to defend the back post, not necessarily a strength.

Blues made a couple of changes with substitutions.

- Burke replaced Miyoshi and moved to the right with Bacuna stepping inside.
- Jutkiewicz replaced Dembele which moved Stansfield to the left.
- Hogan and Gardner replaced Stansfield and Bacuna, Hogan playing wide left and Gardner LCM in what became a 4-5-1.


Players

Emmanuel Longelo. Last season he would switch off, his touch was hit and miss and his concentration levels in and out of possession differed. He's stepped up this year. He wants it. His attitude is spot on. His decision making is more composed. He's defending his back post. He has been excellent and was again here.

Drameh was excellent and his assist was gorgeous. Bacuna has had better days going forward but his work rate was fantastic, the same going for Stansfield. Long had an iffy start but he and Sanderson were otherwise solid. Miyoshi found it tough early doors but was excellent thereon and key to our attacking play.

For West Brom, nobody really stood out, in truth. Darnell Furlong was okay and probably their biggest attacking threat, particularly second half. Townsend had a positive impact. Kipre and Bartley did shackle Stansfield in open play.


Conclusions

What a response to that Norwich defeat.

Eustace made some key changes, his team have got on the front foot, improved their work rate, shown a bit of confidence and got the goals their attitude has deserved - seven goals in two games leading to two wins and we're back in the top six.

I'm delighted for Eustace. I was becoming a little worried the pressure of new ownership and expectation was starting to tell but the response has proven these players want to play for the man. They care. He cares. And he's a bloody good coach.

A word for Gary Gardner. He has barely kicked a ball for a year and most wondered how much of an impact he would have as the team begins to move on from those that have been with the club for 4/5/6 years now. He had an excellent cameo against Norwich and his free-kick was a reminder that he is still a capable footballer and his experience will be utilised by Eustace this term.

In fact, the old guard did the job here. Hogan sacrificing himself to play left-wing, track Furlong and drive forward to win the free-kick Gardner scored. Jutkiewicz putting himself about and holding the ball up. For all the fun the new players bring, many are getting used to playing regular football again and reliance on the old guard will be important at times.

The penalty. I'd have been fuming if that was given against Sanderson. But it was a clumsy tackle. One of those where, I don't know the rules and exactly why it was given, so I'll have to back the refs judgement.

Finally, we scored a penalty. Interesting that Juninho Bacuna was the man to step up and it was great to see him celebrated by fans after the incident in midweek.

It's been a tough month but we've ended on a high and can hopefully build post-international break.