Match Report: Blues 2-0 Stockport County
Three wins on the spin for Birmingham City as an Alfie May double put League One promotion challengers Stockport County to the sword.
Birmingham City made it three wins on the bounce in all competitions with a 2-0 victory over Stockport County at St.Andrews on Wednesday night.
The damage was done during an excellent first half display with Keshi Anderson twice teeing up Alfie May for a brace.
Blues were forced to play on the back foot in the second half but ground out the victory and a clean sheet to go within three points of league leaders Wycombe Wanderers.
Davies kept an unchanged side to the one that beat Exeter City in their last league outing with the only change to the 18 being Lukas Jutkiewicz replacing Ayuma Yokoyama on the bench.
Both sides started this one competitively and the visitors came awfully close to taking the lead when Louie Barry escaped Krystian Bielik and found Will Collar with a cross-field pass, the midfielder hammering against the underside of the bar from 20 yards.
Blues stepped up a gear and took total control of the game but chances were few and far between, Anderson unable to hook an Alex Cochrane delivery on target and Ethan Pye doing well to head behind a wicked Paik Seung-Ho free-kick.
Stockport had defended their area excellently but hurt themselves when goalkeeper Ben Hinchliffe left his throw short enough for Anderson to capitalise. The winger moved into the area and as five Stockport bodies flung themselves towards the six yard-box, he found Alfie May, who had backed away from the mayhem. The Blues number nine struck low and clean but saw his effort helped into the net via the boot of Ethan Pye.
The second arrived within ten minutes. Tomoki Iwata spotted space ahead and darted forward to be found by Christoph Klarer. His control wasn’t the best but he had dragged a number of players out of position and by the time Jay Stansfield picked up on the loose ball, Anderson had oodles of space to run into. May spotted the space, darted ahead of Macaulay Southam-Hales and had a simple tap-in for two.
Blues received a warning shot before half-time. A simple throw-in routine allowed Southam-Hales to cut the ball back for Barry, who beat Anderson to fire low and on target, bringing out the best in Ryan Allsop who got down quickly and then recovered to deny Kyle Wootton on the rebound.
The second half was a different encounter. Stockport made a triple change at half-time and while Iwata powered a strike at Hinchliffe early doors, it was the visitors having most of the efforts at goal. However, all ten second half shots came from outside of the Blues box.
The first came via Jack Diamond who gave Allsop handling practice. Barry fired a free-kick at the Blues wall. Callum Camps tried his luck from 30 yards and was narrowly wide of the target and he later volleyed over after a cross was cleared his way.
Stansfield got an opportunity when a poor clearance bounced against Willumson, allowing the England under-21 international to beat one and squeeze and effort on target. He then produced a unique effort from a looped Anderson cross, volleying the ball past his head and forcing Hinchliffe to dive to his right.
Barry tested Allsop with another long range strike while Diamond came close with a wicked effort on his left-foot. The visitors had good territory but couldn’t find the telling touch or pass or that bit of luck to beat a stubborn Blues backline.
Back-to-back wins and clean sheets in the league. A good response to the loss at Shrewsbury Town.
Lineups
Blues: Allsop; Bielik Klarer Davies Cochrane; Paik Iwata; Anderson (Laird 83) Willumson (Leonard 86) Stansfield (Harris 86); May (Dykes 61). Unused: Peacock-Farrell; Gardner-Hickman Jutkiewicz.
Stockport: Hinchliffe; Connolly Pye Touray (Adaramola 80); Southam-Hales Norwood (Diamond 46) Bate (Olaofe 46) Rydel (Camps 46); Collar Barry; Wootton. Unused: Addai; Hughes Bailey.
Tactics
Blues continued with the mirrored 4-2-3-1 shape, Bielik stepping inside with Cochrane and Anderson providing the width on either flank.
Stockport played a 3-4-3. Out of possession, they attempted to smother the centre of the pitch and force Blues wide with Oliver Norwood and Lewis Bate stepping up close to the front three. When the ball went wide either side, it was the job of Will Collar or Louie Barry to step out and close the ball down.
In terms of the defence, they each had a man. However, if a Blues player dropped off, they would look to follow so far before passing that player on, knowing the centre of the pitch was congested and they would have an extra man at the back.
Blues had a couple of routes to beating this. The first was Paik Seung-Ho performing a role he has performed on a number of occasions, drifting out to the left-hand side and pushing Alex Cochrane on, which would just create a little bit of confusion and also potentially open up a gap to find May or Stansfield in a pocket.
The other was Willum Willumson pulling out of his position to drop in deep or wider and taking Ibou Touray with him, leaving Ryan Rydel or Ethan Pye with a decision to make and space to cover. It allowed Tomoki Iwata to make the forward run for the second goal and there were also several occasions when Keshi Anderson got the run on Rydel but we often overhit the pass.
In terms of in possession, Stockport did aim to try and keep their front three high up the pitch and in dangerous areas. That showed with the Collar chance early doors. They wanted to utilise the speed of Barry and power of Collar up against Bielik and Davies where possible and tried to search early for them when the opportunity arose but encountered issues such as a lack of support or poor delivery. A summary of their attempts to build can perhaps be found by acknowledging Kyle Wootton, Barry and Rydel were dispossessed a combined ten times in the first half.
Stockport switched things up in the second half. They went from 3-4-3 to 4-4-2, albeit it was a little hybrid with Southam-Hales tucking in slightly and Diamond holding width on the right, while Barry seemed to have a slightly freer role from the left.
They essentially went man for man in the second half and started engaging higher up the pitch. And they now had the speed and power of Isaac Olaofe up top, which hurried Blues into decisions.
A key component of the new shape and how they moved the ball was that Cochrane was forced to tuck in to support Ben Davies and close the space, which allowed Diamond plenty of space and time on the right-hand side, where Stansfield was often forced to cover and help out, dragging Blues’ forward line further back.
Davies made a key change for Blues, bringing on Lyndon Dykes. While he didn’t create anything, it did allow Blues to go a little more direct and have the ball stick up top. It brought the team into play beyond the visitors’ press but Blues failed to make the most of the space afforded, particularly with less of an option down the left-hand side.
Players
I’ve mentioned him a couple of times, but Tomoki Iwata was my man of the match. He was superb throughout, always showing, making intelligent decisions and playing an important role in and out of possession.
Paik Seung-Ho was excellent. The back three deserve huge plaudits for their work, particularly Klarer and Bielik in the second half who won everything in the air.
It was great to see Alfie May get his brace and he performed okay up top again, popping up in a number of areas and looking to make things happen. Keshi Anderson assisted both goals and could scarcely have done more, regularly having the beating of Rydel in the first half and getting through a lot of work. He looks fitter and sharper this season. Credit to Lyndon Dykes for coming on and having an impact too.
If there was a question to ask, it was around Willum Willumson, who just had one of those games. Had he been a little sharper in the second half, we may have had one of two more opportunities. There’s no need to go much deeper on him, but hopefully he finds his feet at the weekend.
As for Stockport, Isaac Olaofe and Jack Diamond certainly had an impact in the second half, the former with his relentless running and the latter with his tidy feet and attempts to create.
He’s received some stick online but I do think Louie Barry looked a tidy prospect. He set up the first chance, came close with an effort, showed some speed and willingness against Bielik and you can see why he’s highly rated.
Conclusions
It’s been a very good week for Chris Davies.
There were murmurs of discontent following the Shrewsbury Town debacle. Nothing over the top, but a team with so much expectation on it had gone three without win and spent a month or so struggling to turn possession into dominant victories.
He needed a response. An interesting tactical tweak paid off at Exeter City, an evening that had the potential to be awkward given the travel, the weather and the pitch. He made ten changes for the game away at Blackpool and his side came away victorious. Now he’s beaten one of the best sides in the division and seen his side keep another clean sheet.
The dominance of the first half display here was superb. While it didn’t result in consistent chances, which can’t always be helped depending on how the opposition defend their area, the fact that we limited them to just 37 touches in our half across 45 minutes of football is so impressive. That number drops to 21 in the 36 or so minutes played between their two chances at our goal.
As for the second half, it was one of the few times this season we’ve had to show the other side to our game, which is going to happen at times. Every side will have spells where they on the back foot (and we were facing promotion rivals here) and we have to prove we can defend in those moments. We defended the box excellently both from open play and set-piece situations. When we needed him, Ryan Allsop stepped up. And we still had numerous chances to break, only for one or two players to lose their footing or make the wrong decision.
It’s also no surprise that we are reaching the winter months now and it’s guys like Allsop, Davies, Anderson and May stepping up. For all the fancy new tools we have from across the land, promotions and titles are rarely won without the guys that have been there, done it and seen it all. We have some excellent pros in the building and in a tough moment, they have stepped up.
It’s Barnsley at the weekend and another interesting game.
Interesting because there are a couple of former players involved. There is Corey O’Keeffe, a product of our academy and somebody who has done well for himself since leaving the club. There is Marc Roberts, somebody who probably overstayed his welcome by the end having endured a tough few years at the club (not the only one in that time, of course). And there is Sam Cosgrove, up there with the worst signings Birmingham City Football Club have ever made and somebody who is almost guaranteed to score this weekend. It’s the Typical Blues factor.
It’s also interesting because of the challenge that awaits us. It’s our fourth away day in two weeks. The weather is crap. The pitch will probably be crap as a result. And we’re facing a decent outfit with a manager that knows the level very well and a team that have had an extra day’s rest. It has the potential to be an awkward encounter.
It’s made more awkward because we’ve lost the one player we could do without losing at present in Keshi Anderson, who picked up his fifth booking on Wednesday and is therefore suspended.
Who replaces him? Scott Wright is absent. Emil Hansson has been back in light training but is unlikely to be fit enough to return to the starting XI. Ayuma Yokoyama was completely absent from the squad in midweek as he continues to learn the rigours of English football.
Ethan Laird could step in and would offer the speed and dynamism that we would lose without Anderson while being more comfortable competing 1v1 with Barnsley’s left wing-back, but he would be starting much higher up the pitch than he has in his career and there would be questions around how much of an impact he can have drifting into central positions, having a cutting edge in the final third and getting involved in the team’s press.
Luke Harris is the other likely option, a player who would understand more of the attacking aspects of the role in terms of the press, the positions to pick up and having an impact in the final third but it would leave us without that natural speed and dynamism, especially with Bielik backing him up at right-back.
It will be interesting to see what decision Davies makes.
Otherwise, it’s hard to imagine changes being made. The group got a rest last Saturday, so it’s likely that they get flogged again at the weekend, knowing we have quality and legs on the bench to change things up if required.
Here’s hoping for a first three-game week complete with victories and a fourth on the bounce as we look to return to the top of the table.