Match Report: Blues 2-1 Rotherham United

Blues make it 17-unbeaten and extend their lead at the top to four points thanks to a second-half Jay Stansfield brace at St.Andrews.

Birmingham City extended their lead at the top of League One thanks to a 2-1 victory over Rotherham United at St.Andrews.

Sam Nombe gave the visitors the lead just before half-time but a second half Jay Stansfield brace was enough to give Blues the three points and extend their unbeaten run to 17.

Chris Davies made one change to the side that beat Huddersfield Town with Kieran Dowell replacing Marc Leonard. Tomoki Iwata was deemed fit to start

Blues were the more comfortable side throughout and started brightly enough. An early set-piece almost ended with a chaotic own goal as a Rotherham defender headed the ball against his team-mate towards goal before danger was averted.

Dowell then got involved in an attempt to make his full debut one to remember. He whipped a wicked free-kick that forced an acrobatic stop before having another effort on target from the resulting corner. The new man then found Lyndon Dykes with an excellent pass leading to Gardner-Hickman testing Dillon Phillips once more.

The Millers’ goalkeeper was tested again after Louie Sibley and Dykes missed the target. Keshi Anderson was played in down the left and found Stansfield whose effort on the turn popped up off a defender and bounced off the keeper. Laird put the ball back in the area with Dykes unable to poke it home under pressure.

Sibley had another go at goal, almost producing a spectacular lobbed finish. And Steve Evans’ side thought they had taken the lead a few minutes later when Powell escaped Dowell down the left and found Andre Green free at the back post. His header beat Ryan Allsop but Ben Davies recovered to clear off the line.

Blues responded with Davies unable to connect cleanly with a Dowell free-kick to the back post while Dykes found the target. But it was Rotherham that took the lead before the break when Blues failed to respond to a short corner. Substitute Dan Gore received the ball from Joe Powell and whipped a cross towards the back post that Sam Nombe headed in from six yards out.

A response was needed and Chris Davies’ side came out with purpose in the second half. Tomoki Iwata fired over and then set in motion Blues’ equaliser by intercepting a poor pass forward. He found Ethan Laird who ran into bodies before teeing up Dowell to cross to the back post. Dykes got the better of Hakeem Odoffin in the area and Stansfield was on hand to poke the ball beyond Phillips.

It was almost two in a matter of moments with Anderson pivotal in both moments. Firstly, he delivered a superb cross into the area that Laird headed wide and then he got the better of Odoffin before going down. He and the fans screamed penalty but the referee was unmoved.

All the action was taking place in front of the Tilton. Gardner-Hickman had an effort on target from distance. Leonard was denied by a block on the edge of the box and a short corner almost paid dividends with Stansfield narrowly wide of the near post from a Scott Wright delivery.

Then came the killer moment. Another clearance was quickly recycled and Gardner-Hickman played a one-two with Leonard. His first touch went awry but he beat Odoffin to the loose ball and the right-back tripped him up. Penalty given and despite Phillips doing his best to delay things, receiving a booking for his efforts, Stansfield fired the ball into the bottom corner.

There was little goalmouth action thereon. Gore smashed over from distance and Wright produced a wonderful piece of skill to set up Leonard for an effort on target. Blues saw it out. Job done.

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Lineups

Blues

Allsop; Laird Klarer Davies Cochrane; Iwata (Bielik 85) Gardner-Hickman; Dowell (Leonard 62) Dykes (May 62) Anderson (Wright 62); Stansfield (Hanley 85). Unused: Peacock-Farrell; Harris.

Rotherham

Phillips; Odoffin Raggett Jules James; Sibley (Holmes 87) Humphreys Powell; Green (Hugill 82); Wilks (Gore 27) Nombe. Unused: Dawson; Kelly Hatton.

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Tactics

It was the usual shape for Blues, a 4-2-3-1 with Laird and Anderson holding the width on both sides. Gardner-Hickman had license to step forward from midfield with Dowell tending to drop in on the right, the idea being that they could stretch Rotherham’s diamond midfield. Dykes and Stansfield generally paired up top, but with Dykes having license to float.

The image below captures this.

Rotherham’s attempts to block us were largely man-for-man. The two strikers watched Klarer and Davies. In midfield, it was Green v Iwata, Sibley v Gardner-Hickman and Powell v Dowell. The full-backs were responsible for Anderson and Laird. It meant the centre-backs and Humphreys took the two strikers.

The problem they had for the first 20 minutes is that nobody was watching Cochrane. So in the early stages, Blues were able to get out time and time again through Cochrane. Wilks would occasionally step over, which would leave Davies free to move forward. They eventually resolved this problem, firstly by pushing Sibley over with Humphreys picking up Gardner-Hickman. And in the second half, the front two would dovetail across the back three more, albeit this usually just opened up space for the spare defender to receive and step forward.

Here’s the switch after 20 or so minutes with Sibley closing Cochrane, Odoffin closing Anderson, Humphreys stepping on to Gardner-Hickman, Green v Iwata and James running back having stepped infield with Laird. Blues able to easily manouever beyond this by moving the ball and rotating positions. It was clear players such as Raggett didn’t want to get dragged out of position, so it was easy for Dykes to step off and get involved with Humphreys now stepping higher.

And here’s the switch in the second half. You can see Green has pulled on to Davies with Nombe closing Cochrane. It means that when May drops off, Humphreys can step onto him and ensure Stansfield is marked by two while the midfield and full-backs stick with their men.

Rotherham were pretty uncompromising in possession. They had little intention of trying to play out and instead sent most of their play from the back in towards the channels, hoping to beat the head of Klarer and force Davies into a chase, often with Nombe into the left-channel. They would also pump balls forward with the intention of winning the second, again utilising the power of Nombe to get up against Nombe or Davies.

When Rotherham stepped into the Blues final third, Blues would drop Stansfield onto Humphreys at the base with the other three midfielders stepping onto individual men. That left Anderson and Laird to deal with the full-backs while the back three watched the front two, ensuring there was a spare man.

In terms of in-game changes...

Early sub for Rotherham. Wilks off. Green moved up front. Dan Gore arrived as the attacking midfielder.

Blues made a double change, bringing on Bielik and Hanley for Stansfield and Iwata. Blues moved to a 5-3-2. Hanley sat between Klarer and Davies. Laird and Cochrane at wing-back. Bielik partnered by Leonard and Gardner-Hickman in midfield with Wright and May up top.

Rotherham changed around the same time. They shoved Raggett up front with Hugill moving to the right of a front three. Humphreys dropped into centre-back.

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The Goals

Blues 0-1 Rotherham

A short corner. Evans was screaming from the sidelines for Gore to step across and Sibley to step forward having taken up a more defensive position to begin with. Dowell goes to step across but is responsible for Green, so doesn’t.

Dowell passes Green onto Davies and takes responsibility for Sibley. This leaves Stansfield as the spare man for Blues but he’s tasked with defending the front of the six-yard box, so is hesitant to step across. This gives Powell an easy pass to Gore. Meanwhile, you may be able to spot in the image above that Nombe is left alone with Allsop unmarked, presumably attempting to put the Blues goalkeeper off.

Stansfield comes out to close and Gardner-Hickman steps across to support with the 2v1. Meanwhile, the Blues defence, except for Anderson who follows Humphreys, steps out. Davies (Green), Laird (Odoffin), Anderson (Humphreys), Iwata (Jules) and Cochrane (Raggett) are all marking / blocking men. Klarer and Dykes are free, as their initial job was to sit on the six-yard box and head clear. Everybody sticks to their initial job but it means that when Nombe drops off, he’s unmarked.

Blues 1-1 Rotherham

Blues have just been on the attack and lost possession. James looks for a forward pass to the feet of his strikers, one of the rare occasions Rotherham didn’t go long, and Iwata reads it brilliantly, playing a first time pass to Laird in behind James.

Jules is forced to attend to Laird with James racing back in support. And it means Blues are 3v3 on the other side of the box if they can work the right ball.

Sibley and Humphreys get attracted to the ball. Meanwhile, Powell, who made a forward run past Dowell when the initial pass was made by James, is caught ball-watching, leaving Dowell free. Laird has been caught and turns backwards with Dowell free. Blues are now 3v2 at the back post.

Dykes wins the header against a flat-footed Odoffin and Stansfield reacts sharper than Raggett.

Blues 2-1 Rotherham

Rotherham clear the ball and you can see how deep they are – Green, their striker, is closer to the Rotherham goal than Wright. Nobody is really sprinting back out. Tiredness has hit them. Blues are alert and Klarer quickly recycles possession to Gardner-Hickman.

Rotherham are now making poorer decisions and becoming more reactive in possession. Space opens up in the centre of the pitch as a result and as Green looks to close the pass to Wright off, Gardner-Hickman attacks the space he vacates, drawing two bodies towards him.

Gardner-Hickman beats Green and before Sibley can make a tackle, he pops the ball to Leonard who quickly returns it. Nobody has tracked Leonard infield from the right. Odoffin, meanwhile, is not a right-back and he is more focused on Wright rather than tightening up the back four and forcing it wide. Huge gap.

Gardner-Hickman and Leonard have beaten the entire midfield. Odoffin is reacting rather than in position. He fouls Gardner-Hickman.

Also, when you watch the clip you’ll see that the referee is bringing the whistle to his lips before the crowd has even engaged with the decision. He wasn’t influenced, Mr.Evans.

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Players

One of those games where the goalkeeper and defence weren’t really tested all that much. Credit to Davies for the goal line clearance. We coped comfortably with their threat bar those two moments. Iwata was also very Iwata.

Laird and Anderson had the beating of their men. The former was scythed down twice and the latter had Odoffin on toast and ought to have won a penalty. Dykes was excellent again, providing a good foil physically, albeit he probably should have slid Anderson in first half. And Stansfield looked sharp again. I was pleased he got his goals.

Dowell made his first start. I think he was largely what I was expected. A very good technician who produced some lovely moments early on. However, he was also caught not tracking his man for the first big Rotherham chance and I get the impression he’s the type that you perhaps have to get into the game rather than him driving it. However, I’m open to being wrong on that one.

Finally, kudos to Gardner-Hickman. He’s reaching cult hero status this season for his performances and he really stepped up as space began to open up on the pitch. Daniel Ivery said on Twitter the deal to sign him permanently is essentially done and I think it will go down well with fans.

For Rotherham, I was impressed by Cameron Humphreys at the base of midfield. He was most at fault in our 2-0 win at their place as a centre-back but I’ve been advised he’s stepped up since moving into midfield and we got evidence of that here. Sam Nombe was also lively and after enduring struggles following his big move last summer, it would be nice to see him step up. From afar, at least.

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Conclusions

Blues win. Villa lose. Good weekend ennit.

Add to that, we’ve now gone 17 games unbeaten and Wycombe’s draw means we are four points clear of second with two games in hand. Lovely stuff.

The stat has also come out via @bcfcstatto that we have collected more points from losing positions than any other side in the top four tiers. It would be nice if we could avoid going behind – and to be fair, most of those points were attained in the early throws of the campaign – but it shows the mettle and quality of this group.

The game itself, I thought we were good first half and excellent second half.

We were behind at half-time and it wasn’t deserved in terms of balance of play. But we were once again shown that if we aren’t serious enough in upping the tempo, teams at this level can provide a threat. Rotherham may be poorly set-up but they have a team willing to work, willing to run and with enough quality to ensure they’ll likely finish in the top half.

Second half we stepped up a gear. More rotation. Freshness off the bench. The shot count between minutes 46 and 81 (when we scored the second) was 12-0 with around 2xG created (1.11npxG). A top display.

The story post-match was Steve Evans and well, it’s just easy to dislike him isn’t it. His comments included:

• Asking the EFL to appoint an experienced referee to deal with our crowd

• That it was never a penalty

• His side were comfortable and we had run out of ideas so made a triple sub

And there was the video of him getting angry at Gardner-Hickman's time wasting and having a pop at Davies. So let’s debunk it all shall we.

As noted above, the referee had his whistle to his lips for the penalty before the crowd had even engaged. He knew it was a penalty. Videos have since shown the referee was correct. But also, if the referee was reacting to the crowd, he’d have given a penalty to Keshi Anderson and probably Christoph Klarer too. There was a foul on Ethan Laird that the linesman didn’t give right on the edge of the box. I don’t know whether the two penalty incidents were definite penalties, but the crowd thought so so presumably, the referee would have given them in Evans’ eyes.

His side were comfortable. Were they? In the ten minutes before the subs were made, Blues had equalised, watched Laird head just with a free header and had the Anderson penalty shout. The reason we made the subs was because Dowell was making his first start, Anderson is returning from injury and... well, the Dykes one may have been tactical or because he’s played little football this year and started the last three.

As for the time wasting, Dillon Phillips took his sweet time over every dead ball. Evans himself went to stop the ball then left it so he could waste time. His substitute held onto the ball and refused to give it back to Stansfield with the fourth official having to get involved. So I don’t feel bad at all about us managing the game as we did to secure the three points. And it was quite comfortable too – we actually had the best chance in those final 10 or so minutes.

I’m torn on it. The epidemic of goalkeepers going down so tactical plans can be discussed is becoming a stain across the game and the powers that be probably need to look into it. At the same time, it’s benefitted us. And I sort of love the Gardner-Hickman shithousing by rolling back onto the pitch – Darragh McAnthony wasn’t impressed with Jadel Katongo not doing the same to waste time before we scored against Peterborough United – but also, he should have been booked for his efforts and I’d expect an opposition player to be booked for it.

Either way, it’s secured us three points. And that’s what I care about most.

It’s Stevenage next in the Vertu Trophy quarter-final before we host Newcastle United on Saturday.

Fans really want to progress and I think Davies will select a team that can do that. At the same time, we are now in a run of, all being well, seven consecutive two-match weeks and players need looking after. I can see changes being made with Sampsted, Hanley, Bielik, Leonard, Wright, Harris and May all possibilities to return to the XI.

I think we need to be patient as far as team selection is concerned and hope bodies step up when called upon. This is where our big squad needs to prove its worth.