Match Report: Blues 7-1 Fulham Academy
Another strange evening of EFL Trophy action as a ruthless Blues put seven past Fulham's next crop of talent.
Birmingham City qualified for the next round of the EFL Trophy after a seven-goal showing against Fulham's academy.
A small St.Andrews crowd were treated to a big victory and some lovely goals, beginning with a Jay Stansfield brace either side of a Martial Godo wonder strike.
Ayuma Yokoyama broke his duck with a tremendous brace either side of a well worked Alfie May goal. The gloss was added by Keshi Anderson and Lyndon Dykes late on.
Chris Davies made seven changes for this one. Alfons Sampsted finally made his full debut while Bailey Peacock-Farrell, Dion Sanderson, Taylor Gardner-Hickman, Marc Leonard, Ayuma Yokoyama and Alfie May returned to the XI.
The chances started flowing quickly. A couple of switches out to the left saw chances for Gardner-Hickman and Yokoyama before Sanderson volleyed on target and Stansfield saw a shot blocked.
Blues led on 17 when Fulham gave the ball away. Willum Willumson was patient before dinking a gorgeous pass to Stansfield who took a touch before driving the ball through the legs of Alexander Borto.
Our youthful visitors responded a few moments later and did so in style. Godo, who spent last season with Wigan Athletic, showed lovely footwork to cut in on his right before unleashing an effort that could firmly lie under the banner of Top Bins.
It didn’t change the flow of the game too much. May couldn’t quite lob Borto, the keeper then forced into a fine stop to deny Yokoyama. Sampsted headed wide, Willumson shot over from 25 yards and May had a weak effort. Fulham did get in once more, Josh King making the most of an error but unable to squeeze the ball past Peacock-Farrell from a tight angle.
The second arrived before half time. Willumson was again the creator, slipping a pass for Stansfield whose effort bounced in off the post. Gardner-Hickman and May would fire over from distance in the minutes after.
Half-time didn’t change much. If anything, Blues grew stronger. Stansfield fired on target before Willumson put another effort over the bar.
The third was all about Yokoyama. Cochrane played into him on the left and the Japanese youngster drove to the touchline, teasing his marker all the way before chopping back inside and firing in off the near post.
Number four was a thing of beauty. Gardner-Hickman turned the ball round the corner for Stansfield who selflessly found Willumson who, like against Lincoln City, played one more pass to give Alfie May a simple finish.
Substitute Keshi Anderson cut inside but was wayward with his swinger. May headed a Cochrane cross wide before Sampsted almost stole the show with a howitzer from 30 yards.
Having already scored one, Yokoyama added to his collection with another beauty. May's low cross was cut out but set nicely for Yokoyama to volley past a helpless Borto.
Anderson came close from a tight angle. Sanderson headed a corner wide in injury time and the scoring wasn’t done.
Anderson wasn’t tracked when he ran off the shoulder and one straight ball over the top allowed the Blues winger to control and fire through the legs of Borto.
And there was enough time during eight minutes stoppage for Blues to add a seventh, this time May finding Sampsted’s forward run with the Icelandic international teeing up Dykes for a finish in the centre of the goal.
Gardner-Hickman couldn’t quite make it eight. Peacock-Farrell did well to stop King making it 7-2 after the teenager showed a nice turn in the area.
Lineups
Blues: Peacock-Farrell; Sampsted Klarer (Davies 67) Sanderson Cochrane (Laird 67); Leonard Gardner-Hickman; Willumson (Anderson 60) May Yokoyama; Stansfield (Dykes 60). Unused: Allsop; Iwata Paik.
Fulham: Borto; Gofford (De Jesus 78; Park 89)) Nsasi Amissah Esenga; Nwoko (Works 63) Donnell; Sekularac (Gordon 78) King Godo; Odmand (Loupalo-Bi 63). Unused: McNally; Ali Wahid.
Tactics
A briefer review than normal given there really wasn’t much new here.
Both sides played 4-2-3-1.
When pressing, both sides would drop into a 4-2-3-1 before stepping up into a narrow 4-4-2 to condense the pitch.
There was a difference in possession. Where Blues would move to a 3-2-4-1 shape and send Sampsted high and tuck Willumson in, Fulham would move more towards a 4-1-4-1 with Donnell tending to step higher, perhaps a little like we’ve seen Paik do next to Iwata.
Ultimately, Blues pressed better and moved the ball better. They found a way out of the press more confidently, happy to utilise the switch when required and space just opened up more and more in the middle of the pitch for Blues to play. Out of possession, it was men against much younger men and the differing levels of physicality were there to see.
Fulham did try. And they did have a short spell in the first half where they did keep the ball. But they were second best over the 90 and it only got worse for them as the minutes ticked by and more space opened up.
Players
Let’s start with Willumson. His size and power and technique against such opposition reminded me a little of those games in foreign countries where they have a couple of senior pros playing against local school kids.
Stansfield looked sharper, as shown with his two finishes. Yokoyama looked sharp. I thought Leonard had a good game, albeit a tad over-confident at times. Sanderson and Peacock-Farrell were assured with the little work they needed to do.
In fact, the only player that really struggled was Sampsted, who just looked short of confidence and / or match sharpness. He looked more comfortable playing left-centre-back.
The Fulham youngsters had it tough. No lack of effort. But as a collective, it just felt like they were hung out to dry because of the nature of the competition and the strength of our squad. The longer the game went on, the more farcical it became.
Kudos to Martial Godo. That goal was a peach. And Josh King showed glimpses of why he has had first team involvement.
Conclusions
Like Shrewsbury Town, this was a non-competitive fixture under the banner of a competitive competition and not really one you can learn much from.
It was nice that we were relentless in our pursuit of goals. But also, we didn’t really have to work for it. The amount of times we got in via one ball over the top was laughable. But that’s what you get when you come up against youngsters with little understanding of the game.
Ultimately, they will have taken a lot more from that game than we will.
The positives for us? All three strikers on the scoresheet. Especially Dykes, who looked like the monkey was off his back. And it was good to see Yokoyama break his duck too with a couple of sensational finishes. And we got to rest the four lads that started on Saturday.
There really isn’t much more to say about a night that went even smoother than planned.
Sutton United in the FA Cup on Sunday.
As a follower of National League football, I can tell you that Sutton United are a youthful and athletic side, one that works hard and wants to try and play on the front foot and with the ball at their feet. They’ve got wingers that can run too. The primary issue is that they are suffering with injuries at the minute so it could be a weaker XI than Morison will have hoped to field, which is a shame in terms of the spectacle.
Giving so many players a rest tonight, coupled with us not playing until the following Saturday, makes me think we will go full strength for this one. Hopefully tonight has provided a bit of a confidence boost as we look to qualify for round 2 of the FA Cup.