Match Report: Burton Albion 1-2 Blues

Alfons Sampsted and Jay Stansfield goals helped Blues to move within five points of the League One points record.

Apr 22, 2025

Birmingham City moved to 99 points after a 2-1 win at relegation-threatened Burton Albion.

A dead rubber of a game burst into life at the end of the first half when Alfons Sampsted and Jay Stansfield found the back of the net. Little happened in the second half until a late Fabio Tavares strike.

Chris Davies, who was once again in the stands, made five changes. Grant Hanley made his first league start while Sampsted, Marc Leonard, Kieran Dowell and Taylor Gardner-Hickman returned. Ethan Laird, Ben Davies, Paik Seung-Ho, Keshi Anderson and Alfie May all dropped to the bench with Myeung-Jae Lee and Lukas Jutkiewicz dropping from the squad.

The whistle for kick-off blew to chance of you can stick you f*****g drummer up your a**e as the game quickly settled into a rhythm of Blues having the ball and Burton sitting off, waiting for an opportunity to break.

It was the visitors who made the first real inroads however, Julian Larsson finding Romarn Burrell, whose cross hit Grant Hanley and forced Ryan Allsop into action. A moment later, Burrell was involved again as he clashed heads with Alex Cochrane at the back post, the left-back bravely denying an almost-certain goal.

Leonard took matters into his own hands by testing Max Crocombe’s handling from distance. Burton had a couple of moments as Joe Dodgson’s cross tested Allsop’s handling and Burrell got into a decent position only for his shot to pearoll into the grateful gloves of the Blues number one.

It sparked Blues into life with the visitors now beginning to move the ball with a little more purpose. Stansfield’s cross from the right was volleyed at a Burton defender by Gardner-Hickman while a quick throw set Dowell away in the box but Willum Willumson’s header bounced off the top of a Burton defensive head.

The opener came from the resulting corner. It was messy. Udoka Godwin-Malife headed clear, Gardner-Hickman put the ball back in, Kegs Chauke stabbed as far as Dowell whose shot was blocked by Godwin-Malife. The Burton number 2 reacted quickly to block Sampsted’s shot but the ball bounced off the turf at speed and beat the dive of his goalkeeper.

From kick-off, Blues won back possession. Allsop to Hanley to Klarer to Tomoki Iwata to Klarer to Hanley to Cochrane to Gardner-Hickman. The utility man broke forward and drew the midfield on before finding Willumson, who let the ball for Dowell to play a first-time pass into Stansfield. The Blues top scorer showed a lovely touch and beat Crocombe.

The second half was a complete write-off. Blues didn’t muster another shot, playing with total control with Ryan Sweeney’s header on target about it.

That was until injury time when Kyran Lofthouse used available space to find the run of Tavares behind the Blues defence. The touch was sharp and the finish on point.

Blues held on comfortably to secure a 30^th league win of the season.

Lineups

Burton: Crocombe; Godwin-Malife (Delap 71) Sweeney Dodgson; Lofthouse Chauke (Forde 77) Williams Armer; Larsson (Tavares 77) McKiernan (Bodvarsson 77); Burrell (Bennett 84). Unused: Isted; Kalinauskas.

Blues: Allsop; Sampsted (Laird 77) Klarer Hanley Cochrane; Iwata Leonard (Paik 66); Dowell (Harris 92) Willumson Gardner-Hickman (Anderson 66); Stansfield (May 66). Unused: Peacock-Farrell; Davies.

Tactics

Blues played 4-2-3-1 with the usual twist of the right-back and left-winger holding width on either flank.

We were up against a Burton Albion side playing 3-4-3 with Larsson and McKiernan off Burrell.

Burton were very happy to sit in their shape, meaning Blues’ back three had lots of the ball under very little pressure. This included not really closing Iwata and Leonard when they dropped deeper to receive and hoping that by narrowing the pitch, they could force Blues wide or nick possession and set Burrell away if Blues got the pass wrong through the thirds.

What this looked like was a 3-4-3 that became a 5-4-1. The midfield and Burrell stayed narrow in shape. The back five stayed compact with the wing-backs not really pushing on. Godwin-Malife would step out of defence to close Willumson, but Stansfield would almost always be marked by two men. And so we got situations like this:

And this:

What killed them for the second goal is that they jumped rather than sitting off, which opened space. Burrell, McKiernan and Chauke all jumped on Iwata, then Burrell closed Hanley and Larsson jumped onto Cochrane. That opened space for Gardner-Hickman and allowed Blues to do what they were trying to do.

Gardner-Hickman broke and the midfield had to step across. So Chauke closes Gardner-Hickman while Lofthouse watches the flank. Williams jumps onto Leonard. McKiernan goes to Willumson. That leaves Dowell free on the other side if Blues can move it quick enough, which Gardner-Hickman does.

Admittedly, there is some fortune in Sweeney deciding to step out, which leaves Stansfield 1v1 rather than 2v1, but this is the opportunity Blues were hoping for and they took it.

In terms of the Burton attack, they wanted to either find Burrell moving into space or gain an overload down the left, where Sampsted would be operating higher up the pitch. With McKiernan and Larsson picking up half positions and them being marked, essentially, by Klarer and Cochrane, they had an out and would look quickly for the pass to Dodgson, who wanted to overlap. Either that, or Klarer / Cochrane would step on and the pass could be made to get Burrell moving against Hanley.

Burton tried to be braver out of possession in the second half, but this was done in a way that ensured they didn’t overcommit as they did for Blues’ second.

Players

A nice game to see how some different players got on.

I thought Hanley showcased his experience, regularly reading the run of Burrell and getting across in time, either winning a foul or keeping it simple. However, you can see the limitations in possession and in terms of his speed and it makes you wonder whether he remains with the club next season as the quality of opposition increases.

Sampsted was okay. I’m weary of the comparisons to Laird – I think people have a tendency to get excited by something new and shiny and players are only as good as their last performance. Let’s not forget that Laird was a key player for three months or so.

They’re both attacking full-backs but they’re quite different attacking full-backs, I think. Laird is powerful and wants to do his damage in 1v1 situations, wanting the ball to feet or to have a race in behind and win that individual duel. For Sampsted, I think he would prefer to work off a winger that stays wide so he can support, overlapping or underlapping, passing and moving and making movements into areas he can’t be tracked. Both have strong qualities and it’s about whoever steps up and what is available in front of them going into next season.

Leonard was sound. His position has been one of interest this season and it’s never been about his quality, more his consistency within games and continuing to do the right things. This was a weird game but he was fine.

As for the rest, it was good to see Stansfield get that goal. Klarer was his usual self up until the final goal – I haven’t seen the full angle so don’t want to overjudge – while Cochrane, Iwata and Dowell were fine. Allsop wasn’t so quick to be direct which I think is better.

A word for Willumson, who showed some really nice touches and intelligence in this game. It would be great if he could find that goal before the end of the season.

I thought Burton were the worst sort of team we’ve faced this season – one that is essentially waiting to be punished. They were well organised and you can see why Burrell has scored so many goals since the turn of the year. He’s got the physical traits. Beyond that, I wasn’t overly impressed.

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Conclusions

This section of the piece is likely to get a lot shorter given there is nothing to seriously play for now.

The records are still up for grabs. Five points to beat Wolves. Eight points to beat Reading. Four wins to beat Doncaster Rovers. I would love to see the full list of records broken at the end of this season.

I think what impresses me most is that the players aren’t phoning it in. While Burton did sit off, let us have far too much of the ball and only give themselves one genuine route out of defence, we still had to do the things you have to do.

We didn’t panic at any stage. We showed a willingness to defend our box. We scored from a set-piece situation. We played some nice stuff at times. We looked after the ball. And like Crawley, we didn’t really go gung ho second half but we also didn’t give much away. Job done.

That may potentially be the last game of the season we have with anything riding on it. Mansfield Town could be safe by Sunday. Blackpool are nine points off sixth with three games left to play and nine goals to make up. Cambridge United are five points adrift of safety with two games to play. It’s not just that our season is done, but every side we face is pretty much finished too.

It’s Stevenage on Thursday, and possibly the last game I’ll be able to watch until the final day of the season.

I can only assume we will make a lot of changes for it to keep things fresh and hopefully ensure everybody is available for Sunday when we get presented with the trophy in front of a packed out St.Andrews.

What kind of XI will we play? I’ll guess all six outfielders on the bench on Saturday come back into the XI and I’m to guess we see Lee start at left-back too. I’ll assume Sampsted, Klarer, Cochrane, Iwata, Willumson, Gardner-Hickman and Stansfield drop out. Maybe Dowell comes out. I wonder if Hansson is available too. Does Jutkiewicz get a spot in the squad? It really is a weird time of season.

Hopefully we win and move a step closer to Wolves’ record. Time to make history, right?

KRO.

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