Match Report: Crawley Town 0-1 Blues
Blues made it seven wins on the bounce thanks to Jay Stansfield's second half winner at Broadfield Stadium.
Birmingham City made it seven wins on the bounce in all competitions thanks to Jay Stansfield’s second half header at Crawley Town.
A match-up between two clubs at opposite ends of the league and financial tables meant Blues heading into this one as heavy favourites. However, it proved a difficult evening for Chris Davies’ side until League One’s most expensive signing popped up for the winner.
Davies kept an unchanged side following a comfortable victory over Bristol Rovers. Lyndon Dykes and Emil Hansson returned to the squad after illness and injury respectively, replacing Ayuma Yokoyama and Lukas Jutkiewicz.
Despite the belief that neutrals would enjoy this affair between the two most football-on-the-floor outfits in League One, it was a pretty drab affair with just four shots at goal, one from open play.
The effort from open play was the first of the night. Crawley cleared to Ben Davies who volleyed a pass into the feet of Alfie May, who set Stansfield away. The England under 21 striker was unable to connect cleanly with the strike under pressure.
Willum Willumson’s near post corner was flicked on by Keshi Anderson. The ball hit a Crawley defender and fell for Christoph Klarer who teed up Paik Seung-Ho. The South Korean struck cleanly but a deflection took the power off the ball.
Paik took the next corner and his deep delivery bounced out to Stansfield, who held off his man and struck into the ground off the wet turf, Jojo Wollacott reacting sharply to turn the ball out for another set-piece.
And that was it. The hosts had done a good job of making life difficult for their visitors but also managed just four touches in the Blues box and no efforts at goal.
Blues were sharper in the second half. A direct pass to Anderson opened things up for Tomoki Iwata to control and curl just wide of the post. Paik then had two efforts, the first a free-kick deflected wide for a corner that was taken short and fired on target. Blues recycled play and May stood the ball up for Stansfield who kicked the ball with his wrong foot.
It took 24 second half minutes for Crawley to have another touch in the Blues area and they had their first shot of the match just after, Ronan Darcy receiving an excellent pass from Jeremy Kelly and seeing his shot blocked.
Blues took the lead with ten or so minutes left to play. A quick throw found Iwata who was unsure where to play until Charlie Barker tried to read Anderson’s movement short. It opened up space for Iwata to find his winger in behind. Anderson took his time and delivered onto the six-yard box where Stansfield had escaped Jeremy Kelly to head into the corner. Ruthless.
Blues had another couple of moments. Substitute Ethan Laird sprung away down the left and laced the ball across but Dykes couldn’t shift quick enough to reach it. Anderson then fired over after a set-piece.
Crawley threw caution to the wind and gave it a go late on. Rushian Hepburn-Murphy was wayward from a tight angle and Barker blazed wide from distance. The best chance fell to Ronan Darcy whose side-footed effort narrowly missed the top corner in injury time.
A 1-0 win. Blues top League One.
Lineups
Crawley: Wollacott; Mullarkey Conroy (Roles 78) Barker; Forster (Quitirna 78) Anderson (Ibrahim 73) Camara (Hepburn-Murphy 73) Kelly Adeyemo (Darcy 30); Swan Showunmi (John-Jules 59). Unused: Beach;
Blues: Allsop; Bielik Klarer Davies Buchanan (Laird 63); Iwata Paik; Anderson (Gardner-Hickman 93) Willumson (Leonard 74) Stansfield (Harris 90); May (Dykes 74). Unused: Peacock-Farrell; Hansson.
Tactics
Crawley Town opted for a 3-1-4-2. The image below shows this. Dion Conroy in the middle of the back three, Jeremy Kelly at the base with Ade Adeyemo and Harry Forster (out of shot) flanking Panutche Camara and Max Anderson.
The image also shows Blues’ attempts to press Crawley. Keshi Anderson and Jay Stansfield went narrow to close the wide centre-backs with Alfie May taking the role of closing Conroy and goalkeeper Jojo Wollacott. Willumson was tasked with Kelly while Paik and Iwata duelled with the advanced eights.
Crawley tried to play where possible, especially when Jeremy Kelly was available in the middle of the pitch. His sharpness and agility allowed him to get the better of Willumson more than once. However, Wollacott wasn’t afraid to go long, particularly aiming towards Showunmi and Adeyemo down the left-hand side because of their physical prowess.
Once in the final third, they were brave, pushing the wide centre-backs on to support the winger on that side in a bid to give them an overload. The delivery often lacked quality from these positions.
As for Blues, it was the usual sharp.
While it was nominally a 4-2-3-1, Blues would become more of a 3-1-4-2 of their own, Ben Davies and Krystian Bielik would flank Christoph Klarer with Lee Buchanan offering width down the left from a deeper position and Keshi Anderson doing the same from a higher position on the right. While there was rotation and fluidity in their movement, Paik largely had responsibility for pulling out to the left and Willumson to the right with Iwata holding in an attempt to pull Crawley’s midfielders out of position and open up the pitch. Stansfield then pulled inside, almost a second striker alongside Alfie May.
Crawley were bold in their attempts to stop Blues, pushing five men high. The front two would close Klarer and Davies with Adeyemo then Darcy responsible for closing Bielik, stepping really high. Camara and Anderson would take responsibility for Paik and Iwata with Kelly tracking Willumson. Barker would go 1v1 with Anderson, Conroy v May and Mullarkey with Stansfield. However, Forster would sit quite deep in comparison to Adeyemo/Darcy, more watchful of Stansfield’s movement which left Buchanan as a spare man.
And that’s how Blues often got out in the first half. Blues had two spare men on the pitch – Ryan Allsop and Lee Buchanan. So when Blues were unsure, they would move the ball back to Allsop knowing that Buchanan would be free. And when Buchanan received the ball, Camara was often tasked with closing the ball, which left Paik free to pull wide and receive. The challenge for Blues was being able to move the ball quickly enough to make the most of the opening, though that pass often meant going back and out to the right, or playing a diagonal out to Anderson.
The other more straight forward option was being direct. We had Stansfield and Anderson wanting to run in behind constantly, and with Crawley pressing high, there was space available in behind to exploit. The longer the game went on, the more of these passes Blues got right.
Crawley were forced into a big change shortly before the goal. Conroy was injured, so Elliott had to change things around, opting a more basic 4-4-1-1 with only Will Swan not changing position. They switched from:
Wollacott
Mullarkey Conroy Barker
Forster Hepburn-Murphy Kelly Ibrahim Darcy
Swan John-Jules
Wollacott
Kelly Ibrahim Mullarkey Barker
Quitirna Roles Darcy Hepburn-Murphy
John-Jules
Swan
It’s little wonder they were out of sorts and working out whose job was what when Iwata received so much time after a throw-in.
Players
A night where nobody truly stood out but everybody had a decent game.
The defence were excellent in their work, one slip from Christoph Klarer aside. Ben Davies especially, providing a real composure and calmness to proceedings.
Keshi Anderson received man of the match from Sky and it’s hard to argue too much given the work he got through both forward and back, not to mention the quality of his delivery at the end. And Jay Stansfield wasn’t at his best, but showcased his eye goal and instinctive qualities for the winner.
The substitutes deserve credit for their efforts on an awkward night. Ethan Laird’s speed was useful as an outlet while Lyndon Dykes and Marc Leonard helped give Blues some control.
For Crawley, I thought Jeremy Kelly was good. Never shied away from things and it’s a shame he ended up being the guy to lose Stansfield after moving position. Charlie Barker gave as good as he had against Keshi Anderson. Dion Conroy was a big miss after going off. Panutche Camara gets about well.
Conclusions
These are the wins that can be relatively forgetful going forward but feel crucial on the night.
You’re away from home. It’s cold. The weather is miserable. The ball isn’t quite rolling as normal. The opposition are showing real energy and commitment.
You just had to find a way to win. And we did.
Last night was a reminder of the financial disparity between us and others in the league. Four of Crawley Town’s back four have played non-league football in the last two years and I’ve covered six of their squad while covering the National League. Two others were signed from the lower divisions in America. Meanwhile, our captain and central midfielder featured at the 2022 World Cup, Iwata was playing Champions League football last season and Jay Stansfield was called up for England under 21’s early this campaign. The difference is stark.
But none of that matters unless you turn up and do the basics. We showed the right attitude and application. We defended our box, looked after the ball and when the opportunity came to exploit a gap in the Crawley defence, we did so ruthlessly.
It doesn’t get easier from here. The players will take to the pitch in less than three days to host another struggling outfit in Burton Albion. Then it’s Blackpool on Sunday. And it’s Stockport County away on Wednesday. Then Wigan Athletic at home on Saturday. A laughable schedule in truth.
How does Davies approach this? He can’t field the same team for all five games.
My guess is that we go full-strength against Burton Albion, at least as much as possible, then switch things up for Blackpool. An alternative is making a couple of alterations for each game to keep things fresh.
Christoph Klarer’s suspension enforces at least one alteration. I suspect Ethan Laird returns with Krystian Bielik moving into the centre of the back four once more.
Whatever happens, it’s a good learning curve for Davies as a manager and a challenge for a squad full of quality but has had little need for rotation for a lot of the campaign. It’s time for players to step up.