Match Report: Peterborough United 1-2 Blues
Birmingham City sealed promotion back to the Championship thanks to goals from Alfie May and Taylor Gardner-Hickman
Birmingham City secured their promotion back to the EFL Championship with a 2-1 victory at Peterbrough United.
All three goals were scored in a lively first half. Alfie May opened the scoring and though Kwame Poku equalised, Taylor Gardner-Hickman was on hand to score what would prove to be the winner.
Chris Davies made six changes to the side that hammered Barnsley on Saturday. Gardner-Hickman and Krystian Bielik stepped straight in after injury with Alfons Sampsted, Marc Leonard, Luke Harris and May also returning.
Ethan Laird, Paik Seung-Ho, Kieran Dowell, Keshi Anderson and Jay Stansfield all dropped to the bench with Ben Davies and Lukas Jutkiewicz dropping altogether.
The promotion party almost began early as Carl Johnston played May in behind but the Blues number 9 couldn’t lift the ball over the outstretched leg of Nicholas Bilokapic before Willum Willumson headed over the rebound.
Posh had a moment of their own when a set-piece caused problems but Blues were able to get the necessary blocks in. Another error allowed May an opportunity he couldn’t take from distance and he volleyed into a defender from a set-piece before Bielik curled just over.
The goal was coming, however, and it was May to provide. The switch out wide had been on all game and this time Tomoki Iwata found Gardner-Hickman on the left. He stepped inside with his cross finding the head of May to give Blues a deserved lead.
The response came quickly. Another set-piece caused issues and Blues half cleared to Poku who volleyed home with venom.
Leonard and May produced some nice stuff down the left but May scuffed the strike and more nice football saw Blues add a second. The ball was switched out to Sampsted who found the run of Willumson. He played to Harris, who found Leonard and the ball was moved on to Gardner-Hickman to cut inside and finish.
The hosts ought to have equalised when Harley Mills found the run of Malik Mothersille who rounded Ryan Allsop but couldn’t turn the ball home.
Not much happened in the second half and by the hour, Gardner-Hickman had had the only effort at goal, blazing over from distance.
The best chance for the hosts fell to Mothersille. A set-piece was cleared but Mills returned the ball to the back post where Abraham Odoh teed up the Posh number 7 for a first-time shot, Allsop reacting well to turn it behind for a corner.
May thought he had a second when Christoph Klarer sent him in behind but his control let him down. A Mills delivery was stabbed towards goal and Sam Hughes forced Allsop into another decent stop with a header from another set-piece.
Harris ought to have killed the game off with a few minutes left Laird showed good feet in the box and teed him up, Harris taking the shot off the toes of Anderson and putting it wide.
It mattered little. Blues confidently ground it out, made it four wins on the bounce and will officially compete in the second tier next season.
Lineups
Peterborough: Bilokapic; Johnston (Dornelly 63) Hughes Fernandez Mills; Susoho (Kyprianou 63) Collins (De Havilland 84); Poku Mothersille (Hayes 64) Odoh; Jones (Lindgren 75). Unused: Steer; Katongo.
Blues: Allsop; Sampsted (Laird 61) Klarer Bielik Cochrane; Iwata Leonard (Paik 61) Willumson Harris (Hanley 87) Gardner-Hickman (Anderson 61); May (Stansfield 75). Unused: Peacock-Farrell; Dowell.
Tactics
Same as ever for Blues. Sampsted and Gardner-Hickman held the width with Cochrane stepping in from the left and Willumson inside from the right.
Out of possession, Blues went 4-1-4-1 with Leonard stepping up alongside Harris onto the two deeper midfielders while one winger would tuck in to condense the pitch and leave the full-back free. It meant Blues had a spare man defensively with Klarer and Bielik able to cover one another against the pacey Jones.
Peterborough lined up in a 4-2-3-1 but in a more conventional fashion, the full-backs supporting the attack with the wingers stretching the pitch and the front two combining. In possession, they took few risks, often looking to use Collins as a way to spin out to whoever was free out wide or going long to Jones, hoping he could get the better of Bielik either in a race or with his back to play.
Out of possession, they attempted to press in a 4-1-4-1, Susoho generally the player to push up with Mothersille. Similar to Blues, they looked to close gaps, condense the pitch and leave a full-back free.
The big difference in the game was the out of possession play. Blues were sharp and on the front foot, quick to close and force Peterborough to either go long or play backwards, causing a number of mistakes, as shown with the two chances for May, like the image below:
Meanwhile, Peterborough didn’t press as a unit and left themselves too narrow defensively. The full-back would dragged inside by the forward runs of Willumson and Harris, which left the wide player on either flank free.
The image below is from the first goal, where you can see Johnston gets attracted to Harris’ forward run:
And for the winner, May pulls onto Johnston and steps inside, which leaves space out wide for Gardner-Hickman to be found by Leonard:
And here an image from the half-time whistle, with Leonard under no pressure, Odoh sitting on Willumson and Sampsted in acres of space:
Blues made a change late on to go 5-4-1, Hanley dropping in at centre-back with Willumson and Anderson flanking the midfield.
Players
It was nice to see a few new faces in league action and most did themselves justice.
The two that returned from injury stood out most. Bielik had a ding dong with Ricky-Jade Jones and came away a comfortable winner and he found his passing range nicely. Gardner-Hickman returned on the left and looked sharp, finishing up with a goal and assist on his return.
Sampsted was busy and a decent outlet. Leonard worked well down the left and got an assist for a quick bit of play. Harris had a tidy game, allowed to move into space rather than being cramped, albeit he should have scored. And May was May, busy and ready to pounce on any error.
Of those that remained, Allsop was alert, making a couple of fine saves in the second half and there was little he could do about the goal. Klarer and Cochrane have had finer nights in truth, Iwata was fine and played a key role in the opener while Willumson was okay until the key moments, where he would come unstuck.
I thought Paik made a difference when he came on, particularly covering defensively where he won his duels and helped Cochrane. Anderson worked hard too.
For Posh, they’re a funny side in which you can see the quality of the talent but as a team, they’re open and vulnerable.
Poku was bright. His goal was struck with venom and his footwork a joy to watch at times. Odoh is rapid and Mothersille sharp but it came in flashes rather than anything consistent. Collins had a decent game. I thought Mills at left-back did well too.
Conclusions
DON’T YOU KNOW PUMP IT UP, THE BLUES ARE GOING UP.
What a night, and I’m so envious of the fans that were there in person to witness our first promotion since 2009 in person. It’s been a long, long time coming and we’ve absolutely deserved it this season.
We’ve won promotion with six games left to play, have a trip to Wembley to come and boy does it feel good.
Now isn’t the time to write war and peace, however. That can come once we know exactly how this season has panned out.
And besides, there is still work to be done:
Sunday. Wembley. The EFL Trophy final.
Two points to secure the League One title.
Nine points to beat Wolves' League One record.
Twelve points to take the most points recorded in a season.
We don’t need to win now. The biggest job is done. But you know that Wagner, Brady, Davies and the players will be looking at the records and wanting to break them. I doubt Davies is about to let off. We don’t need to win, but we sure as hell want to.
And to reach the points totals we want, we have to play the sides currently in 10th, 14th, 17th, 21st, 22nd and 23rd. Only one, maybe two, have anything to play for.
The challenge of playing six games in 15 days with four of the games being away from home is the kicker. It's not going to be easy and a lot of players are going to have to step up during that period. But that's what they've done all season. Step up.
Before the league stuff takes care of itself, it's Wembley.
I'll be one of tens of thousands making the trip south to Wembley this weekend and with promotion won, it almost has the feeling of it’ll be a great day in the sun regardless. These opportunities don’t come along often, we’ll have around double the amount of fans of our opponents at the home of English football and it will be a day to soak in what should be an incredible atmosphere.
Yet you know once the whistle blows, the anticipation will be matched by expectation as we look to win the EFL Trophy for the third time in four attempts. And if this group go one further than they have already gone this season, well, I’m running over superlatives for them.
See you at Wembley.
DON’T YOU KNOW PUMP IT UP...