Match Report: Stevenage 0-1 Blues
Alex Cochrane's second half strike means Birmingham City are now centurions and remain on course for a number of EFL records.
Birmingham City reached 102 points with a 1-0 victory over Stevenage in League One on Thursday night.
The game itself was won by the one true moment of quality, Alex Cochrane netting his first goal in a Blues shirt with a fine strike from nearly 30 yards.
Chris Davies, back on the touchline after a two-game ban, made six changes to the team that beat Burton Albion on Easter Monday. Myeung-Jae Lee made his first start for the club while Ben Davies, Marc Leonard, Luke Harris, Keshi Anderson and Alfie May returned. Alfons Sampsted dropped from the squad altogether with Christoph Klarer, Alex Cochrane, Tomoki Iwata, Willum Willumson and Jay Stansfield all on the bench. Lukas Jutkiewicz returned to the squad with Ethan Laird missing out.
The game was a poor one quality wise and that was showcased early on when a low Taylor Gardner-Hickman cross wasn’t controlled by either Keshi Anderson or Alfie May until the latter curled wide.
There was an awkward moment when Kieran Dowell’s backpass looped over the head of goalkeeper Ryan Allsop but strayed wide. And Blues almost caused their own downfall when Gardner-Hickman gave the ball to Dan Butler but Jordan Roberts couldn’t make use of the moment.
Grant Hanley headed over a corner at the back post. Blues showed a little bit of quality down the left with Anderson finding the overlap of Harris. The cross bounced a little in the area before Gardner-Hickman blazed over at the back post, seemingly still reeling from the ball hitting his face moments earlier.
A tidy free-kick delivery fell for Louis Appere but the forward couldn’t connect cleanly and Stevenage had their best chance of the half in injury time, Charlie Goode heading a set-piece back towards goal where Jamie Reid stood but the striker couldn’t connect to beat Allsop from a couple of yards out.
Blues needed to step up a gear second half and started scrapping away. Leonard was key to the better moments early on, his free-kick whizzing just over the bar before he played Paik Seung-Ho in behind only for Harris to fail to shoot cleanly with the cutback.
A quartet of subs would ultimately make the difference for Davies’ side and one of those would score the winner. A corner had to be retrieved by Dowell who tried a cute dinked pass. That was headed away by Elliot List and teed up nicely for Cochrane to shoot first time low into the bottom corner from a distance.
There was a strange moment where defender Dan Sweeney punched the ball away from Stansfield in the area only for the referee to give the free-kick against Stansfield. Stevenage went up the other end and won a free-kick that Harvey White put narrowly wide of the near post having tried to catch out Allsop.
Stansfield was up for it and another lovely spin past Luther James-Wildin led to Iwata putting over the bar from the edge of the box. Dan Phillips blazed over from a distance while Allsop was called into action right at the death when a set-piece fell to White to strike on target via a deflection.
Another win. Another clean sheet. Birmingham City are centurions.
Lineups
Stevenage: Ashby-Hammond; Sweeney Goode Freestone (Young 89); Wildin Phillips White Butler; Roberts (Thompson 69); Reid (List 69) Appere (Hanlan 69). Unused: Mitchell; Piergianni Edwards.
Blues: Allsop; Gardner-Hickman Hanley Davies Myeung-Jae (Cochrane 67); Leonard (Iwata (67) Paik; Dowell Harris (Willumson 67) Anderson (Stansfield 67); May (Jutkiewicz 78). Unused: Peacock-Farrell; Klarer.
Tactics
Blues continued as normal. A 4-2-3-1 with Myeung-Jae Lee (MJ) tucking in and supporting Anderson while Gardner-Hickman (TGH) held width on the other flank.
Stevenage changed shape and moved to a 5-3-2. Roberts and Phillips flanked White, who sat at the base of midfield. They sat off Blues in possession, happy for Davies to have the ball and looking to close in on the space in the centre of the pitch.
They would switch up their approach depending on the situation. If Blues looked to go longer, White would sit deep on Harris and mop up while the other four stayed narrow and compact around Blues’ defensive midfielders. If Blues played short, White would step onto Leonard with the other four staying in a box shape ensuring Blues couldn’t play into the midfielders that were stepping out wide. The approach meant that they would always have a spare man at the back, leaving May often marked by two.
Davies saw a lot of the ball in the middle of the back three. The out largely became MJ, who would receive and look to find Anderson, and that became the basis of Blues’ ability to step forward. Harris and Paik spent a lot of time pulling out to the left, which would take Phillips and White over. The aim was to deliver low with May, Dowell and Gardner-Hickman on the other side.
Stevenage had their own outs in possession. They looked to put Reid up against Davies and Lee down the right-hand side when going direct. The attempt from there would be to try and switch play over quickly to the left where Freestone and Butler were comfortable.
Set-pieces were a big feature of Stevenage’s game, particularly Charlie Goode’s long throw.
Players
Not Blues’ best display. A couple of things to pick out.
When we signed Grant Hanley, I was informed that he was a proper meat and potatoes defender and this game showcased that. He lacked what Klarer gives us in terms of stepping forward with the ball, wanting it, moving into space and playing crisp passes. But when he called into action defensively, whether defending his box, a forward pass in behind him, a set-piece or whatever else, he stood up to the test. A proper centre-half.
Myeung-Jae Lee. A lot to like. He’s pretty sharp. He wasn’t afraid to defend his back post. He wanted the ball and was an available out. He moves the ball well and he put in one delivery that was gorgeous and deserved an attack from a Blues forward. A shame we won’t see a little bit more of him but you can see why we signed him.
I’m not going to bite at any less than impressive displays given the situation we are now in. I will highlight Stansfield, however. He came on with a bee in his bonnet, stood up to his markers and helped set the tone for an improved, more gritty finish to the game.
Conclusions
What I loved about this win was that it showed that these players still care.
The first half wasn’t great and we let ourselves get bullied a bit. Charlie Goode scythed through Alfie May from behind. He also tried to wind up Gardner-Hickman twice after the incident with Lewis Freestone, who was smiling away. Dan Sweeney put in a naughty tackle. Dan Phillips got booked and twice caught Paik Seung-Ho. The Stevenage fans got up for it.
It just felt like we didn’t really fancy the blood and thunder stuff. Given the stage of the season, I can understand it, but it isn’t half frustrating to watch. You’re hoping we get the chance to land on somebody, as much to rile ourselves up as anybody else.
We woke up to it second half. Anderson turned his man and got the better of his marker. Hanley got into a couple of physical battles and won them. We started to play with more clarity and purpose.
And then the substitutes arrived. Sweeney flew in with an awful tackle after Stansfield turned James-Wildin and Stansfield stood up to him, which also woke a couple of our lads up. Willumson went full pelt into Freestone and caught his foot. Jutkiewicz later came on and enjoyed some good tussles and left a couple on Freestone.
We have some uber-talented footballers that are better than League One football. But you don’t win the number of games we have if you can’t stand up to the physical side of it and we showcased in the second half here why we are champions and potentially record breakers – because you can’t outplay us and you can’t bully us.
It’s Mansfield Town on Sunday and a chance for everybody to celebrate the title win.
I’ve no doubt Davies will go strong for the occasion, especially with us having the chance to finish the season unbeaten at home and break Wolves’ League One record in the process.
What a season it has been.
Another excellent summary , quality work , thanks Ryan , KRO
Nice one,Ryan. I thought Phillips was well naughty and a little lucky to stay on the pitch. Also, the handball was so blatant that my wife saw it and she wasn't even watching!!!!!
Anyway, a poor game settled by an excellent goal. Well done to all of the subs who took us home.