Match Report: Sutton United 0-1 Blues
Willum Willumson's first half goal was enough to send Birmingham City through to the Second Round of the FA Cup.
Birmingham City advanced to the Second Round of the FA Cup after victory over Sutton United at Gander Green Lane.
Blues were looking to avoid the fate of fellow League One outfits Huddersfield Town and Northampton Town beat non-league opposition while live on the box. Fortunately, Willum Willumson’s first half goal was enough to secure the win.
Chris Davies took no chances with his selection, selecting a full-strength team that saw one change from the draw at Mansfield Town last Saturday. Luke Harris came in for his first start since the end of August with Lyndon Dykes dropping to the bench. Lukas Jutkiewicz also returned to the squad after injury.
This wasn’t a game for the neutral and the grass being left longer did little to enhance the spectacle in terms of the quality of the football.
The first notable moment of the game confused many. Ethan Laird was fouled by Jeremy Sivi but advantage was played and he was then tripped inside the area. As the referee blew to pull play back for the original foul, the ball fell to Luke Harris ten yards from goal. No goal. No penalty. Just a free-kick from the edge of the area that was cleared to Harris whose shot was deflected for a corner.
Sutton had their first chance from a similar situation, a corner cleared to Finlay Barbrook whose shot was cleared away.
Blues began to up the tempo of their passing on the quarter-game mark and it resulted in Blues gaining better territory. A cross to the back post found Paik Seung-Ho, who blazed over from a tight angle. Willumson blazed over on the volley. A couple of minutes later, he found the cute pass to Jay Stansfield who shanked his effort wide of the post.
The goal arrived just after half hour and it was one Sutton will feel was avoidable. Keshi Anderson returned a quick throw to Paik Seung-Ho whose left footed cross was scuffed into the bottom corner by Willumson.
The pitch remained an issue when it came to playing short and it led to Sutton’s best opportunity. Paik’s pass to Ben Davies was short and Jay Harris stepped in, knocking the ball past Davies to run through towards goal. However, his touch was poor and the pitch slowed him down, forcing him to take the shot from outside of the area and send it wide.
Davies himself switched off when a ball was played over his head and Eduino Vaz had the chance to round Ryan Allsop but decided to play for the foul instead and was waved away.
The second half wasn’t much of an affair. Blues dominated the ball but couldn’t create enough moments in the final third while Sutton couldn’t escape from their defensive set-up in order to create.
That said, Blues ought to have scored within a minute of half-time but Stansfield couldn’t turn home Harris’ low cross. Harris then had an opportunity himself but sent Laird’s cut back straight at Jack Sims.
Jutkiewicz’s arrival onto the field gave Blues more of a focal point and he quickly had an effort at goal on the turn before heading the resulting corner off a Sutton head.
There was time for one more chance for the hosts, a deep cross finding Ashley Nadesan. The on-loan striker volleyed into the ground and watched the ball land on the top of the net.
An awkward 90 or so minutes but Blues had done a professional job, got the win and advance to round two.
Lineups
Sutton: Sims; Kirk French Waller; Coley Odelusi Barbrook Sivi (Rush 75); Harris Vaz (De Silva 61); Davies (Nadesan 48). Unused: Arnold; Okoli Muller Boateng.
Blues: Allsop; Laird (Sampsted 79) Klarer Davies Cochrane; Iwata Paik; Willumson Harris (May 66) Anderson (Yokoyama 66); Stansfield (Jutkiewicz 79). Unused: Peacock-Farrell; Sanderson Gardner-Hickman Leonard Dykes.
Tactics
Blues were in their usual 4-2-3-1 cum 3-2-4-1 shape with Laird and Anderson holding the width. Paik and Harris dovetailed in movements out towards the left-hand side in an attempt to drag Sutton bodies out and keep Anderson high.
Sutton’s attempt to stop Blues playing was a 3-4-3 shape. They had the midfield two and front three narrow and sat on top of the central midfielders, meaning Blues had to feet the ball out to Cochrane and Klarer in order to get forward with the central pass cut off. When Blues played wide, Harris or Vaz would step out to close the ball with Coley and Sivi tight to Anderson and Laird.
Their attempts to play focused mostly in either Will Davies holding up the ball and bringing people into play, utilising the wingers or making the most of any passes that fell short of their intended target thanks to the longer grass.
Otherwise, they spent much of the game in a 5-4-1 shape with the whole team dropping deep to deny Blues space.
As noted above, Blues relied on the wide centre backs to get forward. They also relied on width in an attempt to create triangles and enter the box. Stansfield, Harris and Willumson would all pull into wide positions in an attempt to find a yard of space in the final third.
However, that wouldn’t have been possible without Blues players switching up and firing passes into feet rather than playing at their usual pace.
Players
Not really a game where you could take in much from a Blues perspective.
The primary focus was on Harris, who has been out for a while. He picked up where he left off, not the most involved during the 90 minutes but hard working and pretty effective, as shown with the two chances in the second half, as well as the loose ball he picked up when Blues arguably should have had a penalty.
The focus otherwise was on which Sutton United players would step up and they arguably all did.
Particularly credit to Jay Harris, who got about everywhere, the midfield two of Finlay Barbrook and Siju Odelusi, who were tenacious and sharp with the ball, and Josh Coley, who probably won his battle with Keshi Anderson across the 90 minutes.
Conclusions
This was all about being professional, getting the win and getting out.
We had seen during the weekend how difficult it can be to play against non-league opposition. Tamworth and Kettering Town had already beaten League One opposition on the tele. Bristol Rovers, Crawley Town, Stockport County, Charlton Athletic and Stevenage needed extra time to see off non-league opponents.
It wasn’t a stellar display, but we got the win and gave away almost nothing. A solid enough outing.
That was our fifth game in two weeks and we’ve come away with four wins and a draw, which shouldn’t be sniffed at. Everybody has had game time. We’ve seen a couple of players score their first goals. Others are showcasing their quality. We’ve learned plenty as far as the team knowing they can’t rest on their laurels during games. And now we have a week off before playing Northampton Town.
The squad is already getting stronger. We’ve seen Ethan Laird, Luke Harris, Jay Stansfield and Lukas Jutkiewicz return while Krystian Bielik and Lee Buchanan are back in light training. That leaves Scott Wright, Emil Hansson and Alfie Chang, I think, who will hopefully recover over the next couple of weeks.
It’s fantastic news because we are going to need the squad after the international break. We return and go straight into another spell of five games in two weeks, with the FA Cup Second Round trip to Blackpool squeezed in the middle of a run that sees us play four away matches.
For now, Northampton Town at home is the concern. Come away from that victorious and it’s ten wins from our first 13 in the league. Hopefully we step up and get the job done once more.