Birmingham v Rotherham
Three changes from the 1-1 draw away to Wigan last week with Graham, Bacuna and Hogan all coming out and Bielik, Khadra and Hall coming into the starting XI.
First off, we looked like we lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation and it was great to see Bielik back in the XI after this injury at Huddersfield, I initially thought that was his season over.
First half
The opening minutes seemed a bit scrappy, but as I was taking notes down, a beautiful switched ball from Chong found Juke, who played it Khadra on the left. The little German ran, cut inside and fired Blues 1 up after 5 mins. Great start and lovely to see one of our wingers do that for us, rather than us conceding that way.
Khadra and Chong were causing all sorts of problems throughout the half, playing as proper wingers and driving at defenders. We’ve missed this, as a fullback myself there’s nothing worse than a relentless winger.
The game turned very scrappy in the middle of the game with some very suspect clearances from Blues. A lot of balls in the air, which caused the first talking point of the half. Rotherham's Odoffin with a high boot on Bielik, resulted in a bad cut to his mouth and unfortunately he couldn’t continue. The poor lad can’t catch a break at the moment, James came on to replace him. We have since found out that Bielik lost his two front teeth for his troubles!
On the 33rd minute, a very dubious corner was given to Blues. After seeing replays, it was 100% a goal kick (but we don’t care). Chong whipped it in and Chang flicked it on to find Long, who smashed it into the net. Not a bad finish from the Irish centre half.
There were more stoppages as Dean ploughed through a Rotherham player and Juke. Luckily nobody was seriously hurt. That led to 5 minutes being added on at the end of the first half.
Got to be honest it was a game of head tennis in the middle again, which is why there were so many head injuries. Shout out to Juke who was battling away on his own up top against two centre backs.
HT Blues 2-0 Rotherham
Great first half display in my eyes. Eustace’s comment about letting our flair players have free reign was in full swing today. Khadra and Chong were immense on the wings and we didn't let Rotherham have anything really.
Second half
Rotherham made two changes at the start of second half.
Honestly, I wish I had a bet on second half corners for Rotherham, they must have had 3 corners in 5 minutes and easily had 8 overall in the second half.
Trusty and Hugill were having a battle from every corner. This led to two massive shouts for a penalty. Looking at one of them, it could have easily been given. Luckily for us, the ref was having none of it.
Khadra broke from one corner and his pace took him all the way down the pitch, he slipped in Hall but from a tight angle the keeper made a good save.
Connor Washington gave Blues a scare with a long range effort but Ruddy saved well, I think that was his only save of the match.
Blues had to weather a storm for 15-20 minutes, some very sloppy play from Blues saw us giving back possession too quickly. We really lacked composure and the young Birmingham midfield were really put through their paces.
I have to give it to Hall, Chang and James though as they came through some very early pressure and Blues really settled into the second half.
Three changes saw Chong, Khadra and Hall all come off for Hannibal, Roberts and Hogan. This meant a switch in formation to 5-3-2. Honestly at this point I thought "oh no", but Blues took control of the game and killed any momentum building from Rotherham.
We had two great chances to wrap up the game. The first coming to Hogan, as Hannibal slipped the striker in but the ball didn't quite fall for him. The second saw Colin whip in a great cross in to the towering King Juke, which forced a superb save from the Rotherham keeper.
Hannibal brought so much energy and desire off the bench. What was great to see was when he got brought down in the midfield, four Blues team mates rushed over to stop him reacting. Brilliant to see and shows that this team really do care for each other.
FT 2-0 to Blues
Verdict
A very important win and a solid battling performance from everyone. Today was exactly what I wanted to see, first half our wingers were tearing Rotherham to shreds.
Juke was immense up front all day battling so hard, proving to people that age doesn’t matter. He’s just a pure work horse and will wear his heart on his sleeve.
Big shout out to Hall, Chang and James. For them three young lads to be in that midfield and put in a hard working performance like that, especially when they were under a lot of pressure at the start of the second half, shows that the future is bright for us.
We also defended so well, Long and Dean put there head on absolutely everything and I think Long proved some doubters wrong today. He came in unfit having not played but I feel he’s been getting better each week and cutting out any early mistakes he made.
Ten points clear of relegation now and I’m hoping that will be enough, still ten games to go so we have to build on this.
Last note, I thought Eustace got his tactics spot on today with his formation and subs.
KRO and on to a tough away game at Watford on Tuesday!
Player ratings out of 10
Ruddy - 6
Colin - 6
Dean - 7
Long - 7
Trusty - 7
Bielik - N/A
Chang - 7
Khadra - 7
Chong - 6
Jutkiewicz - 8
Hall - 7
Subs
Etheridge - N/A
Roberts - 5
Hannibal - 7
Hogan - 5
Graham - N/A
James - 6
Longelo - N/A
See the highlights from the game and the reactions from our team below:
Credit: Birmingham City Football Club
Credit: Birmingham City Football Club
Credit: Birmingham City Football Club
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