Blues 2-1 Rotherham: The Galacticos Come Back From Behind

Steve Evans’ comments prior to our trip to Rotherham earlier in the season did the rounds around social media, as he referred to Blues as “Real Birmingham” and called us the Galacticos however he wasn’t quite so extreme in his praise this time, and his much improved Rotherham side provided a good test for Blues.

Steve Evans’ comments prior to our trip to Rotherham earlier in the season did the rounds around social media, as he referred to Blues as “Real Birmingham” and called us the Galacticos. He wasn’t quite so extreme in his praise this time, and his much improved Rotherham side provided a good test for Blues.

Thankfully, Iwata’s midweek injury wasn’t as bad as first feared and he kept his place in the starting lineup. Chris Davies made one change, resting Leonard in favour of new signing Kieran Dowell. The team was as follows: Allsop, Laird, Klarer, Davies, Cochrane, Iwata, Gardner-Hickman, Dowell, Dykes, Anderson and Stansfield.

We’ve often been involved in cagey affairs this year, particularly at home, where we suffocate the opposition as they attempt to play a low block and keep Blues from scoring without posing much of an attacking threat themselves. Rotherham however played the first half on the front foot, and it made for quite an open game. Blues found more space in the final third than we might be used to, and got ourselves in good attacking positions with frequency whilst Rotherham looked to press us high and hit us on the counter – which they did with more effectiveness than most of our league opponents this year.

Dowell tested the keeper a couple of times early on from set pieces and open play, the new man showed good quality with his deliveries and vision as he took up Willumsson’s usual role on the right hand side of the attack, sitting more narrow to allow Laird to go around the outside.

Our biggest chance of the first half however came through Keshi Anderson. He’s a man in form and looked dangerous every time he got on the ball, this time he beat his man and cut back to Stansfield in the box, who turned and got his shot off. The deflection made it difficult for the keeper, but he reacted well and kept it out. Laird picked up the rebound and, on the second attempt, lifted the ball back into the danger area for Dykes, who’s shot went narrowly wide.

But Rotherham looked sharp on the counter, and after a cross into the box was delivered by Joe Powell, it took Ben Davies coming to the rescue to deny Andre Green from scoring a free header just inside the six yard box, as he cleared the ball off the line.

Moments before half-time, Rotherham struck again. Their initial corner was ordered to be retaken due to scuffling in the box, and they changed it up and went short. Early sub and new Miller man Dan Gore received the ball and played a wicked cross which found Sam Nombe, who headed home with power. Blues uncharacteristically switched off at the back and were immediately punished.

We’d by no means played a poor first half, but you’d have to say the better chances fell the way of the visitors, and you could argue they were deservedly in the lead going into the break.

Half time: Blues 0-1 Rotherham

The second half was a different story. Blues pinned Rotherham back and denied them any further clear cut chances for the rest of the match, and created plenty more ourselves. 10 minutes into the half, Iwata cut out a Rotherham counter and found Laird with a first time pass. He couldn’t find his way past his man, but laid the ball back to Dowell out wide who lifted a cross to the far post. Dykes got his head on it and the ball dropped in the six yard box. Stansfield was the quickest to react, and dinked his shot around the keeper and into the far side of the net to bring us back level.

Minutes later, Anderson picked the ball up after a Blues free kick was headed away and delivered back into the box with quality. His cross found Laird, who could only head narrowly wide.

Keshi again looked bright and took his man on down the left, got into the box and was tugged over by his shoulder – but the referee waved play on to the bemusement of the players and crowd.

The Blues pressure was relentless, as wave after wave of attack came. We were excellent in cutting out counters and didn’t allow Rotherham to get themselves out. It felt inevitable we’d get a winner from somewhere, and it came on the 80th minute. Gardner-Hickman’s energy was fantastic throughout the game, he played a one-two with substitute Marc Leonard and darted into the box. His touch was loose, which invited Odoffin to try and challenge, but his challenge was late and TGH got there first. The ref pointed to the spot immediately.

Stansfield stepped up and dispatched his penalty with quality into the left hand corner of the goal to bag his brace. That’ll do wonders for his confidence, as he appears to have been struggling a bit of late.

Davies made a few late subs with the aim of seeing the game out as Hanley and Bielik replaced Stansfield and Iwata, and we switched to a 5 at the back. It worked – and we kept our energy high when out of possession to grab the 3 points.

With Wycombe drawing to Cambridge and Huddersfield losing to Northampton, this became a big 3 points. At half time we were back in 2nd, yet we ended the game 4 points clear of Wycombe, still with 2 games in hand. We could really pull away from the pack in February with so many home games, and results like today’s will go a long way towards that. We showed great character to come back from behind, as we did so often at the start of the season.

Up next we travel to Stevenage on Tuesday in the quarter finals of the Vertu Trophy, before welcoming Premier League Newcastle to St Andrews for the FA Cup on Saturday. A big week of cup football coming up – can we progress further in either cup? Davies might have a job in stopping the players looking past Stevenage for the FA Cup fixture a few days later. We’ll have no choice if we want to progress in the Vertu Trophy, as Stevenage have found good form of late and could cause us plenty of problems away from home.

We Keep Right On.

Ratings

Starting XI

Ryan Allsop: 7

Great distribution as always from Ryan. Don't think he could've done anything about the goal, the ball in was delivered with pace and Nombe was effectively unmarked.

Ethan Laird: 7

Laird continued his great run of form recently, always looking to take on his man and got past him several times, drawing fouls and getting into dangerous positions. Lacked a bit of composure to get real quality on his deliveries, but got into plenty of promising positions and gave their defence a nightmare. This is the Laird I hoped we'd get in League One.

Christoph Klarer: 7

Klarer had a solid game - I can't quite work out if Nombe was supposed to be his man for the goal, and I thought he looked better in the second half than the first, but still a good performance from the captain for the game.

Ben Davies: 8

I toyed with the idea of putting Davies at a 9 for his goal-line clearance which kept us level in the first half, but settled on an 8. Another composed outing albeit a couple of slip ups in possession under Rotherham's pressure, and he did fantastic to get across to deny Green in the first half.

Alex Cochrane: 6

Not Alex's best performance in a Blues shirt. I thought his passing was a little wayward by his standards, and he wasn't able to whip in one of his superb crosses. That being said, he still combined well with Keshi and Scott Wright and played okay overall - he's just driven his standards very high this year with top class performances throughout.

Tomoki Iwata: 7

After Hogg's grim tackle on Tuesday, it was great to see Tomoki back in the starting lineup, and I thought he looked very good today. Composed, and showed great reading of the game to keep us ticking over and cut out Rotherham counters.

Taylor Gardner-Hickman: 9 - Man of the Match

Energy galore from this man today. My man of the match. He's proved to be a superb asset for Blues with his versatility, attitude and work-rate. Won us the penalty with a lovely one two and burst into the box, his drives forward are incredibly hard to stop when he gets going. But my favourite moment was when we were level, and he lead a solo press on the entire Rotherham backline and got the crowd on their feet. He's a great fit for the club, and I hope we can make his deal permanent.

Kieran Dowell: 7

Dowell's first start for the Blues showed lots of promise. His set piece delivery was on the money more often than not, and he showed good intelligence to link play with his new teammates. I can see him becoming a big player for us this year once he settles in properly and builds his relationships on the pitch. Great ball to Dykes for the equalising goal too.

Lyndon Dykes: 7

There were few complaints from fans when Dykes was named as a starter again, which is testament to his recent form, and he put on a strong showing today. Provided us with an outlet over the Rotherham press and caused them problems in the box. Came close to scoring himself on one or two occasions and bagged an assist with Jay's first goal.

Keshi Anderson: 8

Keshi's in great form and always looked direct and dangerous today. Found himself in good pockets of space in the box and beat his man more often than not. Loving seeing him in form this year after his story with us so far.

Jay Stansfield: 8

Stanno got himself back on the scoresheet with a brace today, showing good instinct to direct Dykes' header past the keeper and a great penalty out of reach of the keeper for the winner. He combined that with hard work out of possession, and could've been played in a couple of times throughout where the player on the ball chose a different option.

Subs

Scott Wright: 7

Wright replaced Keshi for the last half an hour and continued his harassment of the Miller's fullback. One notable moment was a touch and spin which left his man for dead - hopefully he's starting to rediscover his form before he picked up his injury. He could be a huge player for us if he can.

Marc Leonard: 7

Leonard replaced Dowell and offered energy and composure on the ball to maintain our pressure on Rotherham, linking play well high up the pitch.

Alfie May: 6

Alfie replaced Dykes and took up his position behind Stansfield. I'm always more of a May fan when he's playing up front himself, and I don't think he does enough in the positions he finds himself in - much more effective when he's in the box. Same proved to be true today, he got himself into good positions for a winger or creative player, but that isn't his game and so he failed to make much of an impact in possession. Still worked hard out of possession as is customary for him and all of Davies' players.

Grant Hanley: N/A

Grant replaced Stanno again late on and helped us see the game out as we switched to a back 5.

Krystian Bielik: N/A

Captain Krys joined Hanley in the pragmatic late changes, replacing Iwata and providing height to help us defend set pieces and long throws from the visitors in the final 10.
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