Birmingham City reached the knockout stages of the Bristol Street Motors Trophy with a merciless hammering of Fulham under-21s. Brian Dick discusses the big talking points from the game…
The consensus around Birmingham City for most of the season has been that someone, somewhere, at some time, was going to get a spanking. It arrived last night with a brutal 7-1 dismissal of Fulham’s Under-21s.
That it came in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy is probably not a surprise, although it might have been a more emphatic marker had it been delivered in League One but let’s not complain too much. It’s been three decades since St Andrew’s witnessed a Magnificent Seven.
The result puts Chris Davies’ side through to the knock-out stages of the competition and came courtesy of braces from Jay Stansfield and Ayumu Yokoyama and strikes from Alfie May, Keshi Anderson and Lyndon Dykes.
The 6,000 who came to watch were rewarded for their dedication and on a night full of talking points, here’s what stood out most.
A yawning gap
Blues started well but for probably 50 minutes they were involved in a genuine contest against a motivated and at times dangerous Fulham team.
With their array of senior professionals the hosts always looked like they could blow the doors off the match – but they also looked like they could cough up an error that would gift their young opponents a foothold.
All four defenders conceded possession in their defensive third, many of them stood by and watched Martial Godo pick his way across the penalty area before beating Bailey Peacock-Farrell.
Fulham came out the brighter of the two sides at the start of the second period, forced a corner and a low save out of Peacock-Farrell and might well have fashioned a way back into proceedings.
Where their wheels fell off was after the third goal, when Yokoyama clattered his first Blues goal past Alex Borto. As Blues’ belief grew, Fulham’s ebbed away and by the end they looked every inch eleven development players, rather than a development team.
Seven goals from a ridiculous 35 shots, with 13 on target, really underlined the difference between a side of seasoned professionals and a group of youngsters making their way.
Opportunities knocks
Peacock-Farrell will have enjoyed his return to the side. Having lost his place to Ryan Allsop a month ago – and recovered from a shoulder injury – the Northern Ireland international cut a composed figure.
He had no chance with the Fulham goal, recovered to save well from an acute angle to deny Josh King after an Alfons Sampsted mistake and got down just in time to deny Kristian Sekularac at the start of the second period. That was pretty much his last involvement until the very end when he produced a sharp save to deny King for a second time when the forward really should have scored.
His distribution was good, although he wasn’t pressed with any great intent, and he was a reasonable presence in terms of crosses.
Sampsted was the other starter who has struggled for opportunities of late, having not even made the match-day squad in the last two games. Blues ‘other’ Iceland international was making his first start for the club and was OK in the first half with obvious moments of sloppiness, both in attack and defence.
He did do well towards the end of the game, as Fulham’s challenge evaporated and he moved over to left-back, letting fly with a long-range drive that flew just past the post and setting up a goal for Dykes.
It’s difficult to see the 26-year-old as anything other than third choice right back at present, though his time in relief of Alex Cochrane on the opposite side could nudge him back on to the bench. Perhaps not the way he envisaged his season panning out when he started it in a Champions League qualifier for Twente against RB Salzburg.
Sheer quality
There were several eye-catching performances, from Taylor Gardner-Hickman’s assertive control of midfield, to Stansfield’s clinical finishing, to the tireless running of May. The former Charlton striker buzzed with intent, finding spaces around Stansfield and often linking up with his younger team-mate. When his goal came it was a well-deserved reward for an industrious evening.
That it came from Willum Williamson’s pass should be no surprise. Blues’ creator-in-chief was levels above this opposition and ended the night with three assists – taking his total to ten goal involvements, four goals and six assists, in 14 matches.
What stood out in this game was both his willingness to track back into position to support Sampsted with the dangerous Godo and the breadth of his passing repertoire.
Like a master golfer the 26-year-old deployed every club in his bag, woods to find May with a 50-yard drive over the top, irons to invite Stansfield into shooting positions and a sweet-touch with the putter to set-up May for the fourth goal. He was simply too good for Fulham’s rookies.
The other noteworthy display was Yokoyama’s. The Japanese flier ticked two major boxes in lasting the full 90 minutes and actually providing tangible end product – two brilliant goals – for all his simmering threat.
With Blues currently weakened by injury in wing positions, with Emil Hansson and Scott Wright both out, Yokoyama’s improved adaptation to the English game would be a massive boost to Davies. The fact he is a winger who can go inside and outside his full back makes that prospect very exciting. The celebratory dancing might need a bit of work, though.
History boys
This was the first time Blues have scored seven at home since December 1994 when, as leaders of the third tier, they defeated Blackpool 7-1, en route to a league and cup double. Steve Claridge scored a brace that day, as did Louie Donowa as Barry Fry’s side confirmed their pedigree.
It was also the first time they have won six home matches in a row since 2001 and further proof that Blues are on the right trajectory for an historic campaign, one in which records are going to be broken, memories are going to be made and surely promotion will be achieved.
Blues are now in the knockout stages and the southern section round of 32, and five games, including a two-leg semi-final, from Wembley.
Davies is not hiding from the fact, that’s the aim: “I think from my point of view I’m aware that we’re on that road and that would be a wonderful thing to achieve. But there’s a few steps to go before then.
“But the first objective is make sure you get out of the group and we’ve done that. Now it’ll be a case of looking who we get in the next round and looking forward to that and hopefully step by step, we can get close.” Fry’s team did.
So far Blues have already pocketed £45,000 from their participation. Wins are worth £10,000 each, a draw £5,000 and they automatically received £20,000 for taking part. Progress through the next round is worth another £20,000. If they make the quarter finals – two matches away – they will have banked more than £100,000.
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