Birmingham City’s Jay Stansfield breaks silence on bittersweet Exeter City return

An emotional On Tuesday, Jay Stansfield made his first appearance as an opposing player at St James Park, and he

stole the show.

The Birmingham City academy product, who formerly played for Exeter City, scored the Blues’ second goal in a 2-0

victory, bringing his former club’s League One record to two consecutive losses.

Blues controlled from start to finish, resuming their promotion campaign after a shock loss to Shrewsbury Town on

Saturday.

Stansfield was kept quiet in open play, but no one took the ball away from him when Ilmari Niskanen was called for

handling inside the box in front of the away end with eight minutes remaining.

Stansfield sent Exeter keeper Joe Whitworth the wrong way to make it 2-0, then pointed to the sky before being

surrounded by his teammates in front of Blues fans.

After a few moment alone, he blew a kiss towards the Adam Stansfield stand.

Before the game, Exeter’s enormous ‘Stansfield 9’ shirt was carried over the heads of Grecian fans in the Adam

Stansfield stand as a memorial to his late father, who died of cancer while a City player in 2010.

The home crowd sung ‘Sing a song for our Stanno’ with zest, while Jay’s family watched from the stands.

Following the game, he shared an emotional Instagram story with the caption: “This place means the world to me

and thank you for welcoming me back. It was good to see you all again.” That was

It was always going to be interesting to see what happened when Stanno Jnr scored, and while the disputed nature of

the penalty may have soured the mood a little, some members of the Exeter fans reacted negatively to what they saw

as a celebration.

Many expected a low-key ‘hands up’ celebration, but Jay is an emotional man, and St James Park is clearly an acre of

grassland that holds a special place in his heart.

Stansfield then went down injured a couple of times and was finally withdrawn late on, with a small minority

preferring to boo the academy product as he departed.

However, when Stanno took a lap of honour around his former club after the final whistle, he was greeted warmly by

the vast majority of the Grecian fans once the match’s intense heat had subsided.

Stansfield and his teammates will face Blackpool in the FA Cup Second Round on Saturday.

Exeter must regroup after losing 3-0 at Wrexham and 2-0 at home on Tuesday.

Exeter face Chesterfield in the FA Cup on Saturday, which might lead to a reunion. However, Exeter manager Gary

Caldwell may not receive a warm response from his former club’s supporters.

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