View from the South- Birmingham City v Barnsley 2021/22

Saturday dawned grey and chilly but at least not as cold as the day before given the absence of frost. Nevertheless, it was a day for plenty of layers, gloves and a woolly hat. After a warm breakfast and a cup of hot coffee, it was soon time to set off for Blackwater station. I’d won a tenner on the lottery so I picked my winnings up at the post office on the way past. The train to Reading arrived on time and whilst transferring to the Manchester train, I spotted a couple of Fulham fans on their way on the same train as me to Stoke. I got into conversation with them and congratulated them on their team’s superb performance against us on Tuesday. I thought Fulham were excellent and simply better than us. There is no disgrace in losing to a side that is clearly a class or two better than you and yes, we can all pick holes in the way we defended or tracked opponents or closed down but sometimes you just have to admit you got outplayed.

The positive I took from the game was that Blues never let their heads drop and never gave up. I thought the eventual score line was harsh on us in the end but Fulham were ruthlessly efficient in taking the chances they created and thus we ended up getting a right pasting. My two new acquaintances, Matt and Matt from the podcast Focus Fulham, thought that they didn’t think that Blues had played all that badly and agreed that the score was harsh on us but that’s football. Fulham are nailed on for promotion in my view and it would take a catastrophic loss of form between now and May for them to be denied.

It is a good thing that we don’t have to play the likes of Fulham every week and today’s assignment was the visit of bottom side Barnsley. Our record against such teams in recent times has been nothing short of lamentable so I’m not counting chickens by any means. The games coming up against Barnsley and Peterborough on Tuesday are simply must win games with no excuses. If we are to survive this season without the need for yet another relegation panic, Blues simply have to beat the teams they should beat regardless of the problems we currently face. There has been a lot of disquiet about the club by the fanbase and many of the frustrations expressed, particularly about the owners, I share but it isn’t going to change any time soon and those calling for a change of manager this week need to ask themselves who could come in and do much better with the squad we have? Changing managers costs money that Birmingham simply do not have. It causes turmoil and disruption and doesn’t always lead to the uptick in fortune that we would all want.

I think Lee Bowyer is making the best of the cards he has and we need to play our part getting behind him and the team. There are more hard times to come so we just have to confront them with as much dignity as we can all muster. I noted Craig Gardner’s interview where he set the record straight about funding for team strengthening. What he said made perfect sense to me in not wishing to splash what funds we do have on 30 plus players on high wages and three and a half years contracts. He points out that we got docked nine points not running the club on a firm financial footing and I for one would rather struggle on for longer and at least have a club to support than go the way of Derby, Portsmouth or even worse, Bury.

Chris, Jack and his little brother Seb were waiting for me at Coventry to pick me up at 12.30. On this occasion we went straight to the ground which gave us plenty of time to grab a couple of pints in the George before the game. Another pint in the ground along with a steak pie restored the inner man and we took our seats just in time for kick off. Blues got off to a bright start and could have been ahead after only 90 seconds when Gary Gardner’s shot from the edge of the area that came out to him from a half clearance unluckily ricocheted off the turf and on to the crossbar with Bradley Collins beaten in the Barnsley goal. The ball rebounded onto the chest of Lukas Jutkiewicz which was the point where the excitement ended as he was flagged offside. Blues were fortunate however, not to be behind when Callum Styles was allowed too much room to turn inside and unleash a fierce shot that Etheridge did well to push away after eight minutes.

The Blues custodian was the hero again a few minutes later when Victor Adeboyejo stung Etheridge’s hands with another goal bound shot. It appeared that although Blues were having better of the play, the visitors were creating the better scoring opportunities. Blues looked dangerous but couldn’t quite get the final pass right. Etheridge again saved Blues on the half hour when following a breakout from our corner, Carlton Morris failed to beat the Blues keeper when well placed. Barnsley were to pay the price four minutes later when a long ball up to Jutkiewicz in midfield was held up and beautifully popped off to Onel Hernandez in the inside left channel. The weight of pass was just enough to tempt the tracking defender to challenge but firm enough so that the Cuban could get the first touch leaving the Barnsley man helpless. Hernandez was through and opened his body to drill the ball into the bottom corner past the hapless Collins. It was a stylish goal and lovely to behold; 1-0 Blues.

Blues controlled the game from then on and went into the break ahead. It was important to get the second goal and this duly arrived on 51 minutes when a Ryan Woods corner caused chaos in the Barnsley box. It was Scott Hogan who was the first to react, poking the ball over the line from close range. The comfort blanket of a 2-0 lead allowed Blues to relax and play some attractive football but the third sealing strike would not come. Barnsley recovered their composure and threw the kitchen sink at it. They made for a nervy finish when Adeboyejo netted from fifteen yards when the ball fell to him from Blues failing to clear their lines. However, the last three minutes plus the seven minutes of time added on were negotiated without further mishap. A welcome win albeit harder than it should have been.

Fifteen minutes from the end, there was a protest in front of the directors box towards the owners. Whilst making their feelings known, the fans involved did not allow their discontent to get out of hand and I felt they pitched things just right. The owners’ representatives especially Edward Zheng, cannot have failed to have received the depth of feeling from the hardcore supporters. The protest lifted the atmosphere and created more noise than ordinarily expected from a crowd of only 15,000. The Barnsley fans though low in numbers, contributed. I particularly enjoyed their chants; “We’re going down, we’re going down!” etc but the best one was “we’re coming for you, we’re coming for you, Accrington Stanley, we’re coming for you!” Raised a smile where we were. 🙂

The Good: The three points. I don’t care that we were playing the bottom team in the division or that we made hard work of it, at least we didn’t do what we did against Cardiff; throw two points away.

The Bad: Letting Barnsley back into the game with a few minutes left. This game should have been put to bed long before. Fortunately, unlike the Cardiff game, it didn’t cost us.

The Ugly: The behaviour of the QPR fans on the way to Coventry. The bad language, drunken conduct and boorish chants early morning when there are families with children present is unacceptable. It does the reputation of football generally no good.

Birmingham City: Neil Etheridge 7, Maxime Colin 6, Teden Mengi 7, Marc Roberts 6, Krystian Pedersen 6, Ryan Woods 6, Jordan James 7 (Jordan James 69, 6) Gary Gardner 6 (George Friend 90 + 6, N/A) Scott Hogan 6, Lukas Jutkiewicz 7, Onel Hernandez 8 (Jeremie Bela 84, N/A)

Subs not used: Connal Trueman, Jordan Graham, Jobe Bellingham, Tate Campbell.

Goals: Hernandez 34, Hogan 51.

Bookings: Gardner 90.

Barnsley: Bradley Collins 5, Liam Kitching 7,  Mads Juel Andersen 6, Michael Helik 6, Jordan Williams 6, Claudio Gomes 7, Romal Palmer 7 (Jasper Moon 76, 6) Callum Styles 6 (Cameron Thompson 88, N/A) Victor Adeboyejo 7, Carlton Morris 6, Aaron Leya Iseka 5 (Devante Cole 64, 6)

Subs not used: Jack Walton, William, Hondermarck, Jason Sraha, Aiden Marsh.

Goals: Adeboyejo 87.

Bookings: Palmer 38, Helik 90 + 5.

Referee: Tony Harrington: 6 The officials had a decent game. I cannot think of any instances when I felt they had got the calls badly wrong.

Attendance: 15,742

Bazza KRO