Birmingham City May Not Regret On A New Decision By chris davies

Birmingham City put their foot down in the League One promotion race with a resounding 2-0 win at the home of Rotherham United.

Tomoki Iwata and Jay Stansfield were on target again to extend Blues’ unbeaten start to six games. Blues have won all four of their away games this campaign.

Blues had to weather five minutes of Rotherham pressure before Willum Willumsson calmed everyone down with a classy nutmeg and dribble in midfield. From thereon, Blues started to play their game and duly took the lead inside 14 minutes.

Stansfield threatened in behind with an intelligent run and managed to get a shot away that was blocked. When the ball broke, Iwata strode onto it and found the bottom corner expertly from 20 yards.

Rotherham didn’t get to grips with Stansfield’s runs and League One’s costliest ever player scored his third goal of the season in the 22nd minute. Stansfield got in behind Rotherham’s back-line to latch onto a sumptuous pass from Willumsson and produced the perfect lobbed finish over Dillon Phillips. “What a waste of money,” the Blues fans chanted with more than a hint of irony.

Rotherham simply couldn’t live with Blues in the first half and were fortunate to only be trailing by two. Emil Hansson went close to a third when he brought the best out of Phillips with a curling effort from the edge of the box.

Blues continued to dominate after half-time and Lyndon Dykes went close to scoring his first goal for the club after connecting with Alex Cochrane’s corner.

The strength of Blues’ squad was evidenced again with Davies making a raft of changes to see the game out. Keshi Anderson, Scott Wright, Iceland international Alfons Sampsted and top scorer Alfie May were all introduced.

Wright almost bagged an assist when he teed up Cochrane to strike the crossbar, via a deflection, from a free-kick just outside the box. And Anderson should have done better with a cut-back from Sampsted late on. Blues didn’t need another goal and played out the final minutes at the New York Stadium to ‘Olés’ and chants of ‘We’re in for a shock’. The shock won’t arrive if Blues keep playing this well.

Bailey Peacock-Farrell 7

Peacock-Farrell has come in for criticism recently but he had a solid game against Rotherham. The goalkeeper commanded his penalty area and dealt with the aerial onslaught Rotherham served up.

Gardner-Hickman got up and down the right flank well and whipped in a few inviting crosses. The on-loan Bristol City man looked slightly leggy before he was replaced by Sampsted after two starts in a demanding position in five days.

Christoph Klarer 8

Klarer captained the side in Bielik’s absence and didn’t put a foot wrong. He was dominant on defensive set pieces to negate Rotherham’s biggest threat.

Ben Davies 8

On-loan Rangers defender Davies passed his second audition with flying colours. Not only was he willing to fight Rotherham’s strikers in the air, Davies was excellent in his distribution of the ball on the floor.

Alex Cochrane 8

Cochrane was extremely solid in his defensive work and carried a threat on set pieces. His deliveries were on the money and one free-kick he smacked clipped the crossbar on its way over.

Tomoki Iwata 9

It’s no wonder everyone inside the Blues bubble was so excited about the signing of Iwata. He has every skill a good midfielder should have and makes so few mistakes. Yet again, his performance was topped off by a cleanly struck finish.

Paik Seung-ho 8

It was another top showing from Paik in the engine room. He dovetailed sublimely with Iwata and controlled the tempo of Blues’ play which was, at times, fantastic to watch.

Willum Willumsson 9*

Willumsson was a delight to watch. His physicality obviously helped Blues deal with Rotherham but it was with the ball at his feet that the Icelandic sparkled. A first half nutmeg and a wonderful chipped pass to set up Stansfield were among his highlights.

Jay Stansfield 8

Stansfield continued his electric start to life back at Blues with another goal and looked a cut above again. Even in a slightly deeper role to accommodate Dykes, Stansfield was excellent.

Emil Hansson 7

Hansson twinkle-toed his way down the left to good effect. He looked dangerous throughout and even tracked back to help out defensively on a day where Blues dominated.

Lyndon Dykes 7

The Scotland international enjoyed a strong first start for Blues. Dykes was important on set pieces in both boxes and almost converted a Cochrane delivery early in the second half. He proved to be a good foil for Hansson, Willumsson and Stansfield to play off and looked confident with his back to goal.

SUBS

Keshi Anderson (for Hansson, 62) 6

The winger should have scored when Sampsted found him in stoppage time.

Scott Wright (for Dykes, 62) 6

A tidy display from the Scot for the final 30 minutes. He was involved in lots of Blues’ best moments in the closing stages.

Alfons Sampsted (for Gardner-Hickman, 79) N/A

Alfie May (for Stansfield, 79) N/A