The Blues bandwagon carries on rolling. Andy Munro reports.
Will this never end? I am seriously thinking of booking in somewhere for treatment and maybe join ‘Winners Anonymous’ or perhaps I need to find a Manchester City fan as a pen pal to talk about following a winning team. However, as a Bluenose I still worry about the doomsday scenario and on the basis that Barnsley practically outplayed us at Stans and won at the weekend, I was a bit concerned especially with the injuries to our paper thin squad.
Again I was concerned tactically – although it’s patently obviously that Chris H has forgotten more about tactics than I have ever learned. Playing a rather lethargic, and not fully fit, King up front on his own seemed like a recipe for not retaining possession yet Blues started well against a team whose record shows that they are fast starters.
A slightly fortuitous deflected goal following a shot from the impressive Burke was temporarily nullified by a goal from the Tykes leading scorer, Craig Davies (who obviously decided that a career in music wasn’t for him). However, Blues were not to be denied and a great goal from Keith Fahy with a typically accurate long range shot put Blues into the ascendancy again. In fairness, Barnsley nearly equalised again but Blues continued to hold the initiative with a particularly solid midfield display in midfield – Mutch is undoubtedly a better central midfielder than flank player with Wade Elliott a far better swap.
It was also pleasing to be able to bring on players of the calibre of Nathan Redmond and the enthusiasm of Adam Rooney. This soon paid dividends when a typical fluid Blues move ended up with Nathan R smashing the ball effortlessly home from a tight angle.
The win was absolutely vital with West Ham grinding out their usual win and Middlesbrough starting to come up on the rails again. It’s tight at the top but automatic promotion is still a possibility if our run continues.