Blues beat Forest Green Rovers in the FA Cup. Andy Munro watches.
This was not the most impressive of displays but at the moment a win is a win and a much needed confidence booster. It also has to be taken into account that if Villa can lose to Stevenage then we could certainly have lost to Forest Green.
Having said that the word ‘dire’ springs to mind for the first half but thanks, no doubt, to a first half roasting from the seemingly normal mild-mannered John Eustace, plus some substitutions, we eventually got back on track.
On the minus side, Beilik still seems to be suffering a World Cup hangover and Longelo was given a torrid time by an ex Blues youngster. Jordan James also failed to take his chance in the starting line up. Equally, Jordan Graham again confirmed his general mediocrity whilst Scott Hogan showed some rustiness after a fairly lengthy absence..
On the plus side, despite a booking Hannibal brought some much needed energy and youngster Chang played a solid game. Neal Etheridge made a Banks-like save to keep us in it (although his kicking was woeful) and in front of him Trusty showed he can play comfortably at fullback when we switched to a more successful 4-4-2 formation.
Finally the Juke, who seems to be the new Marmite to fans, put in a sterling performance withe bonus of a goal and I, for one, applaud his attitude, and effectiveness.
Hopefully this win was the boost we needed to reignite our Championship campaign, although I’m not particularly confident that it will!
