Andy Munro watches Blues draw with Northampton Town.
This was certainly not a match for the purists and it ended in a last-gasp disappointment when the opposition equalised with over five minutes injury time played.
The first half was a disappointment for the home side (and their patient fans) as the usual stats of 80% possession – betrayed the fact that most of it (as usual) was in their own half. It was a pedestrian opening period by the Blues and, in fact, Northampton could have been two up a half-time. Part of the reason they weren’t was because of an excellent last-ditch save from Ryan Allsop, who was undoubtedly one of our better performers in that first period.
The second period, in fairness, was a lot better and it was no surprise when that man Jay Stansfield hammered the ball home from close range after a goalmouth melee. Blues then could and should have made the game safe when they hit the woodwork, Willum Willumsson then headed just over and Stansfield came close again. During that period, the introduction of live wire winger Ayuku Yokoyama caused more problems for the away side but Blues couldn’t notch that second goal. Predictably they were made to pay with over five minutes of extra time played. A mistake by the otherwise sound Tomoki Iwata let in Northampton to notch an equaliser.
Overall, there were more mediocre than good performances but strangely, despite his mistake, Iwata had a good game as did his oriental partner Paik Seung-ho. Other good performers were Krysian Bielik before he went off, Alex Cochrane, a busy Willumsson and the often unsung Keshi Anderson.
The game illustrated that whilst Blues generally wear teams down, they badly need a Plan B as an option to their normal slow but patient build up. There also has to be a doubt on whether Stansfield and Alfie may can play together unless the manager can get them to gel far better than they do at present. A lot of food for thought, although if Blues win their game in hand they can move back into top spot so whilst there is no need to panic, there is also no room for complacency.