Andy Munro watches Blues go out of the Carabao Cup to Port Vale.
The wheels came off the Blues’ American wagon train as they were well beaten by a previously winless Port Vale side. Admittedly, there were a host of changes but perhaps that indicates a question mark about the strength of the Blues’ reservists.
Right from the start the team were given little room to play out and when they eventually did, Port Vale had set up a near-impenetrable wall whilst at the same time counter-attacking with pace. So much so, there could have been no complaints if they had gone two goals up in the first period instead of their single goal. The Blues’ defence looked shaky badly, missing the absent Christoph Klarer and up front new signing Marvin Ducksch and Lyndon Dykes looked a ponderous pair.
There were, however, a few bright spots with new arrival Lewis Koumas very lively, as was Tommy Doyle. In the second period Blues were better, which admittedly wasn’t difficult, and the star act in the 20 minutes he was on was Ethan Laird, who worked hard to get Blues back into the game.
This was undoubtedly a wake-up call before what may be the hardest away test of the season, against Leicester City – all the more so with a question mark against an injured Jay Stansfield. This is where manager Chris Davies has to earn his corn.
