Birmingham City beat Blackpool 1-0 in a dour encounter at St Andrew’s thanks to an Andrew Shinnie header.
Birmingham City recorded a second 1-0 victory in five days with a hard-fought win over Blackpool at St Andrew’s. A headed goal from Scottish attacking midfielder Andrew Shinnie was all that separated the two sides in what was a dour encounter.
The match wasn’t a pleasing one on the eye but it secures Birmingham City’s mid-table status further while edging Blackpool closer to their inevitable relegation to League One. Here are three things that we can learn from this game.
Robert Tesche can pass a ball
The sole moment of quality in what was an awful game was a glorious 40-yard pass from debutant Robert Tesche, played over the static Blackpool defence and onto the head of Shinnie, who timed his run and jump to perfection to loop the ball over Elliot Parish and into the Blackpool net. It was the only moment that brought the sparse St Andrew’s crowd to their feet.
Clayton Donaldson might not score many but he works hard
The lone striker role can be very hard for a forward, particularly against a defence that is double-teaming you at every long ball and when the referee doesn’t give you any protection as you get dragged down. Donaldson didn’t complain once though, continuing to run at and harass the defence, challenging for every single ball to pressurise and force the Blackpool defenders into making mistakes. Had the three attacking midfielders been a little bit closer to him at times they would have been able to feed off his scraps a lot more and have created a few more chances.
Blackpool deserve relegation on this performance
Make no mistake about it, Blackpool looked every inch a team that knows it is going to be relegated at the end of the season. Not helped by some curious selection choices and a system that was unfamiliar, they struggled to play with any cohesion or creativity for long periods with veteran midfielder David Perkins barking himself hoarse as he demanded players move to the right channels and positions. Fifteen points behind safety and with the worst goal difference in the division, manager Lee Clark knows that it requires miracles for the Tangerines to stay up.
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