Luke Turner looks at the performance from last nights first half team…
Blues played their first pre-season friendly last night as they faced newly-promoted National League side Solihull Moors. Gary Rowett`s side ran out 3-1 winners thanks to an excellent first half display with goals from Clayton Donaldson (2) and Diego Fabbrini.
Rowett opted to play two completely different elevens for each half with the first half team impressing a lot more than the second half side.
The first 45 saw Blues play with a fairly high tempo and the attacking quartet of Jacques Maghoma, Viv Solomon-Otabor, Fabbrini and Donaldson were causing all sorts of problems for the Moors defence.
Fabbrini, in particular, was clearly not in any mood to take the game lightly as he showed his flair but also did the simple things well and capped his performance off with a goal.
Something that surprised me was how the young right back Josh Cogley played. He looked composed, confident and enjoyed a successful 45 minutes making bursts down the right hand side as well as taking care of defensive duties. He also worked well with Solomon-Otabor as the two combined very well on the attack.
On the other side, Jonathan Grounds played fairly advanced and got an assist as he played in a peach of a ball for Donaldson to head in the opening goal.
Robert Tesche and David Davis were partnered in the centre of midfield and didn’t do too much wrong. Tesche supported the attack well as Davis played a more reserved role, holding back from the attack.
However, there were a few moments when Moors players found themselves in behind the duo. This is probably down to the fact that there wasn’t someone like Stephen Gleeson sitting there in front of the back four preventing this.
But, the first half was, overall, pretty comfortable for Blues and there were plenty of positives to take from that teams performance.
First half score: 0-3 (Donaldson 17, 34, Fabbrini, 28)
Team: Kuszczak, Cogley, Robinson, Spector, Grounds, Tesche, Davis, Maghoma, Fabbrini, Solomon-Otabor, Donaldson.