Birmingham U21’s 2-0 Barnsley U21’s

Birmingham City’s U21 side has looked good in recent weeks, and this was proven with their current victory against Barnsley. The clean sheet is always a good sign at youth level too.

According to the official bcfc.com site, the Birmingham City team that faced Barnsley was:
Blues Under-21s: Legzdins; Cotton, Bernard, Harding, Hancox; Adams, Truslove; McDonald (Baba 74), Brown, Arthur (Popa 62); Cesar (O`Neill 67).
Subs not used: Weaver, Seddon

Adam Legzdins, in my opinion, is too good to be a back up goalkeeper. Now I often say that the U21 league isn’t good for certain players, sometimes a loan move will prove to be more beneficial. But we need Adam on a match day and therefore cannot loan him out. So to give him game time in matches like this is a good idea. However, the young goalkeeper Trueman, shouldn’t be overlooked.
Also, Bernard and Harding’s partnership will only get better and it is great to see both Hancox and Brown start.

The weather is often the cause for concern in british football and this was no different. The wind was causing havoc all the way through the game which restricted both sides quality. Often the long ball wasn’t an option which led to a disjointed game for both sides.

Nick Townsend was the man in goal for Barnsley. Many of you may remember him from his time in the Blues’ academy and some even wanted him to replace Randolph in the goal. The stopper was called into action early on in the first half. Cesar is a trialist at Birmingham and his shot was comfortably saved by Townsend.

However, the Blue boys were not dominating the game at all. Chances were very few and far between but the visitors did have a chance midway through the first half that Hancox’s outstretched leg did well to intercept. Before George Maris hit the ball into row Z shortly after.

Mid way through the second half, Birmingham started to dominate. The wind was proving a major factor in the game and Liam Truslove took advantage of the swirl to try and pick out the top corner. The seemingly unstoppable Townsend somehow managed to save it. But he wouldn’t be unstoppable for long. With 20 minutes to play, Hancox whipped a delightful ball into the box which ended up in the back of the net. I’m sure he didn’t mean it, but he’ll take it! 1-0.

Not much happened towards the end of the game until the 88th minute. Hancox was causing all sorts of chaos down the left hand side and his first time pass into Popa was perfect. David Popa then took aim and fired a low shot into the bottom corner of the goal. A moment of quality in a fairly sloppy game.

2-0 the final score and the Blues’ picking up a well earned 3 points.