Blues’ best performance of the season to date

On Saturday afternoon, Birmingham City recorded their seventh victory of the season as they fought off a very well structured Bristol City side that were incredibly tough to break down.

Substitute and summer signing Che Adams netted the only goal of the game in the 81st minute has he controlled the ball superbly in front of the Tilton following a corner from the right hand side and smashed it home.

But despite the amazing finish from the former Sheffield United youngster, there were many more positives to take from the game.

Even though right back Jonathan Spector got shown a straight red card just as injury time was announced, Blues’ defensive structure seems to be growing week after week and with the Robins offering plenty in the aerial department, it was yet another huge test for Gary Rowett’s four defenders.

And it was a huge test that they dealt with fantastically well.

Once again the partnership of Ryan Shotton and captain Michael Morrison was as strong as an ox! Shotton seemed to win everything in the air, despite some of the visiting players being considerably taller than him and Morrison was the best he has been on the ground for weeks in my opinion.

Either side of the pair were Jonathan Grounds and the earlier mentioned Spector who will now miss the next three games through suspension.

Left back Grounds seemed to read everything that was thrown his way and he is now finally starting to get the recognition he deserves from both players and fans, something which caught my attention when he header the ball back to man of the match Tomasz Kuszczak and the goalkeeper and Shotton both applauded him for his efforts.

Right back Spector endured a frustrating game which led to him being sent off but other than that one piece of miscontrol I thought he was outstanding once again.

In the midfield Maikel Kieftenbeld, David Davis and Stephen Gleeson all played with passion, commitment and desire, some more than others.

Former Wolves man Davis is turning into an all-round midfielder who is a joy to watch. Bargain buy Kieftenbeld is slowly getting back to where he was last season and Gleeson is often showing those little touches of finesse which we all like to see.

And then finally up front. David Cotterill drifted from right to left throughout the game but showed just how menacing he can be during the opening 20 minutes, something which I would really like to see more of.

On loan striker Lukas Jutkiewicz could, and probably should have had his sixth goal of his loan spell but for a fantastic save in the second half from Frankie Fielding and Clayton Donaldson worked tirelessly once again down the channels.

For me, the win against Lee Johnson’s Bristol City was by far our best performance of the season and if we continue to grind out results in that fashion then I can definitely see us being there or there abouts at the end of the season.

Blues fans, how impressed were you with the performance on Saturday afternoon? Was it our best display of the season? Let us know in the comment section down below!