Blues’ U21’s 2-0 Nuneaton Town

This afternoon the Birmingham City U21 squad (which can include a few players over this age) faced Nuneaton Town at Wast Hills. The game allowed the manager to give many players game time and this was reflected in the choice of line-ups; 2 different ones for each half.

According to the official bcfc.com site the two sides were:
Blues first-half: Legzdins, Shotton, Spector, Mbende, Hancox, Davis, Adams, Cotterill, Solomon-Otabor, Fabbrini, Vaughan.

Blues second-half: Trueman, Cotton, Challis, Harding, Pennell, Truslove, Baba, Arthur, McDonald, Brown, Popa.

It is good to see Cotterill getting minutes after his fairly long injury lay-off which has seen him kept out of the matchday squad. So it was very encouraging to see him play 45 minutes.

However, it is noticeable how many first team players were actually used. I understand using the likes of Fabbrini and Shotton who need to develop fitness and understanding of how we play. But Spector, Davis and Vaughan’s inclusions were slightly baffling. That may give an indicator to who’s playing on Saturday?

It is good to see Adams playing alongside Cotterill and Davis as this will develop him as a player and the link-up between Vaughan and Fabbrini will no doubt transpire into a partnership for the first team. It was all very encouraging looking purely at the line-ups.

As has been noticeable with our young Blues’, we started off looking very lively and were looking to attack at every opportunity. Fortunately, this was rewarded early on. Cotterill, who isn’t known for his aerial ability, thumped the post with a header. This fell to Fabbrini who gave the Blues’ the simplest of leads. 1-0 to the home side.

Cotterill was bossing the game and his quality was shining through as we would have expected. He was almost playing like it was a training game. A few free kicks he was just curling them for fun, however a lot of them were going wide.

After about 30 minutes, David Cotterill was involved again. And again, he shuddered the post. His volley crashed off the upright after a brilliantly floated cross from Spector found the welshman. Very unlucky.

HT 1-0, and a raft of changes ensued.

The second goal came shortly after the restart and was a really good team move which I am sure would have delighted the manager. Truslove played a little pass into the stride of Arthur. He then managed to weave his way to the by-line and whip in a cross which Harding directed onto the onrushing Popa. He made no mistake. 2-0 to the home team.

Birmingham City looked comfortable for the rest of the game without really making many chances. The one of real note was when the post was hit for the third time. McDonald who has been very impressive this season curled a shot which rattled the upright.

A lot of players linked up really well and I’m sure all involved in the game would have been delighted with the performance.