Opinion: Five things we learnt in the Bristol City win

Birmingham City came from a goal behind to pick up their first three points of the 2017/18 Sky Bet Championship season as they beat Bristol City 2-1 at St.Andrew’s this afternoon.

Robins man Bobby Reid gave the visitors the lead inside a minute after the bar was rattled twice in the build up.

As the clock hit 30 minutes, the ball fell to Craig Gardner on the edge of the box and his low drive nestled in the bottom left corner to make it 1-1.

Then, in the second half, Jacques Maghoma picked the ball up on the left hand side. He then proceeded to cut in before firing a fierce shot into the bottom right corner to make it 2-1.

But before the game was finished, Blues were reduced to 10 men as substitute Maikel Kieftenbeld saw red for an over stretched tackle.

Here are the five things I think we learnt from the win over Bristol City…

1. That’s how to shut a little man up

Heading into the game, Bristol City manager Lee Johnson was giving it the big one and mouthing off about the Blues saying he was unhappy with our transfer approach as we look to sign Aden Flint from them.

Well, I’d like to see him try and talk his way out of this one now because once again Flint wasn’t involved and Blues certainly shut Johnson up as they were the team that left St.Andrew’s with three points.

2. It’s good to see David Cotterill back in blue

Che Adams went off injured in the second half which meant that Cotterill was able to enter the field of play with 30 minutes to impress the home crowd.

And impress he did.

With some fantastic work rates defending as well as attacking, Cotterill certainly showed that he hasn’t given up on playing for Blues and I think he has given Harry Redknapp something to think about ahead of Tuesday’s game with Bolton Wanderers.

3. Blues need new players…and fast!

With three injuries in the game, David Davis, Jonathan Grounds and the earlier mentioned Adams, it is clear to see that Blues really do need to bring in some new faces.

With Clayton Donaldson now being the only fit striker in the first team, Blues desperately need a new striker, maybe even two, and I have no doubts that Redknapp will look to bring somebody in before the Burton Albion game on Friday evening.

4. Craig Gardner needs to play the holding role to excel

In the first half of the game, Blues were completely outclassed in midfield with Gardner and Cheikh Ndoye having rings run round them.

However, when Redknapp changed the formation round at half time, Gardner looked a lot more comfortable in the holding role and I hope that Redknapp plays him there this season because I think that is where he will excel.

5. Blues fans are the best around

Despite going a goal down in the opening minute, the 20,000 blues fans inside the ground stood tall and made sure they were the twelfth man.

In the second half, the noise levels went up a notch and I fully believe that it was the fans that carried the team over the line.