Luke Turner picks out who he thinks could be the difference tomorrow…
Blues recorded their first away victory since the middle of January as they scored two first half goals to defeat Reading on Saturday afternoon.
They return to St Andrews tomorrow to play their game in hand against Leeds United who sit in a disappointing 15th place.
If we are to make it two wins from two then I believe that David Cotterill will be key to it. The Welshman returned to the starting line up on Saturday and looked to be back at his best, providing the assist for Clayton Donaldson’s opener.
His season has been very stop start due to a niggling knee injury but he seems to be over that now and will be looking to impress with Euro 2016 just around the corner.
Cotterill`s main attribute is that he can provide us with pin point deliveries, either from open play or set pieces.
That is something we have been missing in his absence as we haven’t really scored too many goals from set plays.
If you put Michael Morrison, Ryan Shotton, Jonathan Grounds and Donaldson into the box then you certainly have plenty of targets to aim form and Cotterill has the ability to pick them out.
His link up play with Paul Caddis is also very good and the two have a good understanding of when one or the other is intending to take up a wide position and cross the ball.
If Leeds set up like they did against Burnley where they packed their midfield out and didn’t give Sean Dyche`s side much room to work it, then Blues could find them difficult to break down.
This is where set pieces and Cotterill`s crossing can come into play. We could rely on just that one delivery to come in from the winger so that someone can attack it and hopefully see the net ripple.
Gary Rowett will want his side to continue where they left off at the Madejski Stadium and Cotterill could have a big say in whether Blues take all three points from Steve Evans` team.