It’s another good workout but Bass Vase goes down to Birmingham
BLUES FIND A LATE WINNER AGAINST THE BREWERS AFTER MASS SUBSTITUTION
THE Bass Charity Vase is with Birmingham City after another entertaining Burton Albion pre-season match ended in a 2-1 win for the Championship visitors.
A historical oddity is that the Blues have the valuable old trophy for the first time since 1928 – they have competed for it only occasionally since then – but of far more importance, of course, was the value of the workout for both they and the Brewers.
Birmingham are in turmoil with regard to a potential takeover off the pitch but, in former Derby County favourite John Eustace, they have installed a good man as manager.
While they did not have the quality of Nottingham Forest, who were at the Pirelli on Tuesday, there was no little experience in their starting line-up, with the vastly-experienced Troy Deeney taking the captain’s armband and seasoned pros like striker Scott Hogan, midfielder Ryan Woods, full-back Maxime Collin and goalkeeper Neil Etheridge playing.
Largely, Albion coped well against them.
Their Friday signings, Calum Butcher and Victor Adeboyejo, were not included in the squad, understandably, but last week’s earlier signing, Quevin Castro, was on the bench, while there was a welcome return to action in the starting lineup for Jonny Smith after his shoulder operation in the summer.
The Brewers initially struggled to get out of their own half but won a fourth-minute free kick on the right. Davis Keillor-Dunn delivered it and Sam Hughes got his head to it but the ball drifted harmlessly out.
At the other end, Deeney tried to chip Ben Garratt from 20 yards but sent the ball over the bar.
Hogan shot tamely wide for Birmingham when Deji Oshilaja slipped but Burton were starting to see more of the ball.
Smith did brilliantly to reach a pass down the line from Trialist A but his cross was just beyond Keillor-Dunn at the far post after 15 minutes.
The Brewers had a goal disallowed in the 20th minute when Smith’s cross was headed down by Gassan Ahadme, parried by Etheridge and turned in almost on the line by Keillor-Dunn, who was offside.
Smith, played in by Ahadme, then shot straight at Etheridge from 20 yards but the Brewers’ passing at this stage was impressive.
Juninho Bacuna, when the ball fell kindly for him on the edge of the box, had Birmingham’s best chance so far after 37 minutes but his volley was deflected wide for a corner.
Burton could not get this clear and George Hall put Birmingham ahead with a half-hit shot from the right which bounced across Ben Garratt in the 38th minute.
A brilliant save by Garratt, parrying Deeney’s header at close range, after Sam Hughes’s slip allowed
Hogan to cross from the left, kept the score at 1-0 in the 43rd minute.
A diving Etheridge then kept out a curled effort from Trialist A after a sharp Burton attack and the Brewers were a little unlucky to be trailing at the break.
Unsurprisingly, Smith did not reappear for the second half, Terry Taylor coming on, while new onloan goalkeeper Viljami Sinisalo made his first appearance, as did Castro, in place of Trialist A.
Cameron Borthwick-Jackson went down in a challenge after 55 minutes and was not risked further, Charlie Lakin replacing him.
Former Brewers favourite Tony James’s son Jordan replaced Hall for Birmingham after an hour.
Burton were still playing some nice stuff at times without really threatening an equaliser and they brought on Louis Moult for Ahadme after 65 minutes
Two more changes soon followed, William Kokolo and Ciaran Gilligan replacing Keillor-Dunn and Trialist B.
With Dion Sanderson needing treatment after 70 minutes, the teams took a drinks break and Birmingham lined up a swathe of substitutions. They changed 10 in all, with only James staying on.
The Brewers immediately equalised, after 74 minutes, from a leftsided corner taken by Taylor which Tom Hamer rose impressively to head in. He is capable of more goals like it but Hughes or John Brayford are more often the targets.
Castro had a chance to put Burton ahead a minute later, when played in on the right by Moult, but after rounding keeper Zach Jeacock, he chipped the ball wildly off target.
Hughes was in danger of scoring an own goal when a shot ricocheted off him in the 82nd minute but he recovered to hook the ball away from the line.
Lakin was tripped on the edge of the box as Burton worked a neat move in the 84th minute but he lifted the free kick tamely over the bar. Moult has had one or two goes with free kicks within range but noone has yet looked like matching Joe Powell’s threat from such positions.
An offside flag thwarted Sam Cosgrove’s dart clear for Birmingham a minute later as penalties loomed but the Blues took the lead again with a fine finish by Cosgrove in the 87th minute.
He pounced on a loose ball just outside the box and fired a low shot to Sinisalo’s left.
BURTON ALBION: Garratt (Sinisalo, 46), Hamer, Oshilaja, Hughes, Blake-Tracy, Trialist A (Taylor, 66), Trialist B (Gilligan, 66), Borthwick-Jackson (Lakin, 55), Smith (Castro, 46), Keillor-Dunn (Kokolo, 66), Ahadme (Moult, 64). Other sub: Radcliffe. BIRMINGHAM CITY: Etheridge, Colin, Sanderson, Roberts, Woods, Bacuna, Placheta, Hogan, Deeney, Graham, Hall (James, 60). Other subs (all came on after 72 minutes, replacing all but James): Jeacock, Campbell, Leko, Cosgrove, Bellingham, William, Oakley, Bailey, Roberts, Chang.