Juggernaut Jutk’s treble treat
LUKAS Jutkiewicz deservedly took all the plaudits after paving the way to Birmingham’s first home win of the season with the first hat-trick of his senior career, which destroyed Rotherham United.
The striker is in top form, having scored five goals in his last two home games, and was warmly praised by manager Garry Monk.
“We are delighted for him,” said Monk. “He was clinical and things went our way. Lukas has an incredible work rate and we try to play to his strengths.
“He does this every match. He gets into the right positions and he deserves his goals. It’s his work he does for the team which impresses me.”
Commenting on Birmingham’s struggle to win at home this season, Monk claimed: “We have never doubted ourselves. This can be seen from all our performances. The game against Rotherham was lower in terms of performance, but it was solid. It was what was needed.”
The win will come as a relief for the hosts as they have the impending punishment of losing up to 12 points for breaking the EFL transfer embargo.
With Maikel Kieftenbeld in the Birmingham side after having his red card rescinded, and Monk forced to watch from the stand following a touchline ban, the Midlands club made a somewhat inconsistent start.
The Millers were more spirited and attempted to take the game to Birmingham with Ryan Williams showing up well on several occasions. But often it was an isolated threat and there was no danger to Birmingham’s rearguard.
There was some energetic work by Rotherham’s midfield in the early period, but disaster struck in the 20th minute as a result of a bad goalkeeping error by Marek Rodak.
A high corner from Jota drifted over the packed goalmouth to the waiting Jutkiewicz, who produced a header to the near post where Rodak fumbled the ball into the net.
Rodak was again struggling three minutes later when he failed to gather a low shot by Gary Gardner. The ball ran loose to Jutkiewicz, who bundled home from close range.
The Millers drafted in Kyle Vassell early in the second period in an effort to inject more attacking power, while Birmingham strived to find some attacking rhythm.
The Blues sealed victory with an excellent free-kick in the 68th minute. Jota nudged the ball a yard back to Jacques Maghoma, who slide his pass to his left into the path of Jutkiewicz to hammer a raking drive to the right of Rodak.
A consolation effort from Jon Taylor, who converted a cross from the left in the 77th minute, finally enabled Rotherham to end their bleak goalscoring away record.
After the match Rotherham manager Paul Warne conceded: “Obviously it is massively important to pick up some away points. The lads have been excellent at home and if we had been excellent against Birmingham we would have collected some points for the bus trip home.”