Resolute display saw us end our St Andrew’s hoodoo

WHO would have thought it? In a season that has seen us win away at QPR’s Loftus Road for the first time in 41 years, we only went and won at Birmingham City’s St Andrew’s for the first time in 25 years.

I remember the last victory, and some pretty unpleasant scenes after the match, and have to say I haven’t got too many fond memories of trips to St Andrew’s since that win in 1993. Another hoodoo confined to the record books.

I’ve given Lee Johnson some stick over the past couple of months, but he got his tactics right and deserves the credit for a hard-fought win. This wasn’t pretty by any stretch of the imagination and we didn’t play scintillating attacking football, but it was a dogged, determined and resolute performance and we did the ugly parts of the game really well. This wasn’t a backs-to-the-wall win either – we had nearly 60 per cent possession and restricted Birmingham to just three shots on target.

Marlon Pack played in that quarterback role and was often the closest player to Niki Maenpaa. While not every pass found its target, Marlon led from the front and was my man of the match.

The back four were impressive, with Lloyd Kelly again standing out. There has been a lot of talk in the media about Kelly and potential Premiership bids for him in January. I really hope that the club can turn down anything that may materialise or at least agree to a deal that sees the youngster remain at the club for the rest of the season, and maybe next season. Lloyd has a lot still to learn and a move to a Premiership club, where his appearances may be limited, would not help his development at this stage of his career.

Adam Webster, Tomas Kalas and Eros Pisano all stood strong and it was the defence that was the foundation of the win.

Niclas Eliasson, Andreas Weimann and Jamie Paterson worked hard but didn’t really offer too much in the final third. It was only when Callum O’Dowda came on ten minutes into the second half that we started to give Birmingham something to think about. O’Dowda was at it from the moment he came on, and I’d start with him next week and give him a run in the side.

Famara Diédhiou will have felt that he owed Birmingham something after the spitting incident last season and so it was all the sweeter that Fam got the winner.