Birmingham City 2-1 Barnsley: Winners and losers from Blues’ vital win at St Andrew’s

Birmingham City brought their eight game winless run to an end with an important 2-1 victory over bottom of the table Barnsley on Saturday.

Onel Hernandez broke the deadlock midway through the first-half with a superb solo goal before Scott Hogan sealed the points from a corner early after the restart.

Victor Adeboyejo made for a nervy end when he fired a great strike past Neil Etheridge but Blues held on for an all important three points.

Winners

Onel Hernandez

Best player on the pitch by a country mile.

He’s the type of player Blues have been missing for years with his speed and willingness to run at players alone.

His goal may have not gone down as the winning one but it was a worthy winner if I’ve ever seen one.

The Cuban put the burners on before expertly slotting past Bradley Collins in the Barnsley goal. Is it too early to fall in love with a loan player?

The fans

They were brilliant today. Before, during and after.

A special mention has to go to how well they managed the protests. They made their voices heard but did so whilst staying within their boundaries.

It wasn’t nasty, it was simply thousands of fans supporting their team from minute one and standing for what they believe in.

Well done, Bluenoses.

Lee Bowyer

Made the brave decision to change system as well as personnel and it paid off.

Onel Hernandez and Jordan James playing in the central attacking midfield roles complimented each other so well and the pairing of Lukas Juketiewicz and Scott Hogan looked like they hadn’t had any time apart whatsoever.

Whilst there was sticky patches and mistakes by certain players - it’s definitely a system that looks like it suits the team far better.

Losers

Gary Gardner

It feels harsh to put a player down after a win but I just don’t see what he offers this side.

If Blues would have played with 10 men today I doubt there would have any difference in outcome.

He slows the game down, doesn’t really defend all that well and certainly offers very little going forward. A strange one.

Barnsley

In every sense of the word. They just showed why they were bottom today.

Had a fair amount of chances but couldn’t take them. A mistake cost them the second goal. Pretty much everything that could have gone against them, did.

It happens when you’re down there and Blues fans know all too well just how it is when you’re in that position.

Birmingham City (4-3-3): Etheridge (GK); Colin, Roberts, Mengi, Pedersen; Woods, Gardner (90’ Friend), James (69’ Sunjic); Hernandez (84’ Bela), Juktiewicz, Hogan

Subs not used: Trueman (GK), Graham, Bellingham, Campbell

Barnsley (4-2-3-1): Collins (GK), Williams, Helik, Andersen, Kitching; Palmer (76’ Moon), Gomes; Styles (88’ Thompson), Adeboyejo, Morris; Iseka (64’ Cole)

Subs not used: Walton (GK), Hondermarck, Sraha, Marsh

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