Birmingham City ratings from Wycombe win as Gardner-Hickman goal sends Blues 12 points clear
The Blues extended their lead at the top of the League One table after a red card decision for Wycombe.
Birmingham City extended their superb unbeaten streak to 18 games in League One as they continue their charge towards this season’s title, and a ticket back into the Championship next season.
A top-of-the-table clash gave Wycombe Wanderers the chance to reduce the margin between them and the runaway leaders, but a red card decision on Xavier Simons, and a goal from Taylor Gardner-Hickman thwarted Mike Dodds’ side of attempting a big result at St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park.
Both sides had further chances as the game went on. Despite being down to ten men for the whole second half, Wycombe continued to press up the pitch but a goal continued to evade them as frustrations mounted.
Daniel Udoh had arguably the biggest opportunity for the visitors as he found himself through on goal with just the goalkeeper to beat at 80 minutes. Unable to sort his feet out to tuck the ball away, the Wycombe forward sent his shot wide of Ryan Allsop’s goal.
A late equaliser for the Wanderers would have certainly flipped the mood of the match but in the end, all spoils were claimed by Birmingham. Despite troubling the Blues defence at times, the visitors registered just one single shot on target throughout the match, which came as a tame effort in the dying embers of added time.
A chunky eight minutes of stoppage time were added on but due to further pauses in the match, the teams played out more than 101 minutes. Wycombe had the last effort of the game but the chance fell safely to the gloves of Bailey Peacock-Farrell, who replaced Allsop through injury.
We’ve taken a look at the Blues’ player ratings, according to WhoScored, as Chris Davies and his team enjoy another solid result in their title pursuit. The win puts Birmingham 12 points clear of Wycombe at the top of the tree, with the end of the season now coming into view.
Birmingham City player ratings vs Wycombe
Ryan Allsop - 7.4
Ethan Laird - 7.4
Christoph Klarer - 7.6
Ben Davies - 7.2
Alex Cochrane - 7.1
Tomoki Iwata - 6.9
Paik Seung-ho - 6.8
Kieran Dowell - 6.4
Willum Thor Willumsson - 6.8
Taylor Gardner-Hickman - 8.0
Alfie May - 6.3
Substitutes
Bailey Peacock-Farrell - 6.2
Lukas Jutkiewicz - 6.2
Krystian Bielik - 6.3
Emil Hansson - 6.2
What’s next for Birmingham City?
The Blues have a short rest before they’re back in League One action on Tuesday. They will make the trip to face Bolton Wanderers, who are currently sixth in the table following their 0-0 draw with Wrexham.
The North Wales side also recently bowed out of the Vertu Trophy, after a 2-2 draw against Peterborough United resulted in a nail-biting penalty shootout to determine who would join Birmingham in the final. The Posh edged it 4-2, setting themselves up to take on the Blues at Wembley on Sunday, April 13th.
Before they challenge their League One rivals for the Vertu Trophy, the Blues have plenty of league action to focus on first.