OLD GUARD INSPIRES YOUNG BAGGIES – FIELD
Ped sees red but Blues so close to fine victory
BIRMINGHAM City had to settle for a point in a remarkable encounter at the Liberty Stadium on Tuesday night.
Having twice come from behind Blues thought they had nicked it when Che Adams swept home his 15th goal of the season.
But Oli McBurnie’s 15th - and second of the game – gave Swansea a last gasp draw.
Here’s what stood out.
RED PED
Kristian Pedersen has been excellent this season for Blues but the tackle for his second yellow card was the definition of injudicious.
Having caught Nathan Dyer from behind in the first half, the Dane had no business making the tackle that ultimately saw him sent off.
McBurnie was pinned to the left touchline 40 yards from goal with little prospect of causing Blues any anxiety.
So it was really inexplicable that Pedersen dived in when referee Steve Martin was in a card-flinging frenzy.
Martin was chucking them about as though he’d bought a job-lot in the January sales and the only thing more surprising than Pedersen’s tackle was the fact he was the only one sent off.
He’ll serve a one-match ban now.
THE CLOSER
Craig Gardner was making his first start in two months – since the defeat to Aston Villa in November.
And to be fair his performances off the bench in the last couple of matches merited this opportunity.
However, this was very much a mixed bag from the 32-year-old who was sacrificed in the half-time reshuffle. There were moments when his clarity of thought and experience looked obvious but there were also situations when he looked off the pace in the hurly-burly of a Championship match.
At present he looks like the kind of proficient match-finisher every club needs rather than a 90-minute game controller.
NOT ENOUGH
Blues have been short-changed from their two matches with Swansea.
They’ve taken two points and could quite easily have had six.
Garry Monk’s men battered the Swans 0-0 at St Andrew’s in August, 17 shots with six on target to the visitors’ six and none.
After that match Swans boss Graham Potter admitted his team had been lucky. And this was just as narrow an escape – his team was 20 seconds from defeat.
Admittedly Swansea
deserved something from this game looked for all the world as they’d messed it up.
McBurnie scored twice against Blues for Barnsley last season - and another two on Tuesday. He really is developing into a very good young centre-forward. Admittedly not as good as Che Adams.
But had Blues been able to win both matches – as they arguably should have – they’d be on 44 points and just two behind the top six.
They could so with some better fortunes in Saturday’s home game with Nottingham Forest. but it though
CHESS MATCH
This was a really interesting chess match between Monk and Potter.
The Swansea boss took the early honours by making the surprise move of playing Daniel James as the furthest forward and dropping McBurnie deep, clearly fancying the match up of the fleet-footed James against Michael Morrison and Harlee Dean.
Then when they went down to ten men Monk made a very bold decision to play with three in midfield, with Jacques Maghoma and Jota tucked in alongside Maikel Kieftenbeld.
That meant when Swansea moved the ball to the flanks Blues’ wingers had to hare across to help their full backs. At half-time Potter moved James wide and put McBurnie through the middle.
Potter also diagnosed the greater space out wide by bringing on wide man Jefferson Montero to make the most of the space out there. It proved a shrewd move as the Ecuadorian got the better of Wes Harding and sent over crosses which produced both second-half goals.