THE VERDICT: BIRMINGHAM 0 TOWN 3 Dominant Town show what a side they can be
VITAL WIN AT BIRMINGHAM EDGES TERRIERS NEARER SURVIVAL AS THE GAMES COME THICK AND FAST
IT’S all about the results. Danny Cowley likes to talk about the process, and in the longer term he is absolutely right to.
But the Town fans do not currently have the luxury of enjoying the journey. All that matters is which of two destinations they wind up at.
After drifting off course over the last three games, Town fans were adrift in a sea of grief and despair as rival clubs gobbled up points. But Town are not sunk yet, and will now go into the weekend guaranteed to be back outside the relegation zone. That, for the time being, is all that matters.
But though the performance pales into insignificance, it just so happens that this was Town back to something like their best, reminiscent of the victories over Bristol City and Charlton Athletic that ushered in that threegame losing run.
A brief spell towards the end of the first half in which Birmingham looked threatening from crosses aside, the Terriers were firmly on top throughout.
Their early pressure forced a clear penalty for a foul on Karlan Grant just ten minutes in.
The forward took the penalty himself and scored despite Lee Camp getting a touch on it, and from there Town never looked back, confirming the suspicion that this is a side well capable of going from strength to strength when the first goal goes their way.
Grant’s replacement at centre-forward, Fraizer Campbell, helped provide the balance to the attack that had been missing against Wigan and, to a lesser extent, Nottingham Forest, allowing Grant to return to the left and thus Lewis O’Brien to central midfield.
But the striker also put in perhaps his best performance to date for his hometown club, getting a touch on a crossed Harry Toffolo free kick to turn home a goal his play off the ball and in the attacking build-up.
Also back in the side was Elias
Camp, Colin, Dean, Clarke-Salter, Pederson, Crowley, Gardner, Bellingham, Bela, Jutkiewicz, Hogan SUBS: Harding, Roberts, Kieftenbeld, Trueman, Sunij, Boyd-Munce, Burke, Stirk, Reid
Kachunga, and he joined Campbell in scoring his third goal of the season to make things as comfortable as could be for Town going into closing stages of the game, getting onto Steve Mounie’s header across the box from another Toffolo cross and bundling home.
It was the emphatic victory we had always sensed was possible from this Town side.
If they can replicate that twice more over their next six games, chances are very good that they will still be a Championship club