Birmingham City earned a 2-1 win at Stoke City today, and one player has earned praise for his upturn in form under new boss Tony Mowbray.
In three games in charge of Birmingham City, Mowbray has won two and drawn one.
His predecessor Wayne Rooney won just two games during his entire 15-game spell at the club, and already we’re seeing hugely positive signs from a rejuvenated Blues side.
Jay Stansfield opened the scoring today and Juninho Bacuna added the second, and what eventually proved to be the winning goal for Birmingham City.
The win at the bet365 Stadium leaves Blues in 20th place of the Championship table, and now five points above QPR in 22nd after they beat Millwall.
Jay Stansfield stars in much-needed Birmingham City win
Stansfield’s opening goal was his eighth of the season so far.
He remains Blues’ top scorer in the Championship and after a very evident dip in form under Rooney, the Fulham loanee is starting to rediscover his form from the start of the season.
As per Sofascore, Stansfield won 3 out of 8 duels today, with 2 shots on target (joint-most of anyone), and 2 out of 5 dribbles completed (third-most of anyone).
Stansfield and goalkeeper John Ruddy earned 8/10 ratings from Birmingham Live today. Journalist Alex Dicken had this to say on Stansfield’s performance:
“The forward opened the scoring with a thunderous effort for his ninth of the season. Stansfield was a constant threat and could have added to his tally at the end of the first half. He seems to be flourishing under Mowbray.”
Stansfield back to his best means Blues back to their best
Fans were running out of words to hail Stansfield during the opening weeks of the season.
Then seeing how far he fell under Rooney highlighted the entire team’s downfall under the former boss. But with Stansfield back to his best, Birmingham City are getting back to their best.
The 21-year-old was deployed as a no.9 today, after many weeks of him playing on the flanks.
He did a decent enough job on the wing but he’s clearly best as the main striker, and it didn’t take Mowbray long to figure that out.
These simple changes are helping Birmingham City to become a much more fluid outfit with confidence surely building after an unbeaten start to life under the new boss.
Up next is a trip to Leicester City in the FA Cup next week.
Mowbray will surely be keen to build some momentum and so expect a strong line up to face the league leaders.
And expect Stansfield up top again; he’ll be desperate to keep this scoring form going and desperate to get his side up the Championship table.