Birmingham City earned a much-needed 1-0 win at Cardiff City last night. And one player looked to be back to his best.
Birmingham City have struggled under Wayne Rooney.
But last night in what was Rooney’s 10th game in charge, it looked like Blues turned a corner, putting in a pretty much perfect away performance as they won 1-0 at Cardiff City.
Juninho Bacuna scored the only goal of the game. He impressed, and so too did the likes of Lee Buchanan and Jordan James.
But Dion Sanderson was journalist Alex Dicken’s star man on the night.
He rated the Blues captain 9/10 on the night, labelling his performance as a real ‘captain’s display’, coming after a tough run of form for the 23-year-old.
The stats show Dion Sanderson’s dominance at Cardiff City
Birmingham City deserved their win last night.
It was a commanding defensive display with Sanderson back in the side, partnering Marc Roberts in a the middle, with Lee Buchanan on the left and Emanuel Aiwu on the right in a new-look back-line.
It helped John Ruddy claim just his second clean sheet of the Rooney era, with the win also being the second under Rooney.
Sanderson contributed massively to the win as well, making 4 tackles and winning 8 out of 10 duels, whilst also recording 3 clearances and 2 interceptions as per Sofascore.
The Englishman also made 32 out of 38 passes.
Time to step up and maintain this current form
Sanderson started the season in fine form. He was showing everybody that he’s a really quality defender at Championship level, and a leader in this Birmingham City side too.
But his form dropped off. Many were starting to question whether or not Sanderson really was that good at Championship level and whether he was a good leader for the club.
But last night’s performance has put those doubts to bed. Despite having missed last weekend through injury, Sanderson was impressive, putting in a typical Sanderson-type performance to help Blues on their way to victory.
And Rooney deserves credit for the changes he made last night.
Sanderson alongside Roberts with Aiwu on the right worked much better, with Ivan Sunjic coming into the XI and proving pivotal in the win as well.
Now the task is maintaining this form and working their way back up the table after this rotten patch of form to kick-start the Rooney era at Birmingham City.
Up next for Blues is a tricky home game vs Leicester City next Monday.