Birmingham City missed out on a big chance to pull themselves clear of the Championship relegation zone over the weekend.
Up against second from bottom Sheffield Wednesday, Blues were beaten 2-0 at Hillsborough. It was a brace from Ike Ugbo that ultimately secured all three points for the Owls.
As a result, Birmingham City are now 19th in the Championship table, just three points clear of the relegation zone.
However, Tony Mowbray‘s side have now been sent a clear message about what they must do to keep themselves out of the bottom three.
Birmingham City must start taking chances, says Adrian Clarke
While they may have been beaten by Sheffield Wednesday, it was not as if Birmingham City did not pose a threat in Friday night’s game.
Indeed, across the course of that match, Blues took 25. However, they were of course unable to score with any of those, while only four were on target.
That is obviously far from efficient. But given the openings they created to muster that many efforts, there seems to be a belief that if they do start putting those chances away, Tony Mowbray’s side will start to climb the table.
Speaking about Birmingham City after that defeat at Hillsborough on talkSPORT’s EFL All Access Podcast, former Arsenal and Stevenage midfielder Adrian Clarke said:
“Birmingham battered Sheffield Wednesday for most of that game the other night, 25 shots!
“They just were terrible when it came to the final shot, the final cross. If they can get right, Birmingham will sail up in towards mid-table. But if they don’t – and that is a real possibility because it’s a habit now – then they could be in trouble.”
Next up for Blues is a clash with Blackburn Rovers, now managed by former Birmingham City boss John Eustace, on Friday night.
Hard to argue with this challenge for Blues
It does seem clear that taking chances should keep the club up this season.
If they had finished as well as they should have done at Sheffield Wednesday, then Birmingham City would surely have picked up three points on Friday night.
As a result, they know that is they continue to play like that, and improve in front of goal, they will create enough chances to win games.
That in turn will then allow them to pull comfortably clear of the bottom three in what remains of the season.
The concern is that centre forward options you would look to for those goals this season, such as Lukas Jutkiewicz and Scott Hogan, have struggled to find the net.
It was therefore a surprise that Jay Stansfield started on the bench at Hillsborough. The on-loan Fulham man striker has been more proficient in front of goal this season.
With that in mind, you would expect to see more of Stansfield starting for Birmingham City, between now and the end of the campaign.