Birmingham City needed a second-half stoppage-time goal from Lyndon Dykes to secure a 1-0 win over Swansea. That’s the second time he has done that this season, repeating his heroics from the 2-1 win over Blackburn Rovers a month ago. He now has 2 goals in just 26 minutes of Championship action and has established himself as the team’s supersub. His 2 goals match Jay Stansfield’s for the team high so far, but Stansfield needed 427 minutes to get his brace and one of them was a penalty.
Other than not scoring for over 90 minutes the Blues were entirely dominant in the game with the Swans, outshooting the visitors 23-9 overall and 7-2 on target. It was defintely a get-back-on-track performance and an absolute necessity for the team’s confidence.
The win puts Birmingham City on 10 points, tied for 6th with 4 other clubs. Tiebreakers set the team at 8th for now. That could change this week with yet another tough fixture. The Blues head to Coventry City who lead the group of 10-point teams (Saturday, 6:30am, Paramount+). They do so because of a ridiculous +8 goal difference from 6 games. That is almost entirely due to a single game, a 7-1 thrashing of Queens Park Rangers. They also put 5 goals past Derby County in a 5-3 win. In all the Sky Blues (yeah, that’s going to be a bit confusing) have scored 15 goals, 10 more than the Blues. They did fail to score twice though, both times in 0-0 draws.
This writer will confess to a slight soft spot for Coventry. The team is managed by former Chelsea and England star Frank Lampard, with whom I happen to share both a birthplace and a school. That’s enough not to hold Chelsea against him, but I will not relent on supporting the Blues as a result.
With the next game being against Sheffield Wednesday, who are off the bottom only thanks to neighbors Sheffield United, you would think the schedule is finally getting a bit lighter. But that game is Tuesday (1:45pm, Paramount+) and is followed on Saturday by a trip to Wrexham. The Red Dragons are struggling a bit in 16th, but that’s a tight schedule. Wrexham do have to play Leicester City Tuesday though.
Other than that there is no real news on the Blues this week. The team has warned traveling fans to ease up on their behavior so as not to lose away team ticket allocations. There has been the typical rowdy and drunken behavior but things have degraded into threats and a couple of arrests. Host teams have complained and the FA is taking a dim view of the situation.
