Last weekend the Blues traveled to Cambridge United for their first FA Cup tie of the season. They won 3-2 in a not especially convincing display. Kai Wagner opened the scoring in the 31st minute, adding a goal to his assist in just 2 games for Birmingham City. Kyogo Furuhashi followed that up with his much-needed second goal of the season after another 11 minutes (he has still to score in league play, however). Marvin Duksck continued his frantic scoring pace with a goal in the 78th minute. But the Blues allowed Cambridge to get 2 late goals to make the ending rather more stressful than it should have been. The game was played in rainy and misty conditions, but that is no excuse. Neither is the fact that Jay Stansfield was not in the lineup due to a nagging injury; that is thought to be over with now and he should be available immediately.
With the win the Blues move on to play Leeds United of the Premier League, a home match to be played February 8th.
Tomorrow, the team is back to the league campaign. They are on the road again, this time heading to Wales to face Swansea City (11:30am, Paramount+). The Swans are 17th in the standings, 3 spots and 2 points behind the Blues. They are on a 2-game losing streak, going down to Millwall and then West Bromwich Albion in the FA Cup (albeit on penalties). This is a game the Blues absolutely have to win to keep pace with the teams ahead of them.
This being mid-January the transfer window activity is heating up. Birmingham City had been working on a deal with Mjällby (currently leading Sweden’s Allsvenskan) for striker Abdoulie Manneh but that fell through for uncertain reasons. The team has identified August Priske as the best alternative. He is one of Denmark’s top young players and is also in the Allsvenskan, with Djurgårdens. The fee is expected to be Blues record if the deal gets done.
On the other side, the Blues have officially parted ways with Keshi Anderson and Lyndon Dykes so there is room on the roster to add a few names and it is clear the team is far from done in this window.
