Mansfield Town stopped the Birmingham City League One juggernaut in its tracks on Saturday afternoon.
For just the third time this season, Blues failed to record a victory in a league match. The Stags secured a credible 1-1 draw and celebrated jubilantly afterwards
Their point was sealed by Lee Gregory’s free-kick after Willum Willumsson had given Blues an early lead at Field Mill. Blues maintained their three-point cushion to second place thanks to results elsewhere
Mansfield created chaos
Mansfield didn’t follow Charlton’s blueprint for beating Blues by pressing relentlessly. Probably because their ageing squad wouldn’t have been able to carry out that game plan days after an energy sapping 2-1 win at Wigan.
Nigel Clough’s side instead used their experience to hang on in there and mount a second half onslaught. The final 30 minutes at Field Mill, once the hosts had equalised, were complete chaos
Blues haven’t been dragged into that kind of game previously. Chris Davies likes his team to have control and they lost it in the second half.
It wasn’t just Mansfield inflicting blows from thereon, although they did create the best chances through Stephen McLaughlin and a Will Evans one-on-one that somehow didn’t even result in a shot at goal, Blues had their moments too.
Lyndon Dykes had to score from inside the six-yard box moments after Gregory’s goal and Keshi Anderson should have done better with one looped effort.
Why not May?
There is nothing wrong with selecting Dykes. The Scot is the most proven of Blues’ strikers at Championship level and has waited patiently for chances.
The talking point is why Dykes is used as the striker alongside Jay Stansfield but Alfie May isn’t.
May and Stansfield have played regularly together but never with May as the most advanced. Davies is seemingly only willing to play Stansfield deeper when Dykes starts.
Stansfield is happy in both positions, whereas May looks most suitable for the striker position in this Blues system. It would be nice to see them paired together in a different order at some stage
