Birmingham City 2-0 Barnsley

Last updated : 22 August 2019 By Rob Miles

A poor showing in the Midlands saw Barnsley suffer their second defeat in four Championship outings.

This was their first defeat at St Andrews for 11 years (W3 D2) and the first time since then they had conceded more than once there (3 clean sheets)

The Reds have now lost their last eight away games in the Championship, their worst run at this level since 2006 (also 8)

In both of those losing runs Barnsley have conceded at least twice in seven of the defeats.

Barnsley have now lost their first two away league matches in each of their last five Championship seasons.

This is however the first time they have lost their opening two away games without scoring since 2001-2002.

In all competitions Barnsley have only one of their first five matches, their worst start to a season since 2013-2014 when they won only one of the first 13.

This is the first time Barnsley have won their first league game of the season but then failed to win any of the next three since 1994-1995. They have won their opening match on five occasions in between.

In each defeat Barnsley have suffered this season (all comps) they have failed to score themselves, the first time they have failed to score in as many as three of their first five matches since 2013-2014 when they failed to net in their first three outings.

Barnsley have conceded at least twice in four successive matches (9 goals) for the first time since November/December 2017 (4 games, 11 goals)

It is the first time they have conceded at least twice in four of their first five games of a season since 2012-2013 (4 games, 14 goals)

A Barnsley game was goal-less at half time for the first time this season and indeed the first time in 13 since the 1-0 win at Walsall in March.

It is the first time Barnsley have had to wait until the fifth game of a season to see a goal-less first half since 2017-2018 when it did not arrive until the 10th match.

Lukas Jutkiewicz scored for the fourth successive home league game for Birmingham. He was also the last Blues player to achieve this feat, back in October 2018.

Either Bambo Diaby or Mads Andersen have been booked in four of the opening five games, with the Sheffield Wednesday match being the only exception.

An injury to Cauley Woodrow saw his run of 36 successive starts (all comps) come to an end.

Barnsley had 64% ball possession for the second successive away league game but have now lost 2-0 in both.

Barnsley only managed six shots in the game, their lowest since Wycombe away, 33 games ago.

Only one of those were on target, their lowest since AFC Wimbledon at home 12 months ago (also 1)

Daniel Stendel did not make his first change until the 73rd minute, in a game that Barnsley would go on to lose it is the latest they have waited to make a substitution since April 2017 (80th minute in a 3-2 defeat at Wigan)

Barnsley Team:
1. Samuel Radlinger
21. Toby Sibbick
5. Bambo Diaby
6. Mads Anderson 
3. Ben Williams
8. Cameron McGeehan
27. Alex Mowatt
16. Luke Thomas
10. Mike Bahre (C)
26. Mamadou Thiam
11. Conor Chaplin
Substitutes:
36. Mallik Wilks (for Bahre 73)
19. Patrick Schmidt (for Thiam 73)
24. Aapo Halme (for Thomas 83)
Unused Substitutes:
15. Jordan Green, 20. Callum Styles, 23. Dani Pinillos, 40. Brad Collins.

Birmingham Team
1. Lee Camp
2. Wes Harding
12. Harlee Dean (C)
4. Marc Roberts
3. Kristian Pedersen
42. Steve Seddon
26. David Davis
34. Ivan Sunjic
17. Francisco Villalba
24. Alvaro Gimenez 
10. Lukas Jutkiewicz
Substitutions:
20,. Gary Gardner (for Villalba 74)
15. Jefferson Montero (for Gimenez 80)
37. Odin Bailey (for Jutkiewicz 90)
Unused Substitutes:
7. Dan Crowley, 8. Craig Gardner, 13. David Stockdale, 21, Agustin Medina.

Birmingham manager Pep Clotet said:
"I think we had a very good game and I'm very happy for our players because they deserve huge credit for recovering from our last game.

"We were very strong defensively, and very smart going forward, creating a lot of problems on set plays. We scored two nice goals and one thing I really enjoyed is the fact that we scored one goal and went for the second one. That's a huge step forward for us.

"I think all the fans enjoyed the outcome but also the performance. They saw the real Birmingham out there, we were tough to beat, caused a lot of problems offensively and were very incisive.

"A lot of players made their first appearances today, and we didn't get the time to gel during pre-season. But they played with a lot of confidence and discipline, and you see the team is slowly growing."

Match Reports:
Official Website
BBC
Sky Sports

Sky Bet Championship results:

TUESDAY 20TH AUGUST 2019

Birmingham City (8th) 2-0 BARNSLEY (20th)
Jutkiewicz 69
Gimenez 77

Derby County (14th) 1-2 Bristol City (7th)
                                        Weimann 16
                                        Brownhill 45+1
Marriott 85

Hull City (17th) 0-1 Blackburn Rovers (11th)
                               Williams 62

Middlesbrough (16th) 1-0 Wigan Athletic (21st)
Assombalonga 23

Sheffield Wednesday (4th) 1-0 Luton Town (22nd)
Harris 54

WEDNESDAY 21ST AUGUST 2019

Cardiff City (12th) 2-1 Huddersfield Town (23rd)
Ralls 42
                                    Chalobah 50
Hoilett 88

Charlton Athletic (5th) 1-1 Nottingham Forest (13th)
Taylor 18
                                          Adomah 78

Fulham (3rd) 4-0 Millwall (9th)
Cavaleiro 15
Knockaert 32
Mitrovic pen 56
Cavaleiro 63

Leeds United (1st) 1-0 Brentford (18th)
Nketiah 81

Preston North End (10th) 3-1 Stoke City (24th)
Johnson 7
Bodin 25
Harrop 69
                                               McClean 89

Queens Park Rangers (19th) 1-3 Swansea City (2nd)
                                                     Celina 29
Hugill 66
                                                     Baston pen 70
                                                     Surridge 80

West Bromwich Albion (6th) 1-1 Reading (15th)
                                                    Ejaria 71
Zohore pen 88

Barnsley lie in 20th place in the Sky Bet Championship with 4 points from 4 games. We are 4 points outside the Play-Offs, 6 points outside the Automatic Promotion Places, 6 points outside First Place and 3 points above the Relegation Zone.

Up to 22/8/19

Next Up:

At Oakwell:
Sky Bet Championship Matchday Five: Barnsley v Luton Town, Saturday 24th August 2019. Kick-Off: 3pm

On The Road:
Sky Bet Championship Matchday Six: Wigan Athletic v Barnsley, Saturday 31st August 2019. Kick-Off: 3pm