Birmingham City’s failure to maintain their lead at Huddersfield Town sparked a do-or-die final day clash with Norwich City. Anything other than victory will see the Blues in League One next season.
The Huddersfield draw was symptomatic of the Blues’ season. They put themselves in a good position but failed to manage the game properly, conceded a soft goal and showed no ability to bounce back once Rhys Healey leveled the game.
Given how much was at stake, Huddersfield’s equalizer less than two minutes into the second half really irritated veteran striker Lukas Jutkiewicz. He said: “We knew what was going to happen at the start of the second half. They’re fighting for their lives and you knew within the first 10 or 15 minutes they were going to be on top of us and we were going to have to weather this storm.
“And we didn’t.” It was a bad goal, a bad time to concede and that’s been a bit of a theme too, conceding goals at shocking times – before half-time against Watford, goals in injury time. It’s really frustrating that we weren’t able to manage the match properly.
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READ: EFL tried to stop Norwich boss Wagner repeating Blues trick
A blow for Norwich
We’re all wondering how strong Norwich boss David Wagner will be at St Andrew’s. The last time he took a team already assured of a play-off place to B9, at the end of the season he made some significant changes. The Blues beat his Huddersfield side 2-0 with 10 men and an investigation was launched by the EFL to prevent it happening again.
Wagner will most likely make changes, but he could be without experienced forward Ashley Barnes. Barnes came on as a substitute against Swansea on Saturday before limping off due to injury.
“He had some issues with his Achilles this week and now he has a calf injury,” Wagner revealed afterwards. “We’ll have to evaluate it and see how serious it is.”
-If Barnes is out, it gives Wagner another reason to rest striker Josh Sargent – who has 16 goals in 25 appearances this season – ahead of his upcoming play-off campaign.
And a potential blow for Eustace
Ironically, former Blues boss John Eustace now runs one of the clubs the Blues are trying to climb on the final day. Eustace’s Blackburn Rovers travel to Premier League side Leicester City needing one more point.
Eustace will travel to the King Power Stadium but he may not be able to take his place on the touchline. The 44-year-old was sent to the stands during Blackburn’s 0-0 draw with Coventry on Saturday after an altercation with Sky Blues midfielder Casey Palmer.
There is some confusion over whether Eustace will take his place in the dugout or whether he will have to watch Blackburn’s final day drama from the stands. Assistant Keith Downing, also formerly of the Blues, told the Lancashire Telegraph: “We will obviously speak to the powers that be.
“We’ll see what happens. We will be there if John is with us and if he is not, we will be well prepared and he will still be there. He’s very influential, he’s been very positive around the place, he’s a very good leader, we’ll miss him if he’s not here.
The planning application is submitted
Off the pitch – a more enjoyable aspect of following the Blues this season – and plans have been submitted to build the supporters’ park in the main stand car park. The application was made by Birmingham City Council on Friday.
He said: “Creation of a fan park at the existing football stadium to include converted shipping containers and canopies for the sale of food, drinks and merchandise, outdoor seating areas, a stage with screen television, perimeter fencing and netting and associated works for a temporary project. period of 10 years. »
Club chiefs hope to open the supporters’ park for part of this summer’s Euros before fans experience it at Blues matches next season. In addition to this permanent fan zone, Knighthead plans to create a pop-up fan park on the other side of the stadium, outside the Kop.
