Stevenage 0-1 Blues: 90 Minutes Away From Wembley

Blues followed a league victory over Rotherham with a Tuesday night trip to Stevenage for the Quarter Final of the EFL Trophy to begin another cup football week.

Both sides came into the fixture in good form, Blues still undefeated in all competitions since November’s trip to Shrewsbury, whilst Stevenage had won 4 on the bounce, including impressive away wins over in-form Leyton Orient, previously unbeaten at home Wrexham, and play-off chasing Barnsley, with a 4-1 win over Exeter to top it off.

Due to fixture congestion, both Blues and Stevenage made several changes to their lineups. Blues made slightly more with a total of 8, whereas Stevenage kept their back 4 consistent and changed personnel elsewhere on the pitch.

Chris Davies named Peacock-Farrell, Bielik, Klarer, Hanley, Cochrane, Leonard, Dowell, Wright, May, Harris and Jutkiewicz in the starting 11, with those missing out being dropped to the bench and a return to the matchday squad for Alfons Sampsted.

Blues started the brighter side for the opening 20 minutes and created a number of decent chances. Harris and May combined to allow the former to play a low cross to Jutkiewicz, but the defender got there first to cut out a potential shot. Stevenage couldn’t clear their lines, and Dowell, deployed in a deeper midfield role to start the match, took control and fired a driven shot towards goal from just outside the box, but it was straight at the keeper. Minutes later, Klarer carried the ball out of defence and passed to May, who dribbled wide from the centre and delivered a low cross towards the penalty spot. Harris got across his man to get there first, and his shot was well saved by the keeper.

Stevenage looked dangerous on the counter, but frequently opted to play through the lines instead of going long. Dan Kemp was central to these efforts throughout the match, and on the 20th minute nearly caught Blues out. He worked the ball well to get it out wide on the right hand side to Jake Young, but thankfully for Blues his deflected effort went over the bar for a corner.

Scott Wright had the beating of his man throughout, and after a neat reverse pass into the box by Dowell, cut back onto his left foot and fired his shot low across goal. Ashby-Hammond had a trickier time of keeping it out than his previous saves, but met the challenge and palmed wide for a Blues corner.

Stevenage had the ball in the back of the Blues net following another counter, but Kemp’s tap in from inside the 6 yard box was ruled out, after Elliott List was judged to be offside prior to his pass across goal for the finish.

Minutes before half time, Wright used his pace to get beyond his man from the right wing and crossed with quality to Alfie May. His looping header from the near side evaded the goalkeeper, but didn’t sneak in at the far post.

We looked in relative control of the half, but Stevenage did look threatening on the counter and frequently exploited the space between the blues defence and attackers as we looked to press high. Neither side could take their chances though, and we went into the break level.

Half time: Stevenage 0-0 Blues

We came out for the second half on fire and played at a very high tempo. Scott Wright again beat his man and laid the ball off short to Dowell, but the man in green for Stevenage once again kept it out. Blues delivered a barrage of attacks but Stevenage held strong, getting bodies in the way to block shots or calling upon Ashby-Hammond to come to the rescue.

Stevenage failed to create as many chances as they did in the first half, but a long ball caught Bielik out, and his poor touch was immediately pounced upon by Elliott List who found himself one-on-one with Peacock-Farrell. The Blues keeper closed him down quickly and produced a good save to deny Stevenage from taking their best chance of the match.

The Blues pressure started to show the more the half went on. Klarer brought the ball out of defence again and played May through on goal. He had work to do still with defenders back on the cover and was forced wide onto his weaker left foot, and his shot sailed just over the crossbar.

Davies decided to bring on the big guns, as Harris, Jutkiewicz, Hanley, Wright and May were withdrawn at various stages in the half in favour of Anderson, Stansfield, Laird, Iwata and Dykes. Dowell moved across to the right to take up Wright’s mantle, Dykes slotted in at the 10, Stanno up top, Bielik shifted to centre back to accommodate Laird at right back and Iwata came into midfield alongside Leonard.

Finally, on the 80th minute, we had our breakthrough. Leonard picked up a Stevenage clearance 10 yards into our half and brought the ball forwards. Stevenage didn’t apply pressure to him and he picked out Stansfield running in behind with a beautiful lofted pass. Anyone who watched Stansfield particularly last year, where he found himself in more one-on-one situations, knew what was coming next. He took two neat touches and finished across the keeper to put Blues in touching distance of the semi finals.

Keshi had another chance shortly after the restart, and Blues kept applying pressure, but no second goal could be found and Stansfield’s finish was enough to take us through. Peacock-Farrell had one uncomfortable moment where he came to claim a cross and spilled it, but recovered the situation well and kept us ahead.

Stevenage surprised me personally with the football they played. Due to fixture changes, this was our first encounter with them and I was expected a hard to beat, direct side, whereas actually they did have a solid defence but were much more willing to play football than I anticipated, and caught us out a few times. I thought Dan Kemp and Elliott List in particular had good games and could’ve scored on another day.

Still, we did what needed to be done and on the balance of chances deserved the victory in the end. We will play one of Bradford, Bolton, Wrexham, Peterborough or Cheltenham in a couple of weeks to have a chance at securing a day out at Wembley. I’m hoping for a home draw and the easiest opponent possible – let’s have that special day out and potentially win the double, just like we did when we were last promoted from the third tier.

Next, we have an exciting prospect of a home FA cup tie against Newcastle on Saturday, live on national TV at 5.45pm. The sellout St Andrews crowd will be right up for it, and I can’t wait to test ourselves against a good Premier League side. With their game against Arsenal tonight (on the Wednesday), they may well rotate to keep fresh and it has the potential to be a special occasion under the lights.

Keep Right On.

Full time: Stevenage 0-1 Blues (Stansfield)

Ratings

Starting XI

Bailey Peacock-Farrell: 7

I'm always nervy when the Northern Irishman plays, but bar one moment late in the match, he had a solid game. He looked fairly composed with the ball at his feet and whilst he doesn't possess the sheer quality that Allsop has in that department, he was solid. His save to deny List's one-on-one was his best moment of the match.

Krystian Bielik: 7

Bielik generally dealt well with the Stevenage attack and was solid in possession. He had one lapse which let List in for his one-on-one, but should've made up for it with a late goal that was unfortunately chalked out somewhat controversially.

Christoph Klarer: 8

Klarer was at his dominant best at the back, but particularly in this game I thought he was excellent at bringing the ball out from the back and playing precise passes through to the forwards.

Grant Hanley: 7

Hanley met his full Blues debut with a strong performance of his own. Having played for years in a possession based Norwich side, he was comfortable on the ball and showed his experience defensively. He notably made amends for Klarer in the first half, after Young got past him and in behind, Hanley recovered and denied him a shooting opportunity.

Alex Cochrane: 7

Cochrane did what Cochrane does, and put in a solid 7/10 performance. Kept his man fairly quiet and played his role well in Davies' Blues Machine.

Marc Leonard: 8 - Man of the Match

For my money, that might've been Leonard's best performance yet in royal blue. His control, range of passing and tenacity out of possession was on full display and the ball he played to Stansfield for the goal was exquisite. My man of the match, amongst tough competition.

Kieran Dowell: 8

Dowell played across a few positions throughout the match, and provided what we miss when Willumsson isn't playing or isn't in form. He was very tidy on the ball and linked up well with his new teammates, played some lovely creative passes and had a couple of decent shots too. Great start from the Rangers loanee.

Scott Wright: 7

Wright had the beating of his man all game long, and got into some great positions, but I thought his decision making was a little off at times. There was one moment late in the 2nd half where he had an easy pass inside to Dowell but decided to take on his man with little to no space, and ran the ball out of play. Despite that - he always looked a threat and had a role in a few decent chances.

Alfie May: 7

I generally criticise Davies' deployment of May in the number 10 role as I don't think it suits him at all, but I thought he played much better against Stevenage. His linkup play was much improved and he got into dangerous positions more often, instead of finding himself isolated out wide. A much improved performance playing deeper from Alfie.

Luke Harris: 6

Harris, to me, always looks neat and tidy but doesn't impact games as much as I think he needs to. He's a young kid developing, so I'm sure he'll eventually add that to his game, but we're not seeing it in his time at Blues and I don't think we will before the end of the season. Today was no exception. He got into some better positions but couldn't do much with it, and should've connected better with May's cross in the first half as it was a very decent chance.

Lukas Jutkiewicz: 6

The Juke is a legend, but he is an ageing one, and despite battling well against Stevenage's big defenders, he too was unable to have much of an impact on the game. I hope to see him score again before the summer, as I suspect this season might be his last in blue and white.

Subs

Tomoki Iwata: 7

Iwata added his superior quality to proceedings after replacing Harris and slotting into midfield alongside Leonard. Kept us ticking and was as composed as ever.

Keshi Anderson: 7

Keshi instantly changed the dynamic on the left when he came on, using his directness and dribbling to bring Blues forward. The man in form will almost certainly be back in the 11 against Newcastle.

Ethan Laird: 7

Laird used his athleticism to his advantage against tiring opponents, and looked threatening when flying down the right hand side, and equally as dominant in the air at the back, winning a few crucial defensive headers.

Jay Stansfield: 8

As much as I clamoured to see Alfie up top and Jay behind him either in the 10 or on the left, it's clear to see he looks more comfortable up top. That's 3 goals in 2 now, and he showed his quality in one-on-one situations to put us through to the semi finals.

Lyndon Dykes: 6

Lyndon came on and put himself about well for the final 10 minutes. He worked hard to close Stevenage down alongside Stansfield and didn't let us come under much pressure after going ahead.