Birmingham City player ratings vs Millwall: Iwata, Roberts and Stansfield electric in 4

Birmingham City player ratings vs Millwall: Iwata, Roberts and Stansfield electric in 4-0 rout

Birmingham City battered Millwall 4-0 at St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park on Tuesday night

Birmingham City scored four for the second time in four days to rout Millwall at St Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park on Tuesday night.

Goals from Paik Seung-ho, Demarai Gray, Alex Cochrane and Jay Stansfield sealed another demolition job for Blues against a Millwall side that started the evening in fourth.

Tommy Doyle snapped into a couple of early challenges and one resulted in him winning possession, advancing forward to the edge of Millwall’s box and bending a shot around the post that had Lions stopper Max Crocombe sprawling.

James Beadle was the first goalkeeper to make a save in a lively opening 20 minutes at St Andrew’s. The on-loan Brighton man got down well to his left to palm away Luke Cundle’s strike.

Blues struck first and once again it was their South Korean star Paik. Patrick Roberts’ cross from the right found Paik in space and the midfielder set himself before arrowing a left-footed shot into the far corner.

Buoyed by their opening goal, the hosts started to run all over their opponents and duly scored a second before half-time.

Ex-Blues man Wes Harding presented the ball to Jay Stansfield and the striker played a neat one-two with Marvin Ducksch before gift-wrapping Gray’s second goal of the season. The ball was slightly behind Gray but the 29-year-old made his moment count.

A two-goal lead at half-time was no less than Blues deserved after an excellent 45-minute performance

The third arrived within five minutes of the restart via a corker from Cochrane. Tomoki Iwata’s cross was half-cleared to the edge of the box and Cochrane’s ferocious volley caught Crocombe cold.

Blues’ football was free-flowing and fun with everyone looking to get in on the act. Captain Christoph Klarer was urged to shoot by jubilant supporters when the ball dropped to him 25 yards out. Those in Row Z of The Tilton probably regretted it.

The fourth arrived in the 66th minute as top scorer Stansfield found the net for the seventh time this season. Neat interchange on the edge of Millwall’s box ended with Keshi Anderson finding Stansfield and the striker wriggled through a challenge before beating Crocombe.

The only thing missing was a goal for Kyogo Furuhashi and almost all of the 25,949 supporters inside St Andrew’s were willing him to end his Championship duck.

Kyogo’s chance arrived when he broke clear of Jake Cooper to face Crocombe in a one-v-one but the finish wasn’t there. Roberts recycled the ball and crossed for Kyogo to skim a second effort wide of the post.

It wasn’t to be for Kyogo but the bigger picture looks brighter for Blues after back-to-back 4-0 wins.

James Beadle 7

Beadle is playing with plenty of confidence now and showed that with a couple of really smart first half saves that were important to the outcome of the match.

Tomoki Iwata 9

Watch the highlights and look out for Iwata’s lung-busting run around Roberts to create the space for the winger to move inside in the build-up to Blues’ fourth goal. Another outstanding performance from Blues’ midfield maestro at right-back.

Phil Neumann 7.5

Neumann has settled next to Klarer and matched Millwall’s physicality. The defender’s distribution was better than it has been, too.

Christoph Klarer 8

Klarer dominated Millwall dangerman Ivanovic in another uncompromising defensive performance. The Blues skipper tried to get his name on the scoresheet in the second half and came within a whisker of connecting with another Cochrane free-kick.

Alex Cochrane 8

Cochrane added a goal to his recent flurry of assists and it was a fine strike. The left-back has looked like a very capable Championship left-back in recent weeks after some early struggles.

Tommy Doyle 8.5

The on-loan Wolves midfielder set the tone for the evening by winning a couple of early duels and almost curled home his first Blues goal inside 90 seconds. Doyle is now fully integrated into Davies’ set-up and Blues are better for it.

Paik Seung-ho 8

Another lovely strike by Paik who has answered his critics stylishly in the last two games. The benchmark has been set by Blues’ uber-talented midfield man.

Patrick Roberts 9*

Roberts is fast becoming a favourite at St Andrew’s thanks to his direct dribbling and creativity. Another assist arrived for Paik’s goal and Roberts had a hand in Stansfield’s goal too.

Jay Stansfield 9

Stansfield was a busy bee in attack for Blues and added another goal and assist to take his tally to nine goal contributions for the season in all competitions. The partnership with Ducksch has huge potential.

Demarai Gray 8

Gray still had a little bit to do with Stansfield’s cut-back at the end of the first half but diverted the ball goalwards expertly. The winger tried to make things happen and wasn’t afraid to roam away from the left.

Marvin Ducksch 8.5

The German is an extremely classy operator. He was involved in Blues’ first two goals with pre-assists, including a lovely sliderule pass to Stansfield to complete a devastating one-two. Ducksch is proving to be a difference maker.

SUBS

Kyogo Furuhashi (for Ducksch, 59) 6

The ball just won’t go in for the striker. He just needs one to bounce in off him at this point.

Keshi Anderson (for Gray, 59) 7

A smart ball to Stansfield for his goal and a few other clever combinations, including a smash across goal that just evaded Kyogo.

Lewis Koumas (for Roberts, 79) N/A

Bright Osayi-Samuel (for Iwata, 79) N/A

Marc Leonard (for Doyle, 89) N/A

Not used: Allsop, Cashin, Robinson, Dykes

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