SHREWS SUFFER MAYDAY BLUES

By Tim Nash

BIRMINGHAM C 4

Davies 27, Laird 61, May 77, 86

SHREWSBURY T 1

Oliver 87

BIRMINGHAM head coach Chris Davies insists he has never been concerned about Alfie May’s lack of goals after the striker ended a 16-match drought in their comfortable win over Shrewsbury.

Substitute May’s late double took his tally to 13 in all competitions after Ben Davies’s first for the club and Ethan Laird gave City a two-goal cushion.

Vadaine Olive pulled one back for the struggling Shrews.

“I was probably like everyone else of a Birmingham persuasion in the stadium in wanting him to score,” said Davies.

“He thoroughly deserved it but I genuinely haven’t been worried about him.

“Even when he hasn’t scored, he’s had chances, and it’s the old adage about getting opportunities.

“Alfie gives us a lot – that was why he was captain when Christoph Klara came off because he gives a lot of leadership skills around the training ground, a lot of energy, and he’s very professional.

“So for him to get two goals and he could have made it a hat-trick near the end will give him a lot of confidence moving forward.

“For the second one, their keeper’s big, but he decided to get it around him. He will score more goals between now and the end of the season.”

Regarding the game Davies added: “We started well and were dominant throughout, fluent in possession and quick and aggressive without the ball.”

It was one-way traffic from start to finish in Blues head coach Chris Davies’s 50th game in charge.

Keshi Anderson rifled an angled half volley a foot over the bar, before Jay Stansfield’s rising shot was saved by goalkeeper Jamal Blackman in a one-onone. Willum Willumsson curled off target before Kieran Dowell blazed over after Anderson found Willumsson then cleverly dummied the return.

But Davies gave Blues a deserved lead in the 27th minute, sliding home Dowell’s curling free kick unmarked from six yards.

Laird made it 2-0in the 61st minute, glancing home Leonard’s cross unmarked, before May tapped home fellow substitute Emil Hansson’s cross, again unmarked, after 77 minutes.

May grabbed his second nine minutes later after rounding Blackman following onto Louis Harris’s through ball.

Oliver headed a consolation a minute later in the visitors’ only effort of the game.

Shrewsbury head coach Michael Appleton – in his first game in charge – admitted: “In the first half we had two or three players who almost struggled with the occasion – it possibly looked too big for them.

BACK IN THE HABIT: Birmingham City’s Alfie May wheels away after scoring their third – and his first in 17 games

PICTURES: Alamy

“But a fair amount of them showed a lot of spirit in the second half. They were brave enough to take the ball into areas that they probably haven’t taken the ball into at times.

“I’ll keep asking them to do that because I think it’s the right thing to do.

“I’ve seen a lot of the videos of the goals conceded and it’s been frustrating (conceding from set-pieces). So that’s something we will definitely be trying to improve in the remainder of the games. “Today was a good day to learn about players’ personalities rather than just footballers.”

BATTLE: Birmingham Emil Hansson takes on Josh Feeney

BIRMINGHAM: Allsop 6, Laird 8 (Sampsted 63, 6), Klarer 6 (Hanley 87), Davies 9, Cochrane 6, Dowell 6, Iwata 6, Willumson 7 (Harris 73, 6), Leonard 7, Anderson 7 (Hansson 63, 6), Stansfield 6 (May 73, 8). Subs not used: Peacock-Farrell, Jutkiewicz.

SHREWSBURY: Blackman 6, Hoole 5 (Wheeler 45, 6), Feeney 6 (Nurse 81, 5), Pierre 6, Nurse 6, Benning 6, Gilliead 6, Gape 6 (Shipley 76, 5), Perry 6 (Oliver 76, 7), Marquis 6, Lloyd 6. Subs not used: Young, Dinanga, Stewart.