MAY THE FOUR-CE BE WITH SUB ALFIE

By Jak Netting

BIRMINGHAM C 6

Stansfield 33 (pen), May 47, 55, Harris 72, Dowell 82, Jutkiewicz 89

BARNSLEY 2

Keillor-Dunn 35, Humphrys 59

BIRMINGHAM City all but wrapped up the League One crown with a thrashing of ten-man Barnsley, with super-sub Alfie May involved in four of the goals.

But boss Chris Davies admitted to having much on his mind after seeing May score twice after Jay Stansfield’s penalty had been cancelled out by Davis Keillor-Dunn.

Stephen Humphrys pulled one back in the 59th minute, but further goals from Luke Harris, Kieran Dowell and Lukas Jutkiewicz saw Blues run out easy winners.

Victory against Peterborough on Tuesday would seal Blues’ return to the second tier, but Davies admitted there were a lot of factors heading into the game, given Blues face Posh in the Vertu Trophy final next Sunday, too.

“I’ll see how everyone is,” said Davies. “I’ll see where they all are physically. We’ve played three games in a week after the international break.

“Some players have played a lot of minutes. Some are coming back from injury and all sorts of things like that.

“So I’ve got a lot to consider, thinking about what’s needed. We want to win the next game. That’s the most important thing in football, but, obviously, we know that Wembley is there on the weekend as well.

“So these are all things I’ve got to consider, see how the boys are physically, and we’ll go from there.”

Despite the emphatic final score, things were not always plain sailing for Blues and, level at half-time, Davies sensed frustration among his players.

“I thought there was a bit of frustration maybe creeping in, and I was really conscious at half-time just to sort of not add to that frustration with the players. And we weren’t at our best, and I told them that.”

De Gevigney saw red in just the third minute after a last-man coming together with Keshi Anderson.

Stansfield then fired Blues ahead from the penalty spot in the 32nd minute after Anderson had been taken out by Kieren Flavell.

Keillor-Dunn headed Barnsley level in the 35th minute after a near-post cross was flicked on by Marc Roberts.

After the restart, Blues swiftly raced into a two-goal lead as May got the last touch after Ben Davies tried to scramble the ball home from a corner, before May then met Alex Cochrane’s excellent cross to plant a header past Flavell

Just four minutes late, Barnsley pulled one back via Humphrys, whose effort at the near post snuck past Ryan Allsop.

Harris converted with a powerful strike in the 72nd minute after driving down the right, before Dowell added a fifth in the 82nd minute, with a sublime finish from just outside the penalty area.

HIT FOR SIX: Lukas Jutkiewicz wheels away after wrapping up the scoring for Birmingham City

PICTURES: PSI/Andy Shaw

Any lingering doubt was removed when Jutkiewicz added a sixth in the 89th minute after capitalising on a loose ball from his earlier effort.

Interim Barnsley boss Conor Hourihane was quick to accept the red card decision, which saw De Gevigney dismissed in the third minute. he said: “I looked back at it. I’ll be honest with you, that was red. I think what I feel is disappointing is that that’s probably a red, but then the one at Wigan we had a couple of games ago was just as much of a red. We didn’t get the decision.” BIRMINGHAM: Allsop 6, Laird 6 (Sampsted 66, 6), Klarer 6, Davies 7, Cochrane 8, Iwata 7, Paik 6 (Leonard 83), Dowell 6, Willumsson 6 (May 36, 9), Anderson 7 (Harris 67, 7), Stansfield 8 (Jutkiewicz 83). Subs not used: Peacock-Farrell, Hanley.

FINISH: Birmingham City’s Luke Harris makes it 4-2

BARNSLEY: Flavell 4, Durand de Gevigney 5, Roberts 5, McCarthy 5, Phillips 5 (Jalo 71, 5), Connell 5 (Nwakali 86), Russell 5, O’Keeffe 5 (Lembikisa 86), Humphrys 8 (Lewis 86), Watters 6 (Bland 7, 6), Keillor-Dunn 7. Subs not used: Hayton, Barratt.