Player Ratings – Birmingham City 2-2 Ipswich Town
Rooney still awaiting taste of sweet victory after Harness double undoes good work.
Ratings as Stansfield performs once again and Aiwu solid as well.
John Ruddy (7) – His goal came under siege at points and he was forced to stand firm and protect the early lead. Couldn’t do anything with the two goals.
Ethan Laird (7) – A positive return to the starting eleven. Stood his ground defensively and provided an outlet in the final third. Some of his passing was precise and he always looked to be direct.
Dion Sanderson (7) – A solid afternoon for the skipper. His passing was good from deep and he helped to protect the back four as much as he could. when Ipswich were laying siege.
Emanuel Aiwu (7) – A very solid display and another good one alongside Sanderson. A big tackle on Hutchinson.
Cody Drameh (6) – Has to hold his hands in part for the first goal conceded. Moved to left back and was up against Hutchinson. A tricky test but he did fine considering.
Ivan Sunjic (6) – Conceded possession a few times to an Ipswich side very good on the ball. But he always pressed the visiting midfield and tried to close down the spaces.
Jordan James (7) – Some effective and dangerous use of the ball and he always looked to progress with the ball. When we went off, there was less of that type of outlet.
Juninho Bacuna (6) – Useful in the first half and proved to be an outlet but his final third quality was lacking severely on too many occasions.
Koji Miyoshi (5) – Was bright and lively in the opening stages of the game but his impact on the game completely diminished thereafter. He wasn’t to be found on the ball.
Oliver Burke (6) – A lot of energy on the ball and used his pace at points but his impact on the game was not enough.
Jay Stansfield (7) – Showed a lot of belief in his performance. Excellent play and manipulation for his goal and good pressure for the second. A top performance from the recalled forward.
Krystian Bielik (for Jordan James) (5) – Found the going tough as Ipswich wrestled control and shared a point.
Siriki Dembele (for Oliver Burke) (5) – Little say on the game.
Poor substitutions I thought why take James and Stansfield off and what has Long done wrong??
It was not poor substitutions, it was the subs themselves were poor. The team were excellent for 75 minutes. I am much happier now that WR will succeed and we just need to be patient. I can’t wait for the new signings in Jan because it will be another step to the big push next season Kro
With Buchanan and Hall back and a new Striker we will be ok.
Agree WR was forced to take off Laird with cramp and put the other RB at the club in Drameh at RB and the only available LB Longelo at LB. However within a minute Drameh couldn’t stop the cross coming in which resulted in a goal. Then in the 89th minute Longelo got beaten at LB resulting in the equaliser. If Laird had still been on the pitch we would have won the game. Drameh actually did okay at LB so perhaps in hindsight we should have moved Aiwu to RB and brought on another CB in Roberts or Long. It was a very good performance against a very good side and I was gutted that we didn’t win. Still heartened by that performance and am looking forward to when we have both our first choice full backs back. Another toughie versus Sunderland next. Have belief that we can beat them.