Birmingham City player ratings as Stansfield and Willumsson misses result in Crawley draw

League One champions Birmingham City weren’t able to take out their Wembley frustrations on Crawley Town on Good Friday and settled for a 0-0 draw.

Blues were given a guard of honour by relegation battlers Crawley in their first match at St Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park since being confirmed as League One champions, but the visitors held their own to seal a deserved point.

Goalkeeper Toby Steward only signed for Crawley on an emergency loan on Friday and faced a one-on-one with Jay Stansfield inside 60 seconds of his debut. Stansfield produced a rather polite finish and Steward settled his nerves with a good save to his right.

After spinning away from William Radcliffe to control a raking pass from Ryan Allsop a few minutes later, Stansfield beat Steward with a powerful shot that struck the foot of the post.

Stansfield then turned provider with a left-wing cross that Willum Willumsson really should have buried with his head.

A sweeping passing move midway through the first half ended with Ethan Laird playing in Keshi Anderson and the winger fired a shot across goal that looked destined for the bottom corner until Steward got a strong right hand behind it.

Crawley improved and grew in confidence as the half progressed, with a couple of dangerous counter-attacks irking Blues manager Chris Davies who didn’t hide his anger from his vantage point in the press box.

The final chance of the first half went to Blues though and Anderson should have done better. He slalomed into the box after a sequence of intricate passes but lost his bearings at the crucial moment.

Blues continued to dominate at the start of the second period and Laird glanced a header wide after Christoph Klarer had initially nodded Paik Seung-ho’s delivery back into the dangerzone.

Crawley had a big chance to take the lead just before the hour-mark but it wasn’t taken. Allsop misplaced a pass for once and Rushian Hepburn-Murphy – a product of Aston Villa’s academy – was presented with the ball on the edge of the box. He blazed over the bar, much to the delight of those in the Gil Merrick behind that goal.

Davies made changes and one of the substitutes, Luke Harris, threaded in Paik with five minutes to play but the South Korean couldn’t quite lift the ball over the onrushing Steward.

Ryan Allsop 6

Allsop made a decent stop in the second half from Holohan on the stretch. He made one lax pass that went unpunished by Hepburn-Murphy.

Ethan Laird 6

The starting right-back worked his way into some good positions without providing the final action. He was caught out of position on a Crawley counter-attack in the first half and was fortunate to see it come to nothing.

Christoph Klarer 7

Klarer drove forward through the centre of the pitch and played one excellent pass into Paik to take Crawley’s midfielders out of the game in the second half. You have to wonder why he isn’t up for League One Player of the Year.

Ben Davies 6.5

Steady and solid alongside Klarer at the back. The pair have forged an excellent partnership and Davies’ left foot provides the balance.

Alex Cochrane 6.5

Cochrane stepped in decisively to win the ball back a number of times in the first half and wasn’t afraid to advance forward. The left-back completed 91 percent of his passes before making way for Lee 20 minutes from time.

Tomoki Iwata 6.5

There were some lovely passes from Iwata to set his team-mates free in the first half, including one in the first 60 seconds that presented Stansfield with a scoring chance. He was solid enough before making way to give Leonard a chance.

Paik Seung-ho 6

The South Korean’s touch is usually exceptional, but it deserted him a few times against Crawley. Paik worked his way into the right positions and kept plugging away.

Keshi Anderson 6.5

Anderson should have got on the scoresheet in the first half and neither shot nor passed when the best chance arrived right before the whistle. He wasn’t so dynamic in the second half.

Willum Willumsson 5.5

It was more of the same from Willumsson who looked crafty and creative in spells, yet never seemed capable of finding a killer pass or touch in Crawley’s box – and that has been the case for three months. There was another missed header in the first half.

Jay Stansfield 7

Stansfield was Blues’ biggest attacking threat on the day and had Barker on toast in the first half. It was a shame Blues didn’t keep going the Stansfield route once he got Barker booked.

Alfie May 6

May had very little to feed off with Stansfield at the centre of Blues’ best bits in the first half. The striker worked hard without reward.

SUBS

Marc Leonard (for Iwata, 56) 6

He didn’t move the ball in his usual stylish way and got bogged down at times in the midfield battle.

Luke Harris (for Willumsson, 56) 6.5

A nasty challenge halted a counter-attack and earned Harris a yellow card. The on-loan Fulham youngster created a good chance for Paik and could well get a start on Monday.

Lee Myung-jaae (for Cochrane, 70) 6

Finally, a debut for Blues’ January signing and he looked tidy enough at left-back. He played the position slightly different to Cochrane and Blues’ defence became more of a natural back four in and out of possession with Lee on the field.

Taylor Gardner-Hickman (for Laird, 70) 6

Gardner-Hickman is always available on the right and tends to use the ball sensibly.

Lukas Jutkiewicz (for May, 82) N/A

The roof would have come off St Andrew’s had Jutkiewicz scored a winner but it wasn’t to be.

Not used: Peacock-Farrell, Hanley

Attendance: 27,325

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