Birmingham City player ratings vs Burton as Sampsted and Stansfield seal win

League One champions Birmingham City edged closer to their century with a 2-1 win at Burton Albion.

Alfons Sampsted and Jay Stansfield scored in the final three minutes of the first half to put Blues in command. They weren’t troubled until stoppage time when Fabio Tavares reduced the arrears and denied Ryan Allsop a clean sheet.

Blues have now moved onto 99 points, four short of the League One points record with four matches to play.

There wasn’t much to write home about before Blues scored twice on the stroke of half-time.

The game quickly settled into a pattern of Blues having possession of the ball and Burton sitting in their shape and looking to counter-attack with the pace of Rumarn Burrell.

On the one occasion Burrell found space in behind Blues’ defence, he attempted to catch Allsop out with an early strike but it lacked the power to trouble the goalkeeper.

Blues found another gear in the minutes leading up to half-time and ruthlessly punished Burton.

A Blues corner wasn’t cleared and Kieran Dowell’s strike was blocked but Sampsted picked up the pieces. The Icelandic’s powerful shot from the edge of the box found the top corner with the aid of a slight deflection.

Sampsted, whose last goal came for FC Twente almost two years ago, was an unlikely scorer but Blues’ second arrived from the most obvious source.

A lovely team move ended with Taylor Gardner-Hickman firing a ball infield, Willum Willumsson dummied it for Dowell and the ball around the corner was perfect for Stansfield. The striker scored his 23rd Blues goal of the season with a clever finish across Max Crocombe.

With Burton’s gameplan out the window, the second half was largely a non-event as Blues cruised to their 30th league victory of the season.

The only blotch on Blues’ day in Burton came in stoppage time when substitute Tavares latched onto a long ball and beat Allsop.

Chris Davies is intent on breaking the League One points record and his side are now just two wins away. They could even do it this week.

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Ryan Allsop 7

Allsop made a great reflex save to prevent Hanley from putting through his own net early on. He will be disappointed to lose out on a clean sheet.

Alfons Sampsted 7.5

Sampsted didn’t have a great deal of defending to do and made an impact at the other end with his first goal for Blues and just the fifth of his career.

Christoph Klarer 8

Klarer made light work of his defensive tasks and stepped forward in possession a few times. The League One Player of the Year in my eyes.

Grant Hanley 7

Hanley slotted in well on his first league start for Blues and made several important defensive contributions to keep Burrell at bay. The 33-year-old Scot really showed his experience to outwit his speedier opponent.

Alex Cochrane 7

The left-back used the ball smartly and was caused very few problems defensively by a lacklustre Burton attack.

Tomoki Iwata 8*

The Japanese midfielder dictated Blues’ play from deep. He stepped in to win the ball back when he had to, but Iwata’s day was largely spent recycling the ball and moving Burton’s middle men around to create spaces. An intelligent display.

Marc Leonard 6.5

Leonard moved the ball well enough alongside Iwata and drifted out to the left a lot in the first half to combine with Gardner-Hickman.

Kieran Dowell 7.5

It was a cute pass from Dowell which set up Stansfield’s goal and the midfielder inadvertently played a part in the opener with a shot that fell to Sampsted. A good return to the line-up.

Willum Willumsson 7

Chris Davies is clearly giving Willumsson the chance to play his way back into form and this was better from the Icelandic. He helped create Stansfield’s goal with a delightful dummy in the build-up and showed some nice touches.

Taylor Gardner-Hickman 7

The utility man has thrived on the left-wing in the second half of the season and played his part in the second goal with a fizzed pass infield to Dowell who shifted it on to Stansfield.

Jay Stansfield 7.5

Stansfield looked sharp and skinned Sweeney with an outstanding piece of skill on the right before bagging a goal with a lovely finish in first half stoppage time.