BRUM IS BLUE!

Blues are back in action tonight as we host Leyton Orient at St Andrews. Blues are looking to go 17 games undefeated as well as remaining one of the only teams not to be beaten at home in the league (The other team being Burnley).

Tonight will be another tough fixture as Orient look to secure Play Off places, they sit 6th after the weekend although they suffered defeat to Bolton. This will of course be additional motivation with them looking for a response to that to ensure they’re in with a chance of Promotion via the Play Offs, whereas there is a worry Blues could feel comfortable in their current position and have an eye on that day out in Wembley. At the very least I feel comfortable enough while also looking forward to that day out in April, so maybe I’m just transferring my feelings onto the team there!

This fixture has been played a total of 45 times with Blues coming away better 22 of them. In fact Blues have come away victorious in the last five meetings between the two, although three of them have been in cup competitions. Only one of the last five meetings has seen Blues win by a larger margin than a single goal.

When Blues met Orient earlier in the league we came away with all three points, beating Orient 1-2 with both Keshi Anderson and Alfie May finding the back of the net in August. It was one of the errors during the early period of the season that became synonymous with Peacock-Farrell (Although I think we can argue his early mistakes in the season were redeemed by that fantastic stop against Newcastle, even if the linesman wanted to get his name into the news).

I thought against Reading, Blues would switch to a style more suited to Alfie May and was admittedly a little bit surprised we didn’t. With Dykes out injured we surely have no choice tonight? I therefore think we’ll potentially play a slightly more direct form of football, although I know Davies won’t want to sacrifice possession for this.

As touched on Blues will be without Dykes for this one as he suffered a hamstring injury at the weekend. Blues will also be without Stansfield, Leonard, Wright, Keshi Anderson and Lee Bucahanan who is out for the remainder of the season. Leyton Orient are without 10 players and facing a sight defensive crisis which could be an ideal opportunity for Blues to cruise past them with our own weakened squad.

Tonight’s game counts as a double in your stubs, if you attend the next four home games you’ll get six in your allocation which pops you into the third fifth tier of Wembley tickets.