Poignant Tom Wagner nod with Knighthead in town for Birmingham City reset

Birmingham City talking points after the 2-0 victory over Wrexham on Sunday

Chris Davies and his Birmingham City players were cheered off the field after they got the better of Wrexham again in front of the TV cameras.

After three defeats on the spin – or six in their previous eight if you want to put a more negative slant on Blues’ recent woes – they upped their game to beat play-off chasing Wrexham 2-0 at St Andrew’s on Sunday afternoon.

Carlos Vicente opened the scoring with an excellent header before Christoph Klarer prodded home a corner to make the game safe with around 20 minutes to play.

Wrexham had no response to Blues and their hopes of finishing inside the top-six were dented.

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It’s a start

Even a strong end to the season might not be enough to earn Chris Davies a reprieve but the last two performances have at least been appreciated by supporters – who, as ever, will play their part in swinging owners Knighthead one way or the other.

Davies understood that a spirited defeat at Ipswich needed to be backed up by something more tangible and Blues produced one of their most complete displays of the season to down Wrexham.

Ten days ago, after a lacklustre defeat to Blackburn Rovers, Davies had to gee his players up before they walked around the pitch to face their disgruntled supporters. No one was looking to skulk off to the dressing room early after Wrexham.

It won’t take a lot – another bad performance and a glance at the table – for that ill-feeling to return so Davies and his players have to finish the season in this vein.

The signs are good with Carlos Vicente

Blues are finally starting to see a return on their hefty investment on Vicente.

It has taken the Spaniard time to adapt to the rough and tumble of English football, where the game is far more furious and physical than it is in La Liga, but his class showed against Wrexham.

You can point to plenty of runs in behind Wrexham’s defence that stretched the game and created openings for Blues, or his goal, but one burst of pace beyond Callum Doyle and a wicked cross delivered at full tilt that was a fingertip from Arthur Okonkwo away from landing on the head of Ibrahim Osman truly showed his ability.

Vicente should, in theory, be able to hit the ground running next season if he can fully adjust to the league before this one ends on May 2.

Kai Wagner’s return is vital

Wagner made a similar impact to what he did on his debut in January against Coventry. In fact, this was possibly his most eye-catching display since that day.

The German contributed an assist and created two further chances for August Priske and Ibrahim Osman in the first half, whilst handling Wrexham livewire Issa Kabore down that side of the field.

Blues’ balance looked better with Wagner in the team and – fingers crossed – their left-back woes are behind them now.

“Kai was excellent,” said Davies. “That option to open up down the channel or play the ball to the winger’s feet, or reverse it inside, and the progression we get down the left side when it’s a left-footer is excellent.”

Two ‘maybes’ make their mark

Davies will be drawing conclusions on his squad in these final games of the season, perhaps that’s why Bright Osayi-Samuel was given a run-out against Wrexham that his Ipswich showing scarcely warranted.

Osayi-Samuel is one of the players whose future will naturally come under the microscope this summer and the same can be said for Phil Neumann.

Both were good on the right side of Blues’ back four, producing two of their best performances this season.

Is that enough for them to continue on Blues’ journey next season? Only time will tell. At the moment, they very much fall into the maybe pile.

A poignant nod to Tom Wagner

Knighthead were in town for a fixture that tends to excite an American audience.

Tom Wagner has been front and centre for all of Blues’ previous meetings with Wrexham in the past two seasons, but the chairman’s recovery from a stroke meant that he couldn’t attend Sunday’s edition.

Knighthead were represented by Andrew Shannahan and he is Davies’ contact stateside at this moment in time.

“Andrew’s the one I’m dealing with at the moment,” said Davies. “I haven’t heard too much about Tom. We know he’s OK and recovering, that’s all I know.”

With Blues two-nil up and cruising against Wrexham, attention on the terraces turned to Wagner and his name echoed around the stadium. ‘Tommy Wagner is a Blue, he hates Villa.’

Wagner would have enjoyed everything about Sunday’s victory over Wrexham.

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