Blues News: a split week

Last Saturday the Blues came out 1-0 winners over second-place Wycombe Wanderers. Taylot Gardner-Hickman scored in the 21st minute and the team rode that goal and a Wycombe red card at the end of the first half to the victory. Wycombe were held completely at bay and didn’t get a shot on target until the very last play of the game. 

The Blues did suffer a loss in the game though; keeper Ryan Allsop got caught up in his own net and hit his head on the rear of the frame. That kept him out of the lineup for Tuesday’s game against Bolton Wanderers. Emil Hansson scored in the 23rd minute but Bolton were able to put 3 goals past Bailey Peacock-Farrell – who is fast becoming enemy number one among City fans – for the win.

Wycombe beat Burton Albion 2-0 the same night. The result of all that was that City is now 9 points clear at the top with a game still in hand. Wrexham drew 0-0 with Bolton and beat Huddersfield 1-0 last week, and the 4-point week for Bolton against teams above them in the table means they are now just a point behind Huddersfield for the final playoff spot.

The Blues have yet another double-game week coming up. They play Lincoln City tomorrow (9:00am, no US TV) and Stevenage Tuesday (2:45pm, no US TV), both at home thankfully. Lincoln are 12th and Stevenage 11th. Wycombe plays at Peterborough tomorrow but is off in midweek, so that game in hand will get used up. Wrexham plays Rotherham and reading this week so will stay one game ahead and next week there is another big showdown as Wycombe and Wrexham play each other. With the two teams currently separated by just 2 points the next 8 days are going to be huge for the standings.

A much-rotated lineup is expected for tomorrow. Ryan Allsop is likely still out but there is a possibility of an earlier-than-anticipated return for Jay Stansfield in place of Alfie May. May has been struggling in front of the net lately despite starting the season on a tear. He hasn’t recorded a goal in 516 minutes and 9 appearances since notching a brace against Wigan Athletic on January 4th.