Blues News: 3 to go
Birmingham City had two games this week: they beat Burton Albion 2-1 on Easter Monday and Stevenage 1-0 on Thursday. Both games were away. The Burton game wasn’t close; the Blues took the lead with 2 goals in the final 3 minutes of the forest half and then cruised to the win, Burton getting a consolation goal deep into second-half stoppage time. Stevenage was rather tighter; it took City until the 75th minute when Alex Cochrane scored a long-range banger with his first touch of the game from distance. Then a fingertip save by Ryan Allsop with just seconds left preserved the victory.
With those results the Blues now have 102 points with 3 games to play and 31 wins in the league season. The 100-point barrier has been broken 16 times previously (all in the 3-point win era). Leeds United and Burnley in the Championship can both end with 100 points which would make this the first-ever season with 3 100-point teams; Leicester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers did the double in 2014.
With that, the Blues can set two new records in the final stretch. The points record will be the easier target: Reading’s 106 points set in 2006 needs just 5 points to beat. The other record is tougher and has stood for 78 years. In 1947 Doncaster Rovers logged 33 wins in the season. If the Blues win all 3 remaining games they will take that one too.
That will be tough given that the games will all be played in one week. Since all the team is chasing are those records, they may not be too motivated and Chris Davies may want to rest his regular starters to avoid injuries (he did at Stevenage already). On the other hand, the opponents will be Mansfield Town (Sunday, 9:00am, Paramount+), Blackpool (Wednesday, 1:45pm, Paramount+) and Cambridge United (Saturday, 9:0am, no US TV). Those teams are 19th, 10th and 23rd respectively. Cambridge is already relegated. Mansfield needs 2 points from 3 games to avoid relegation but realistically only 1 point given their goal difference advantage. Blackpool has a distant chance to make the promotion playoffs, although that may be gone before Wednesday depending on other results (they need to win all 3 remaining games, erase a 9-goal GD deficit and get a lot of help elsewhere).
Blackpool’s chances are effectively zero. Huddersfield Town in 9th are out of the playoffs and Bolton Wanderers in 8th have to overcome a 23-goal GD deficit in 2 games to make it, which isn’t going to happen. Thus there are 6 teams vying for the remaining 5 promotion places. Here’s how the top of the table looks:
Everyone except the Blues has just 2 games left, to be played tomorrow and next Saturday. Wrexham are in the catbird seat right now but holding on to it will not be easy. Their games are against Charton Athletic and at Lincoln City. Charlton are obviously in the chase; Lincoln are 11th with nothing left to play for. Wycombe play at Leyton Orient and against Stockport County. That’s going to be messy. Charlton’s last game is against Burton. Burton are 20th and outside the relegation zone only on goal difference so will not be an easy out. Stockport plays Lincoln tomorrow. Leyton’s last game is at Huddersfield. Lastly, Reading play at Bristol Rovers and against Barnsley. Barnsley are 12th; Bristol are in 21st and challenging Burton for escape from relegation. Burton has a game in hand and a 13-goal GD edge so they needs everything they can get.
So the remaining games affect not just the promotion positions but also the relegation positions. It will be a chaotic and exciting end to the League One season. It’s almost as if the EFL planned it.
