It was a pretty much a familiar refrain from Blues at the Hawthorns.
They came away from the derby at West Bromwich Albion reasonably satisfied with a point from a 1-1 draw.
The pattern of the match followed many on their travels.
Blues fell behind to an untidy goal by Alex Mowatt, scored in the 12th minute from a second phase after a long throw. His shot deflected off Phil Neumann’s dangling foot and left James Beadle stranded.
Chris Davies’ side took a while to right themselves and get a foothold. In that opening spell Albion were the more dynamic side.
Once they began to exact control and grew into the game, Blues were the team on the front foot and probing.
Albion are a Jekyll and Hyde outfit – their second-half drop-offs are well known.
Blues became more imposing after the break and an equaliser seemed on the cards, albeit Albion on their own patch are defensively strong.
Marvin Ducksch’s deft glancing header from Tommy Doyle’s free-kick into the area in the 78th minute did the trick.
That restored parity. Blues might have snared a winner, whilst Albion pointed to breakaway moments – that were very well defended by a racing back Jay Stansfield and Christoph Klarer – these only came about due to Blues losing possession when camped in the hosts’ final third.
There were penalty shouts for both teams – if either were given it would have been harsh – and in the end a draw was perhaps the fairest result.
Certainly, in some elements Blues weren’t quite with it. Ducksch, for example, was having an insignificant night until his goal.
And Davies waited longer than usual to throw on substitutes, who might have added fresh impetus. However, the way the game was panning out, the manager was caught in a twist or stick scenario as Blues were turning the screw in search of a goal.
If there’s one thing about Davies, his assessments post-match are always accurate and tell a balanced view of proceedings, as below.
Paik Seung-ho’s earlier than expected return from a shoulder injury was welcome for Blues, but the machine that is Tomoki Iwata collected his fifth booking of the season and is now suspended for Monday’s visit of Watford.
As highlighted at the Hawthorns, Blues need to eradicate sluggish starts on their travels.
They have conceded the first goal in eight of their nine matches on the road.
And tellingly, the average time is on or before the 22nd minute.
Obviously, chasing a game on someone else’s turf is always going to be more demanding than not.
Blues home versus away record makes for sobering reading, as do some key statistics below.
Still, there have been encouraging signs in their away performances of late and there is an acceptance from within that for all the possession and chance and shot creating actions, Blues need to make it pay.
- At home, Blues have scored first on seven occasions and conceded the opener just once.
- Away, they have conceded the first goal in eight of nine matches.
- Blues have scored six away goals – the joint worst tally in the division.
- Their shot conversion rate away is just seven per cent.
- Blues are averaging 2.13 points per game at home and 0.89 away.
- They sit a lowly 21st in the Championship’s away table – and in the top three at home, with a 63 per cent win ratio.
- Matches played at home have accounted for 68% of Blues’ total points and 76% of the goals they have scored so far this season.
- Blues have spent on average 52.1 minutes trailing away from home and 31.6 minutes level; at St. Andrew’s those figures are 9.4 and 37.8 respectively.
