Birmingham entered this fixture looking for their first win of the season. Despite the delayed kick off, Birmingham came out of the blocks flying and took control early on. They made the pressure count with a goal in the 5th minute, after good inter-play down the right wing.
The minutes that followed were more equally battled with Stirling generating a few chances that maybe should have been put away. Birmingham then made it 2-0 in the 15th minute with a fantastic individual effort from outside the box into the bottom right-hand corner.
The Lions continued to pile the pressure on with quick passing and movement that Stirling simple couldn’t handle. Then in the 25th minute the referee made an interesting decision to give Birmingham a penalty for a light shove in the box. This was converted to make it 3-0 to Birmingham.
Less than a minute later Stirling’s frustration really began to tell when the ball was won back straight after kick off. Birmingham moved it quickly into the box where the Stirling centre-back committed a blatant foul, meaning another penalty for Birmingham that was coolly slotted back into the top left-hand corner.
All that meant it was 4-0 with just 35 minutes gone. On around the 40th minute Stirling managed to get one back from a corner with a free header in the box. The one error in an otherwise flawless defensive display.
Then just before half time Birmingham found their fifth through some individual brilliance from the striker. It came from a simple clearance by the Birmingham keeper, and the striker managed to turn his defender, beat two men, cut inside and smash it home into the bottom right hand corner from outside of the box.
The second half was far more quiet in terms of goals, as Stirling came out and looked up for a scrap with some feistier challenges coming in.
The general pattern of play however was much the same as Birmingham continued to dominate possession.
On around the 55th minute Birmingham pieced together another lovely fluid move down the right hand side which ended in a fantastic ball along the floor into the box leaving the striker with a simple finish.
The Lions rounded off proceedings with more combination play down the left hand side. The Birmingham centre back found himself in unfamiliar territory out on the left hand side but managed to deliver another fantastic ball in again leading to an easy finish.
A dominant and assertive performance that really demonstrated the teams potential. Hopefully they can take this performance and push on in the league.
