Back in the January transfer window, Demarai Gray was one of the most sought-after players in the Championship, particularly by Bournemouth, who made a series of offers for the Birmingham City teenager, culminating in a bid reputed to be in the region of £5m.
Each was rejected, with Birmingham insisting that none “reflected the ability and potential of the player”, and, watching him run the length of the field to score the goal that dented Wolves’ play-off ambitions, it was not hard to see why. It was not so much his pace that impressed as his persistence in robbing Scott Golbourne, and the certainty with which he then slid the ball past Carl Ikeme in the Wolves goal to win the game.
Coming into the game on a run of six matches undefeated, the last four of which had been won, Kenny Jackett must have been happy enough to be able to name an unchanged Wolves side, though with an away game to come at Middlesbrough in midweek, followed by Ipswich at home next Saturday, the physical demands on one of the smaller squads in the Championship must be considerable.
Birmingham, by contrast, had won only one of their previous five games, but the remarkable upturn in form that followed the former Blues stalwart Gary Rowett replacing Lee Clark as manager last October, when City were in the bottom two, meant they had long since made themselves safe from the threat of relegation.
Primary objective achieved, Rowett is relying on professional pride, and perhaps more pertinently, the threat of not being at the club next season, to motivate his players. Ten Birmingham players are out of contract this summer, but Rowett said in the buildup to the game that every member of the squad needed to prove they deserved to be part of his plans for next season. He is also taking the opportunity to look at a number of loan players, and Diego Fabbrini, brought in from Watford, made a first start, playing behind Clayton Donaldson up front.
Wolves did indeed look a little leggy in the opening quarter of an hour but Birmingham’s lack of penetration gave them time to work up a head of steam and in the 21st minute the visitors went ahead. Outstanding work by Nouha Dicko, first to dispossess Rob Kiernan with a strong tackle, then to make ground into the penalty area before stretching to pull the ball back across goal, left Benik Afobe the easiest of tasks, and the striker signed from MK Dons in January duly turned the ball past Darren Randolph. It was Afobe’s 30th goal of the season, making him the leading scorer in the country, one ahead of Harry Kane.
The reply came quickly. Kiernan, clearly stung, met a David Cotterill corner and, though his header brought a good save from Ikeme, Kiernan was not to be denied. In the scramble that ensued, the Birmingham full-back Jonathan Grounds clearly forced the ball over the line before it was half-cleared as far as Kiernan, who righted any injustice from close range.
Both sides created chances as half-time approached and, though none were taken, the impressive understanding and interplay between Afobe and Dicko will have made the Wolves supporters the more optimistic during the break.
The second half followed a similar pattern, taking a good 20 minutes to catch fire, but Gray’s fine effort, coming after he picked up a half-cleared corner not far from his own penalty area, ensured a lively final quarter. It was lively and increasingly spiky, on the field and at times between the dugouts, but, despite impressive vocal backing from over 4,000 travelling supporters, Wolves could not engineer an equaliser. The best chance fell to Kevin McDonald, but he fired high and wide after Dominic Iorfa’s dribble into the Birmingham area.
