Birmingham City picked up their first point of the Wayne Rooney era on Saturday, drawing against Ipswich Town.
Birmingham City went into this one having lost their opening three games under Rooney.
Ipswich meanwhile have been a standout side in the Championship this season and many tipped them to win on Saturday. But after 51 minutes of the game at St Andrew’s, they were 2-0 down.
Jay Stansfield scored in the first half and then a Cameron Burgess own goal put Blues two ahead, though Marcus Harness would score twice late on to salvage a point for the Tractor Boys.
It was still a good performance for Birmingham City and a good return to the side for Ethan Laird, who’d missed almost three months of action.
Birmingham Live rated his performance a 7.5/10, with journalist Brian Dick adding:
“Brought a stability in defence and brightness in attack, his pass in the build-up to the goal was high class. Taken off as a precaution but having made a really commendable return to the team.”
Laird joined on a permanent deal from Manchester United in the summer and has now made four Championship outings for Blues so far this season.
Laird to play a key role for Rooney?
Saturday’s performance was the best we’ve seen under Rooney so far.
Blues looked much better going forward and if it wasn’t for two late goals, it would’ve been a perfect performance all round.
They still claimed a good point though and Laird was impressive on his return to the side; he contributed to Blues’ attacking game positively and put in a good shift in defence too.
If he can stay fit then he’ll give Rooney a very good option at right-back going forward, with Birmingham City looking to build on Saturday’s performance when they head to Sunderland this weekend.
