Birmingham City vs Bristol City. Sky Bet Championship.
St. Andrew's StadiumAttendance3,107.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Birmingham and Bristol City at St Andrew's as Auston Trusty scored twice and Dion Sanderson added a third for the Blues on Saturday.
Saturday 8 October 2022 19:08, UK
On-loan Arsenal defender Auston Trusty scored his first goals in English football as dominant Birmingham brushed aside Bristol City 3-0 at St Andrew's.
The 24-year-old American scored at the start and end of the first half before on-loan Wolves defender Dion Sanderson added a late third.
Birmingham ended their three-match wait for a victory in emphatic style and extended Bristol City's winless run to five games.
Nigel Pearson's side failed to produce an effort on target as they suffered their heaviest defeat since losing 6-2 at Fulham on January 15 - and only several excellent saves from goalkeeper Daniel Bentley prevented an even bigger defeat.
All the pre-match talk surrounding Birmingham had been about Harlee Dean playing his first game for the club for 320 days after a loan to Sheffield Wednesday and a calf injury.
But instead it was another central defender who made the headlines.
Trusty rose highest to Tahith Chong's corner and Mark Sykes on the line failed to keep his towering header out.
Blues continued to threaten and had two one-on-one chances before the midway point of the first half, with visiting goalkeeper Bentley twice coming to his side's rescue.
First, Scott Hogan put Chong clean through but the former Manchester United youngster tried to dummy the goalkeeper, who was unmoved and managed to smother.
Hogan was next to find himself bearing down on goal after Bentley's long kick had been headed back towards the visiting goal.
But instead of shooting with his left foot, he delayed and tried to turn onto his favoured right foot and Bentley pounced to gather.
However, John Eustace's side deservedly doubled their lead two minutes before half-time.
Trusty stabbed home on the line after his header from Hannibal Mejbri's deep free-kick had bounced off the post.
Unsurprisingly, Bristol City made a triple substitution at half-time, as Chris Martin, Antoine Semenyo and George Tanner replaced Nahki Wells, Tommy Conway and Sykes.
But it was the home side who continued to make the running.
Krystian Bielik flashed a full-blooded volley inches wide from the edge of the box from Chong's corner.
Maxime Colin was denied Birmingham's third goal when his close-range snapshot was blocked by Bentley.
But Sanderson made it 3-0 in the 76th minute, bundling home another Chong corner from a yard out for the 22-year-old's first goal for the club.
Bentley kept out substitute Lukas Jutkiewicz's header from point-blank range from Troy Deeney's cross as Birmingham pressed for a fourth goal.
The hosts did manage to get the ball in the net again, only to be denied for a foul to be given on Bentley.
Birmingham's John Eustace: "He should be on that plane definitely. It's definitely not too late. I've spoken to the US manager (Gregg Berhalter) and I have told him how well he is doing.
"It's important they see that and understand he's playing in one of the toughest leagues in Europe, week-in, week-out, against top players. I think they've watched a couple of games on video but I've told them to get the scouts out and watch him play. He (Berhalter) should come and watch him himself."
Bristol City's Nigel Pearson: "What disappointed me was the way some players out there were invisible. What went right? Nothing. It was a very poor performance. Too many individuals were way, way below the levels of performance we have come to expect. We got a reaction at half-time when we made the three changes but then we conceded another poor goal.
"We know we have some important players unavailable but we have some good players out there who have been pretty good this season who have been invisible. I am very clear in what we showed them - it's not the system, it's mistakes. We didn't show any positivity with our mindset and that's to do with players not wanting to take responsibility. I would prefer players to be visible when they have a bad day. They allowed their fear to impact their performance."
