On Easter Monday at St Andrew's, Stoke and Birmingham fought to a goalless draw. Despite being the better team throughout, Birmingham were unable to break down an impressive Stoke defense that had kept four clean sheets in six Championship games.
Stoke remain 14th and in contention for their first top-half finish since relegation from the Premier League five years ago. John Eustace's side are eight points clear of the bottom three with six games remaining.
John Ruddy
John Ruddy made an incredible save to tip Tyreece Campbell's long-range strike around the post in Birmingham's goalless draw with Stoke City at St. Andrew's.
Blues had the upper hand for much of the game and should have gone into halftime ahead. But Stoke dominated possession and created several chances, with Peter Crouch and Marko Arnautovic both missing great chances.
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Stoke were awarded a penalty in the second half after Bassong fouled Guidetti and Jonathan Walters converted to level the scores. Blues could have taken control at this point had Krystian Bielik not had his shot blocked on goal by Nick Powell.
Tyreece Campbell
TYRESE Campbell put up a valiant fight against Stoke City and came close to scoring before John Ruddy saved his attempt. The son of former Arsenal striker Kevin is out of contract at the end of this season and Celtic and Rangers are interested in signing him.
In the opening half, 22-year-old Kane was a major threat and forced Ruddy into several saves before blasting an effort wide of the post. Although Potters led 2-1 at half time, Blues created more chances with their feet on the line.
Reda Khadra
On Saturday, Birmingham City began the fight for Championship survival when they faced Stoke City. Although they had won three of their previous five matches, this match against Stoke City proved crucial and needed a victory to stay unbeaten.
A draw was an appropriate result, with both teams situated in the bottom half of the table and eager to secure their place for next season's competition.
On Thursday, Reda Khadra's loan move from Sheffield United was announced and he immediately caused some problems for the Potters with an impressive inswinging cross. With this signing, Khadra replaces Morgan Gibbs-White at the club who returns to Wolves on loan; hopefully he can work well alongside Ndiaye and Brewster in their new roles.
Krystian Bielik
Birmingham City and Stoke City battled to a scoreless draw, guaranteeing Blues their place in the Championship for next season. John Eustace's men extended their unbeaten streak to four matches and extended their point total to 50.
Krystian Bielik had a chance to seal victory for Stoke with five minutes remaining, but Nick Powell blocked his shot on the line. It was Blues' best opportunity of the game and it's unfortunate it didn't go in.
Lukas Jutkiewicz
At St Andrew's, it was a fiercely fought game to a goalless draw as both Stoke and Birmingham battled for their play-off hopes. Krystian Bielik was the only Blue to come close to breaking the deadlock but Jack Bonham denied him.
Jutkiewicz was the hero of the game, scoring his first goal in a Birmingham shirt to cancel out Andy Carroll's opener and move him into the top half of the Championship goalscorers table. He hopes to add further goals when these two clubs meet next weekend.
Ki-Jana Hoever
Hoever was an unexpected addition to the Stoke bench after Lovren suffered an injury. But he showed why their faith in him paid off, displaying his quality centre-half play in the opening 45 minutes of the game.
Birmingham struggled to create chances in the opening 45 minutes. Krystian Bielik had two good chances in the second half, first nodding goalwards from a Bacuna free-kick and then shooting into a defender after a corner five minutes from time.
Ki-Jana Hoever has continued to demonstrate his quality in recent days, scoring three goals in as many games for Stoke. It is truly impressive to witness such attacking prowess come to the fore.
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