Birmingham City 4-0 Mansfield Town: FLW report as Blues smash League One points record in style | OneFootball

FLW report from St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park

Birmingham City smashed the League One points record with a 4-0 win over Mansfield Town at St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park on Sunday afternoon.

After breaking through the 100-point barrier against Stevenage on Thursday night, Chris Davies' side broke Wolves' 103-point haul that has stood since 2014 against the Stags through goals from Keshi Anderson, Willum Willumsson, Kieran Dowell and Tomoki Iwata.

Mansfield's safety after their first season back in League One had been confirmed courtesy of Saturday's results, but they rarely troubled the champions, who recorded their 32nd win of a remarkable season, equalling a 53-year record set by their cross-city rivals, Aston Villa, as they paraded the title at the end of a resounding victory.

Birmingham City 4-0 Mansfield Town

Backed by an electric crowd, Blues' first chance of the game came inside two minutes as Anderson found Iwata on the edge of the box. However, the Japanese midfielder couldn't add to his fine collection of goals on this occasion, seeing his effort blocked.

Keanu Baccus then looked to capitalise on a rare mistake by the hosts' defence, but John Busby had adjudged the midfielder to have fouled Alex Cochrane prior to getting his shot away. The champions were then presented with two further wake-up calls as Jordan Bowery forced Ryan Allsop into a fingertip save, before Deji Oshilaja powered a header just past the post from the following corner.

Jay Stansfield's first chance to net a 25th of the season came on 15 minutes, with the striker failing to test Christy Pym amid strong pressure from the Stags' defence from yet another Birmingham corner.

Davies' side would then make the breakthrough on 24 minutes as a lovely passing move involving Iwata, Willumsson and Anderson ended with the winger smashing a low drive past Pym for his seventh goal of a hugely productive season.

Plenty of Bluenoses then thought Stansfield added a second just four minutes later, but the record-signing's fierce effort from an Iwata knockdown could only hit the side-netting.

With 10 minutes of the first period remaining, a trademark Cochrane cross evaded Stansfield and Dowell and eventually reached the boot of Ethan Laird. However, the right-back got his connection completely wrong as he advanced into the box.

Six minutes before the break, Willumsson netted his first goal since January 4th as another teasing cross from Cochrane saw Laird force Pym into a fine save, before a tidy flick from Stansfield allowed the playmaker to smash home from inside the six-yard box in what was the last meaningful action of the first 45 minutes.

Unsurprisingly, Birmingham looked to continue where they left off, with Dowell forcing Pym into a stunning save three minutes into the second half as the Rangers loanee lined up a stunning goal-bound drive, before Paik could turn home a Christoph Klarer header as the resulting corner was recycled.

However, the attacking midfielder would have to wait just two more minutes to notch the fifth goal of his loan spell from Ibrox as Anderson found Paik in space, with the Korean given plenty of time to pick out the unmarked 27-year-old who powered his header past Pym.

With the wind well and truly in Blues' sails, Anderson came close to his second of the game 10 minutes into the half, but his toe-poke under pressure fell the wrong side of the left-hand post.

It would be four just 12 minutes into the half as League One Player of the Season nominee, Iwata, finished yet another exceptional passing move, bursting into the box and calmly slotting past Pym after a fine back-heel from Dowell.

It could have gone from bad to even worse for Nigel Clough's side just a minute after the latest restart as strong appeals for a penalty against Calum MacDonald on Ethan Laird were snubbed by referee Busby.

Davies then made a quadruple substitution midway through the half, with Lukas Jutkiewicz given a heroes' welcome onto the pitch as he made his final appearance at St Andrew's ahead of his summer retirement.

The striker's fellow substitutes - Luke Harris, Taylor Gardner-Hickman and Alfie May - then combined, allowing Stansfield to hang a cross up towards the veteran striker, before Harris made his way into the box simultaneously and was caught offside.

It took the East Midlands outfit until the 79th minute to muster their first dangerous attack of the second half as substitutes Stephen Quinn and Ben Waine combined to send Caylan Vickers through, before a shooting opportunity for the Brighton loanee was shut down by Klarer.

The 20-year-old then neatly evaded a challenge from Harris and was afforded space to shoot. But, he could only drag his effort wide of Allsop's right-hand post.

Despite the fact the contest had long gone away from Mansfield, Clough decided to place the experienced Aden Flint up front in the closing stages, with the 35-year-old defender unable to connect strongly enough with a knockdown under pressure from Marc Leonard.

This latest success takes Blues' total to 105 points from 44 games, and they could accrue the EFL's highest-ever points total with at least one victory or two draws in their remaining games against Blackpool and Cambridge United.

FT: Birmingham City 4-0 Mansfield Town

Player Ratings

Birmingham City

Ryan Allsop - 6.5

Ethan Laird - 7 (Gardner-Hickman 68" - 6)

Christoph Klarer - 7.5

Ben Davies - 7.5

Alex Cochrane - 7

Paik Seung-Ho - 7.5 (Leonard 79" - 6)

Tomoki Iwata -8

Kieran Dowell - 8.5 (Jutkiewicz 69" - 6)

Willum Willumsson - 8 (Harris 68" - 6)

Keshi Anderson - 8 (May 68" - 6.5)

Jay Stansfield - 7.5

Unused Subs: Bailey Peacock-Farrell, Grant Hanley

Mansfield Town

Christy Pym - 5

George Williams - 6 (Maris 46" - 6)

Deji Oshilaja - 6

Aden Flint - 6

Calum MacDonald - 6.5 (McLaughlin 72" - 6)

Matthew Craig - 6 (Reed 44" - 6.5)

Jordan Bowery - 6.5

Keanu Baccus - 6.5

Hiram Boateng - 7 (Quinn 72" - 6)

Caylan Vickers - 6.5

Jordan Rhodes - 6 (Waine 62" - 6)

Unused Subs: Scott Flinders, Dominic Dwyer

Birmingham City vs Mansfield Town Attendance

The attendance at St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park this afternoon was 27,920.

Chris Davies reacts as Birmingham City celebrate League One title success in style

Speaking to the media post-match, Davies immediately reflected on the scenes after the full-time whistle, stating: "It was a really special day for the club.

"I was aware it would be amazing no matter what, but we wanted to sign off unbeaten and with a great performance, and we had all that. 4-0, a really good day for us.

"Then the scenes at the end, it's a season's long work being celebrated there. Picking up the trophy and lifting it in front of the fans, the sun was shining on us today, a really special occasion."

When asked if the newly-smashed points total was on his mind in August, the Blues boss responded; "No it wasn't. my mind at the start of the season was win a few games and see how we go.

"Obviously, as we got started and got going, I was aware that's what Wolves had done previously, and it is an incredible achievement.

"I've been saying it and saying it, to get 105 points in a season, people might say 'take it for granted', this isn't something that will be taken for granted.

"It's an incredible achievement to get that amount of points. The consistency they've shown week in, week out. It was our 58th game of the season, 105 points, I really don't think it will get touched again and it's an amazing achievement," Davies claimed.

Davies then spoke about Tom Wagner's post-match speech to the masses regarding the club's exciting future.

"I've always felt, as soon as I got the call and we started talking, this is a club that's going somewhere," Davies added. "I knew it was going somewhere with or without me.

"I wanted to be the one who was leading it, and what Tom said to the fans there, he truly believes. He's been an amazing owner to me, he's given me an opportunity which other owners wouldn't have. But, he believed in me, gave me the opportunity and hopefully I've repaid him."

The 40-year-old was then quick to pay tribute to Lukas Jutkiewicz who played in B9 for the last time, in what was his 357th appearance in royal blue.

"It's one of those things. You could brush over it a little bit. But, nine years and he's seen a lot at this club, loads of managers, ups and downs and all sorts," Davies said of 'Juke'.

"To survive that length of time at a football club, and a big club, is impressive," Davies continued.

"It's not a surprise why, because of the character that he is and he's a goalscorer that was leading the line a lot of the time.

"I was very fortunate to have a good senior player like him. Because, as a manager, one thing I've learned in my coaching career is, to have a chance, you need good senior players. Thankfully, Jukey was here. I was keen to keep him here.

"I'd heard about his leadership skills. For me, a first-time manager in that dressing room, to have a player like Jukey leading it by example, has been a huge part of his success even though he hasn't played much this season."

After the recent 0-0 draw with Crawley, Davies was hoping to see a continuation of his side's mentality, which he believes will continue to the season's end with the biggest EFL record on offer within touching distance.

"Their mentality's been amazing all season," Davies explained. "They've shown it and bounced back a lot."

"But I was intrigued to see how we approached these last games and we had an awareness that we could achieve something that is historic in terms of a points' record at this level.

"Obviously, we did that. That's been a focus for us, but there's an appetite there. It was the same at Stevenage, I thought there was an appetite there to go and compete, do the ugly side of the game and then show their quality when we've got the ball. They did that again today and we've still got two to go.

"Our season isn't over until the whistle blows at Cambridge. There's no need to slow down, I said that to them.

"I don't want them to jog over the finish line, I want them to sprint and then, they have seven weeks to rest and recover," he concluded.