Birmingham City Player Ratings: Ducksch and Kyogo Star in Sheffield Wednesday Victory

Birmingham City defeated Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 courtesy of goals from Marvin Ducksch and Kyogo Furuhashi Marvin Ducksch and birthday boy Kyogo Furuhashi scored late at Hillsborough to earn Birmingham City their first Championship away win in three months. Blues finally broke bottom-of-the-table Sheffield Wednesday’s resistance seven minutes from time when Ducksch turned home Jay Stansfield’s effort from close range. Kyogo added the second in stoppage time with a neat finish from a tight angle to score his first Championship goal. FOLLOW ON FACEBOOK!All the latest Blues news on Birmingham Live’s Birmingham City FC Facebook page A neat passage of play between the returning Jay Stansfield, Lewis Koumas and Patrick Roberts resulted in the first opening of the match. Koumas teed up Roberts but his goal-bound shot was well blocked. Stansfield forced the first save of the evening from Murphy Cooper soon after. Ducksch found him on the penalty spot but Stansfield’s effort was tipped behind by the Wednesday goalkeeper. Wednesday had their moments and Barry Bannan went close to a spectacular opener. The ex-Aston Villa man unleashed one of his trademark drives from the left and it whistled over the crossbar. The longer the half went on the more Blues’ performance started to grate on the 4,000-strong away end. This was supposed to be the day in which their away woes were forgotten, but beleaguered Wednesday finished the first half the stronger and gave Chris Davies work to do at half-time. Wednesday were the width of the post away from taking the lead when Bailey Cadamarteri got in behind and side-footed an effort onto the woodwork. Replays showed Phil Neumann got a crucial touch on the shot to keep Cadamarteri out. It sparked a response from Blues who went straight up the other end and worked Cooper twice in quick succession. Ducksch punted a shot straight at the goalkeeper on the turn before Tomoki Iwata’s fierce drive had to be beaten away. Cooper would have been helpless to prevent Neumann from giving Blues the lead had the German made a better connection with Kai Wagner’s right-wing free-kick. The Wednesday goalkeeper, who only joined last week on an emergency loan from Queens Park Rangers, produced a brilliant double save to keep out Ducksch and Iwata from close range as Blues upped the ante. Jhon Solis was summoned from the bench for his debut with 23 minutes to play and Kyogo joined him. The deadlock was broken in the 83rd minute thanks to Ducksch. Wednesday failed to clear their lines and Stansfield’s shot was turned in by Ducksch from close range. Blues bagged a second through Kyogo in stoppage time and every Blues player raced over to celebrate with the Japanese striker after he ended his long wait for a Championship goal. All that remained was to see the game out and Blues did so with their first clean sheet in 15 matches. James Beadle 6 A quiet evening for the ex-Wednesday loanee and a first clean sheet since November. Tomoki Iwata 6 Some of Iwata’s passing in the first half left a lot to be desired but he raised his game after half-time and twice went close to beating Cooper. Phil Neumann 7 For the second game in a row, Neumann made a crucial last-ditch block to prevent a goal. Christoph Klarer 7 Solid in the air and composed on the floor at times to lead his team to a vital three points on the road. Kai Wagner 7 The left-back quickly got to grips with Valery and teased in some great deliveries in the second half that caused chaos. Tommy Doyle 6 Doyle was tidy enough in possession in the main but he didn’t do enough to trouble Wednesday’s midfielders or back-line. A player with Doyle’s range of passes should have been able to pick off a makeshift Wednesday defence. Paik Seung-ho 6 Paik kept the ball moving and Blues eventually wore Wednesday down. He got the nod over Doyle when Solis came on which maybe gives an insight into Davies’ thinking. Patrick Roberts 6.5 Roberts roamed in the second half in search of space and played his part in Blues’ victory. There were some great combinations with Iwata down the right. Jay Stansfield 7 Far from vintage Stansfield but he will get an assist for Ducksch’s goal and looked as likely as anyone to make something happen for Blues. Lewis Koumas 5 A big step backwards from Koumas after some encouraging recent displays. His touch was poor and Valery got the better of him. Marvin Ducksch 7 Ducksch might not score a more important goal this season. A well-timed run and a simple finish finally got the ball rolling for Blues in Yorkshire. SUBS Jhon Solis (for Doyle, 67) 6.5 The Colombian used his long legs to great effect to eat up the ground and stop counter-attacks. A positive debut. Kyogo Furuhashi (for Koumas, 67) 7 Wasted his first chance but clinically put away his second in front of a packed away end. That’s more like it! Scott Wright (for Stansfield, 88) N/A Willum Willumsson (for Ducksch, 90) N/A