The Birmingham City player who wanted to prove a point to Stoke City fans

Birmingham City played their part in an entertaining 2-2 draw against Stoke City at the Bet 365 Stadium.

Blues took the lead through Jordan James, before falling behind to two Tyrese Campbell goals – the first one a bit of a defensive car crash.

However, they kept plugging away and captain Gary Gardner grabbed his fifth of the season to earn his side a share of the points.

Here’s what stood out.

Watching Birmingham City is fun again. It’s been a while but you now turn up at a Blues match expecting them to score and therefore knowing they have a chance of victory.

They have already scored more goals after 33 games than they managed in the whole of last season, when Bowyer came into sort Aitor Karanka’s mess – and in the 2017/2018 campaign, when Garry Monk averted the crisis created by Harry Redknapp and Steve Cotterill.

That’s 15 in the last eight matches and while we’re not talking Fulham levels, Blues managed only six in the eight prior to that. Seven different players have found the net in that time.

The difference? More attacking threat, with the arrival of Onel Hernandez, Juninho Bacuna and Lyle Taylor creating chances and a centre forward putting those chances away.

But there’s also goals coming from the middle of the park. Gary Gardner and Jordan James scored from very similar ranges at Stoke, with latish runs just inside the penalty spot. That’s something Bowyer has been encouraging his midfielders to do more often.

It was perhaps predictable that Ryan Woods would be on top of his game for a return to the venue where he spent three largely unsuccessful years.

And on top of it he has, indeed this was probably his bests showing in a Blues shirt.

The 28-year-old has impressed in recent weeks, since the likes of