Jesse's Goals

It was a day that Jesse Lingard will never forget, as he bagged four goals on his debut for Blues against a hapless Sheffield Wednesday side, who stay just outside of the relegation zone on goal difference, after losing 4-1 in a bizarre game at St. Andrews.

It was a shaky opening to the game for Blues, who struggled to keep the ball early on. Playing the 3-4-3 system that was employed in the unfortunate loss at QPR, Clark's men struggled to get a foothold against a physical Wednesday side. It wasn't until 20 minutes in that Blues got a proper hold on the game. David Murphy, playing for the first time in 10 months, found Chris Burke with an exquisite pass. Burke drifted past Reda Johnson and fired off a left-foot shot that Kirkland palmed away, but only into the path of Lingard who found the roof of the net.

Shortly after, Blues put some real pressure on Wednesday's defence, which included ex-Blues defender Roger Johnson. Green ran on to a long ball that the defender failed to deal with but Kirkland was out quickly to deny him. He then headed away a corner which fell to on-loan attacker Lingard. He struck a powerful half-volley which skipped off the turf and forced a wonderful save from Chris Kirkland. Kirkland was helpless to stop Lingard 2 minutes later however, after he raced onto a pass from Wade Elliott. Through on goal with only the 'keeper to beat, he opened up his body before coolly slotting underneath the sprawling 'keeper.

Wednesday looked shaken - the pace of Green and Lingard along with the dribbling of Burke up top was causing problems. Under-fire boss Dave Jones tried to rectify this by bringing on Albanian giant Atdhe Nuhiu, but it was to no avail. . Not long after, Johnson played a pass into the feet of the unmarked Lingard, 25 yards out. He turned, and as no defenders closed him, he dribbled towards the edge of the box before drilling a powerful effort into the bottom right-hand corner of the net. Blues fans were in disbelief, as Lingard became an instant hero. Wednesday fans sat also in disbelief, at just how awful their side was playing. The introduction of Nuhiu had made them even worse, somehow, as he comically plodded around, without adding anything to the game. Luckily for him, but not Wednesday, Reda and Roger Johnson looked even worse. Roger Johnson nearly gifted a goal to the impressive Matt Green, as he passed him the ball whilst he was on the floor, but Green couldn't find the target.

After a chorus of 'you're not fit to wear the shirt' from their own fans, Wednesday trudged out for the second half, but in all reality it didn't get much better. Just after the break Burke continued Reda Johnson's torrid afternoon, escaping his attention once again, before pulling the ball back to Lingard, who swept home from about 8 yards.

Wednesday were all but dead and buried, resorting to fouling and hoofball, whilst the Blues fans sang the name of their new hero. Credit where credit is due however - the Wednesday fans tried their best to enjoy themselves but their team gave them little to sing about until 5 minutes after the hour mark. Clark and Randolph will be disappointed to not keep a clean sheet, after a Kamil Zayatte glancing header found the back of the net. Wednesday rarely looked like scoring other than that though, as the game fizzled out. Nuhiu's only real contribution to the game was to gift Shane Ferguson with a great chance, but he sliced his shot wide of the near post.

Credit must go to Clark for spotting and bringing in Lingard on loan and playing a system that worked, but Wednesday were truly awful. Murphy was fantastic on his first game back and might be the player we've been missing. My final ratings:

Randolph - 6
Spector - 6
Bartley - 7
Burn - 7
Robbo - 7
Murphy - 9
Adeyemi - 8
Elliott - 6
Burke - 8
Green - 7
Lingard - 10

Lovenkrands - 5
Ferguson - 6