Chris Davies insists he had no concerns about Alfie May breaking his barren run after the Birmingham striker returned to the goal trail with a brace in the 2-0 victory over Stockport.
The 31-year-old bagged twice in the first half, the second a typical ‘fox-in-the-box’ close-range finish to end a seven league game drought that took his tally to eight for the season.
His double also maintained Blues’ unbeaten home record and saw them close the gap on the automatic-promotion places to one point with a game in hand.
May struck first in the 26th minute when his low shot was deflected into his own net by Ethan Pye.
Blues winger Keshi Anderson bagged a second assist nine minutes later when he crossed low for last season’s League One top scorer to side foot home.
Birmingham boss Davies was pleased both with May’s return to the number-nine berth – and the partnership he is striking up with record signing Jay Stansfield.
He said: “I’ve never worried about Alfie scoring goals, he’s a natural goalscorer and always will be.
“But particularly the second goal, he nipped in then got his finish and sort of burst into the box. That was a good example of his instinct.
“But two good goals for him and like all goalscorers he’ll be happy and relieved he’s got a couple.
“They seem to work well with Jay just off Alfie a little bit, making his runs from a little bit deeper and then Alfie sort of being dangerous around the box.”
Stockport made three changes at half-time and altered the narrative of the match, allowing Davies to see both sides of his team.
He said: “For us it was a game of two halves. In the first half we had a lot of possession and a lot of control, they were quite passive, 5-4-1, following a template that a few other teams have used against us recently, but we played it really well.
“Then it all changed at half-time. They’ve thrown the kitchen sink at us with three changes. It looked like a different game. We’ve had to show a bit of everything but it was a big win.”
Stockport boss Dave Challinor was happy with the way his team responded after the half-time changes.
“Football is decided by moments and we’ve made two mistakes in the first half that got punished. Second half I am really proud of what we’ve produced,” he said.
“We’ve got on the front foot against a really good team. At half-time we made changes and went in a different direction and got some reward in terms of territory and in terms of opportunities.
“But it’s a difficult place to come and I’m comfortable with losing if we lose in that manner.”
