Birmingham head coach Chris Davies insisted he was not worried about Alfie May’s goalscoring after the striker ended a 16-match goal drought in their 4-1 win over Shrewsbury in League One.
May’s late double took his tally to 13 in all competitions after Ben Davies’ first for the club and Ethan Laird gave City a two-goal cushion.
“I was probably like everyone else of a Birmingham persuasion in the stadium in wanting him to score,” said Davies.
“He thoroughly deserved it but I genuinely haven’t been worried about him.
“Even when he hasn’t scored, he’s had chances, and it’s the old adage about getting opportunities.
“Alfie gives us a lot – that was why he was captain when Christoph Klara came off because he gives a lot of leadership skills around the training ground, a lot of energy, and he’s very professional.
“So for him to get two goals and he could have made it a hat-trick near the end will give him a lot of confidence moving forward.
“For the second one, their ’keeper’s big, but he decided to get it around him.
“He will score more goals between now and the end of the season.”
Regarding the game, Davies added: “We started well and were dominant throughout, fluent in possession and quick and aggressive without the ball.
“At half-time the message was to not get comfortable and to keep a good intensity, be consistent, and we pushed on from there.”
Davies gave Blues a deserved lead in the 27th minute, sliding home Kieran Dowell’s curling free kick unmarked from six yards.
Ethan Laird made it 2-0 in the 61st minute, glancing home Marc Leonard’s cross unmarked.
May tapped home fellow substitute Emil Hansson’s cross, again unmarked, after 77 minutes.
And the former Charlton striker grabbed his second in the 86th minute, after rounding Blackman following onto Louis Harris’ throughball.
Substitute Vadaine Oliver headed home Jordan Shipley’s cross for a consolation after 88 minutes in the visitors’ only effort of the game.
Shrewsbury head coach Michael Appleton – in his first game in charge – admitted: “In the first half we had two or three players who almost struggled with the occasion – it possibly looked too big for them.
“But a fair amount of them showed a lot of spirit in the second half.
“They were brave enough to take the ball into areas that they probably haven’t taken the ball into at times.
“I’ll keep asking them to do that because I think it’s the right thing to do.
“I’ve seen a lot of the videos of the goals conceded and it’s been frustrating (conceding from set-pieces).
“So that’s something we will definitely be trying to improve in the remainder of the games.
“Today was a good day to learn about players’ personalities rather than just footballers.”
