Bright Osayi-Samuel returned to the Birmingham City starting XI for the first time in seven matches in Monday night’s 2-1 win over Watford. It proved to be a tough evening.
To be fair to the 27-year-old having done reasonably well at the start of the season, the last two months have been disrupted by injuries and a lack of opportunities and seamlessly slotting in for Blues’ best player of recent weeks, Tomoki Iwata, was not easy against two of the Hornets’ better players on the night, Othmane Maamma and Marc Bola.
He really could have done without Giorgi Chakvetadze coming on and compounding the issue for his final quarter of an hour on the field.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the pitch, Alex Cochrane unfussily beavered away, keeping the left of the defence battened down without so much as an anxious moment. It’s been that way for several weeks.
While Iwata has been a thunderous presence on the right, Tommy Doyle has charmed the Bluebirds from the trees in the middle, and Marvin Ducksch has provided the focal point Chris Davies’ team so obviously needed. Cochrane has continued to demonstrate his best ability – availability.
If that sounds like faint praise, it’s not intended to be. Quite the reverse. For the last year following Lee Buchanan’s long-running injury troubles, arguably no player in Davies’ squad has carried a greater burden than Cochrane. At times, there simply hasn’t been any back-up.
Ethan Laird has come in and offered support, but he’s out now. Alfons Sampsted has given it the odd go but hasn’t come close to dislodging Cochrane. Instead, the former Brighton trainee has been left to learn on the job.
His first season at Championship level has been a steep learning curve. Tatsu Sakamoto and Million Manhoef provided a stern examination in defeats to Coventry and Stoke, but he has responded with a quiet and growing authority.
West Brom’s Mikey Johnstone tore Coventry to pieces in the game before Blues went to The Hawthorns, yet Cochrane did well against the dangerous Scot.
Four days earlier against Norwich he was outstanding – a performance lit up by the chip into Demarai Gray’s path that set up Ducksch and the 4-1 rout.
There’s been the piledriver against Millwall, three assists against Preston and Portsmouth and – more importantly – few of the injudicious lunges that peppered his early games at this level.
Just as he did last season, when he made 51 starts, Cochrane has given Davies one less problem to worry about and while others tend to dominate the headlines, it’s the reliable and increasingly assured left back who deserves much more than faint praise.
