Birmingham City have simply struck gold with £30k-a-week star | OneFootball

A summer reunion with Demarai Gray is certainly benefiting Birmingham City at present

The past week couldn't have transpired much better in the eyes of Birmingham City supporters.

After a run of three wins in five Championship outings prior to the November international break, Blues finally unveiled their new 'Powerhouse' stadium plans to the watching world, before marking their official 150th anniversary fixture against a lowly Norwich City side - now under Philippe Clement's management - in style with a 4-1 success at St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park.

Putting four goals past both Portsmouth and Millwall on home turf earlier in the month made many outsiders stand up and take notice of the firepower at Chris Davies' disposal after several prior outings which displayed a complete contrast in a rather negative light.

Despite suffering a narrow defeat to promotion-chasing Middlesbrough on November 8th, there was, unsurprisingly, expectation of a return to winning ways against a side winless since August 30th.

The tone for achieving such exploits was certainly set from the very beginning in B9, though, with several of Davies' squad impressing throughout the 90-plus minutes as braces from both Marvin Ducksch and Jay Stansfield saw the West Midlands side rise into the top 10 at the beginning of the second-tier's latest three-game week.

Yet, whilst the striking duo will receive many of the plaudits and headlines, another star performance against the Canaries showcased exactly why Blues struck transfer gold in the summer through a reunion with Jamaican international and academy graduate, Demarai Gray.

As previously mentioned, Blues signalled their intent right from the off, with Gray testing Vladan Kovacevic inside the first minute with a low drive, before registering his first assist at St. Andrew's this season as Ducksch opened his account for the club after tapping home a low cross from the 29-year-old.

The one-time Premier League winner's speed of thought was then showcased through an exquisite flick-on from Marc Leonard's pass which, in turn, allowed Tomoki Iwata to pick out Patrick Roberts ahead of the winger's assist for Stansfield's first of the afternoon inside 21 minutes.

Gray, who is said to earn £30k-a-week at St Andrew's, continued to toy with the likes of Jack Stacey throughout his 73-minute performance, going close to a third goal in as many games after finding target against Millwall and Middlesbrough recently with a low shot just after the interval which followed another neat exchange with his partner on the left flank, Alex Cochrane.

Unsurprisingly, though, it was the Brummie's awareness to nip in ahead of Kenny McLean and play an inch-perfect pass through Shane Duffy towards Stansfield which allowed the England Under-21 international to lift the ball - with the minor thanks of the crossbar - over Kovacevic and into the Tilton net to round off the scoring after 54 minutes.

Indeed, after a rather mixed start to his return with last season's ambitious League One champions and his boyhood club amid prior injury niggles, the 29-time international has proven to be a major coup for Birmingham, who reunited with the Frankley native in July after striking a free transfer with Saudi Pro League club, Al-Ettifaq.

Demarai Gray will hope to continue fine Birmingham City form against West Brom

After an inconsistent start to the season amid pressure of an immediate promotion bid, Gray, like many, has referenced how Blues have "clicked" into gear of late, and he will hope that continues on Wednesday in a local derby against West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns.

With two assists and a fine all-round performance before sitting out the final 17 minutes in place of Keshi Anderson, the only thing missing from the experienced winger's performance was a fourth goal of what is now becoming a fruitful return to St. Andrew's.

Albion, of course, are one of several sides also vying for a play-off place, albeit Ryan Mason is starting to come under even further scrutiny in B71, particularly after seeing the Baggies let a 2-0 and a highly commendable performance amount to nothing against Coventry City on Saturday lunchtime, with Jayson Molumby seeing red before the Sky Blues completed a swift three-goal comeback at the CBS Arena.

Mason's men have also only kept two clean sheets since August, with those coming, ironically, against Norwich and the league's bottom club, Sheffield Wednesday, meaning there will be plenty of encouragement for Gray and his attacking colleagues to add to such woes on Wednesday evening, with there a clear pathway for Blues to continue rising towards the Championship's top-six, depending on results.