'By the time he leaves' – Chris Davies lauds 'under the radar' Birmingham City star
03/19/2025 06:27 AM
Birmingham City boss Chris Davies has picked Alex Cochrane out for high praise amid his impressive ‘under the radar’ displays.
Birmingham City have seen this season go exactly to plan. A huge overhaul of the BCFC playing squad was undertaken in a bid to return to the Championship at the first time of asking.
The money spent and calibre of the players brought in by the Blues had many backing them to cruise to the League One title. As it stands, they are top of the table and 12 points clear of 2nd place with a game in hand having lost just three times all season.
Big names like Jay Stansfield, Christoph Klarer, Tomoki Iwata and more have taken the headlines at St. Andrew’s, but head coach Chris Davies has picked out ‘under the radar’ left-back Alex Cochrane for high praise.
Speaking with Birmingham Live, Birmingham City boss Davies said the summer signing ‘deserves a huge amount of credit’ for maintaining such high levels across a demanding season.
The BCFC chief said that when Cochrane comes to the end of his time at the club, he will be fondly remembered as ‘a real fans’ favourite’.
“Alex is a great example in this role he’s got as left-back,” the Birmingham City head coach said.
“Sometimes he stays, sometimes he joins in, sometimes he’s passing it more, sometimes he’s running more. He has a great understanding of when to do those things now against different types of wingers.
“I think he deserves a huge amount of credit. He will always go under the radar because he won’t score the goals or have the glamour moments, but he’s played well over 3,000 minutes already.
“He very rarely gets beaten one-v-one, he’s a very good passer, but to last the games he has done is exceptional. There aren’t many who could just go game after game after game.
“By the time he leaves this club he will be a real fans’ favourite and one they will be very fond of.”
A Birmingham City ever-present
Cochrane might not have been one of the more exciting Birmingham City signings last summer. However, it must be said that he was impressing in the Scottish Premiership with Hearts and arrived as one of several players above Legaue One calibre.
That said though, perhaps he didn’t expect to have such a prevalent role. The former Brighton & Hove Albion youngster was expected to battle with Lee Buchanan for the starting berth.
However, Buchanan has had an injury-hit campaign and is set for a long while out yet. As a result, Cochrane has played 44 times for BCFC across all competitions, totalling a massive 3,730 minutes with plenty of football left to play.
Seeing out the title bid
Birmingham City are in a very comfortable position at the top of the League One title. Promotion is a certainty, and they will almost certainly lift the league winners’ trophy at the end of the season.
Davies and co won’t want to rest on their laurels though. They will be eager to end this season as one of the best to ever do it in League One.
International call-ups have seen this weekend’s game against Stevenage called off. As such, the Blues return to action against Shrewsbury Town this weekend.
The Shrews are bottom of the table and winless in six, but they beat BCFC 3-2 back in November.
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