McAuley, though, praised the goal-poaching abilities of Finnish forward Dalla Valle – who hit his 16th and 17th goals of the season – and also the skills of Londoner Amoo, who terrorised the Birmingham back-line in the first 45 minutes.

McAuley added: "We were fortunate with the second (goal), with a bit of a misunderstanding with the goalkeeper, but Lauri is an opportunitist. He picks up on situations and he has taken the goal very well even though it may have been presented to him, he latches onto that situation quickly and puts the ball away.

"The first goal was similar in that he latches onto a situation in that position and that angle where he has got a chance of scoring which he did.

"It was also a good goal from David Amoo, so there were three well-taken goals. In the first half there was a lot of decent stuff where we got to the byline and pulled it back and could have scored three or four more, with a bit of luck and but for some good goalkeeping.

"David Amoo took his opportunity to go one-v-one in and around the penalty area and was a consistent threat to them in the first half. He created opportunities to score for others and for himself. We needed him more in the game and more of a threat down the right in the second half, but we didn’t really pass the ball well enough to get the ball out to him on a regular basis. That is something we need to work on."