Birmingham City continued their fine form as they secured a late 1-0 win at Barnsley last night thanks to another Scott Hogan goal.

The result means Blues have now won three games on the bounce, are unbeaten in nine across all competitions and are just seven points away from the play-off places.

Whilst it wasn't always pretty at Oakwell last night, hard work and a good pass from Jude Bellingham found the in-form Hogan in the box and he superbly found some space before finishing well.

Of course, it's far too soon to get carried away given how inconsistent Blues have been this season but the fans will finally be looking up the table instead of nervously over their shoulders.

Here we look at THREE things we learnt from last night's game...

Scott Hogan is making a real difference

We'll start with the obvious one - Hogan is brilliant for Blues! There was a lot of doubts when the striker arrived from bitter rivals Aston Villa because Hogan has struggled over the past two years.

However, he is the perfect place right now. His partnership with Lukas Jutkiewicz is effective and the ex-Brentford man is scoring goals. He was the exact player they needed in the window and has been the catalyst behind this winning run.

The team is settled now

Additionally, Clotet has finally stumbled across a formation and team that work.

He made just one change last night from the win on Friday and there are partnerships developing nicely all over the park.

As well as the strikers, Jude Bellingham is starring from a wider role whilst Marc Roberts and Jake Clarke-Salter have been solid and there is a good balance to the overall XI.

QUIZ: Can you name these 13 Birmingham City January signings?

They can start looking up

Finally, the team are in a position where they can start looking up.

The play-offs still seems highly unlikely but a seven-point gap isn't beyond reach with 14 games to play.

Regardless of that, on January 31 many were wondering whether Blues would be dragged into a relegation battle but three wins in 11 days has removed those fears emphatically.