Birmingham won their fifth league game of the season last Friday as Odin Bailey's 89th minute winner was enough to get past Jonathan Woodgate's resilient Middlesbrough.
The young Birmingham star was subbed on by Pep Clotet on the 83rd minute and within six minutes, he found himself meeting Dan Crowley's cross at the back post to beat Middlesbrough goalkeeper Darren Randolph who had been excellent all night.
Bailey may have come through the ranks at Birmingham but it was a two-month loan spell at Gloucester City that really made him into the player and person that he is today.
It was Torquay academy coach Chris Todd who took the chance on the young lad when he was manager at Gloucester City and he sat down with Birmingham Live and told them about having Bailey at the club.
Todd said, “When I took over they hadn’t won for a month, they were in a situation down the bottom of the league scrapping for any point whatsoever,”
“I just felt we needed a bit more quality so I contacted Birmingham and said ‘What players do you have available?’
“They sent me footage and when I saw Odin it made so much sense, the quality I could see I knew he would be someone we could use.
“It was kind of a no-brainer - they wanted to get him game time, he had been around the first team for a few years, or been told that.
“No disrespect, you do worry when you get a lad from an academy, I could see what quality he had but until they turn up you just don’t know about their attitude.
“He came in and what I loved about him was in his head he wanted to play and be a first team player, wherever that may be. That was striking straight away.
“Sometimes they get found out if they don’t really want to be there, that can happen with Under 23s, they would rather be wrapped in cotton wool and not pushed out of their comfort zone.
“He didn’t have that. I had a quick chat with him, he seemed a lovely kid and I said ‘Look, I will give you opportunities, you will play’.
When the young lad from Birmingham turned up Todd expected a bit more from him at the beginning, telling Birmingham Live,
“At the start he played and to be honest he did OK, nothing brilliant, if I am honest I was expecting more.
“I dropped him or took him off for a game and he was disappointed, so gutted and I think really it just triggered something in his head to think ‘I am not going to get anything easy’.
“It is completely different because the lads he was playing with had to work in the day then come to training and I think he saw that and thought to himself ‘You know what, I don’t want that, I want to be a pro’
The Verdict
Odin Bailey is an example of how dropping into non-league can be good for a lot of players.
Not only does it give you valuable game time but it is a completely different style of football.
In the lower leagues with a team who is struggling, players learn to scrap for points and hard work is key to grinding out results.
This can benefit them when they return to their clubs in the Football League because it helps them to work hard and this has proven in Odin Bailey's case as he has got his chance and taken it.