Chris Burke is rejuvenated at Birmingham after stagnating at Cardiff

By Scott Johnson on Dec 1, 11 02:27 PM in Cardiff City

At the start of September, I wrote a piece entitled: "Craig Conway is a lot like Chris Burke, only better."

Conway had scored three goals in his first five games and impressed with his early displays in an encouraging, new look Cardiff side.

In his first seven games, he had played 90 minutes four times, 120 minutes twice, substituted after 75 minutes in the other.

In contrast, Burke found himself in the unfortunate position of having to impress a new manager within his first few weeks at Birmingham City, with Alex McCleish leaving for Aston Villa, to be replaced by Chris Hughton.

Birmingham were also haemorrhaging players and struggling to divide their time between domestic and European commitments with the remaining wafer thin squad.

Since making the claim, there has been a complete reversal in fortunes, although Cardiff have continued to impress, Conway's form has dipped significantly, while Burke has gone from strength to strength.

Conway has failed to score in the 14 games since and has been substituted in 11 of those games.

He picked up a knock in the 0-0 draw with Leicester City and missed the next couple of games, but that was at the end of September and you have expected him to have regained form and match fitness by now.

Hopefully, he will return to the level of performance he demonstrated at the start of the season and that this is just a blip. It is possible that he is struggling with the demands of playing so much football, Don Cowie's form has also suffered recently.

With a lack of alternatives out wide, both will have to shoulder the burden until at least January.

In contrast, Burke has featured in all of The Blues' 23 games thus far, appearing as sub twice and playing the full 90 minutes in every other game.

He has also scored six times, chipping in with some vital goals in recent weeks. He netted a late leveller in a 1-1 home draw with Barnsley, plus equalisers in a 2-1 win against NK Maribor in Slovenia and a 3-1 win at Nottingham Forest.

He also scored both goals in a 2-0 win at Bristol City and an injury time winner in a recent home win against Burnley.

Hughton has moved to praise Burke's contribution in recent weeks, explaining: "Chris Burke has such high energy levels and he knows wide play inside out.

"Sometimes teams play tight on wingers early on. But as the game opens up, there's more space -- and Chris knows exactly how to exploit it.

"I know all about him from his days at Cardiff and mine at Newcastle, when we were opponents and I can tell you how delighted I was to see him at Birmingham when I took over here."

In his first full season with Cardiff, Burke was excellent, whether his expiring contract was an issue or whether things had simply got too comfortable or a bit stale, he struggled last term and a change of scenery appears to have inspired an upturn in form.

A big fan favourite, he will certainly be warmly welcomed when Birmingham visit on Sunday.

With Birmingham having already visited Portugal, Belgium and Slovenia this season, they head to Cardiff having returned to Portugal for a Europa League tie on Wednesday, it is certainly a good time to be playing them.

At present, Conway is favoured ahead of Burke at international level, if Craig Levein is watching he will be provided the opportunity to compare and contrast his options, hopefully Conway will return to form to justify his inclusion, inspiring a Cardiff win in the process.

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