August Priske has revealed he became Birmingham City's long throw specialist by mistake. The 6ft 5in Dane has been Blues' target man since arriving from Swedish side Djurgarden in January and notched his second headed goal in the Championship in Tuesday's 1-1 draw with Southampton.
However, Priske hasn't been getting on the end of long throw-ins, instead Blues' No.9 has been tasked with hurling the ball into the box from the touchline. The 22-year-old striker admitted it wasn't by design.
Happy accident on the touchline
Blues have been working on set pieces on the training ground relentlessly since the appointment of coach Scott Fry in July. Fry is looking to improve Blues' record from dead ball situations and it's no surprise that a long throw has become part of the team's attacking repertoire.
It is, however, a surprise to see Priske taking them. "I just took one for fun and it ended up being long - now I'm stuck on them," he joked.
Set piece success this season
Blues scored from the second phase of one of Priske's long throw-ins against Wrexham last week and five of their seven goals this term, including Demarai Gray's penalty against Bristol City, have come from set pieces.
Priske scored one of the two goals from open play when he headed home Patrick Roberts' cross to hand Blues a point against Southampton. "It's been a decent start to the season but that first Championship goal is always the most important I think," he said.
"Those kinds of headers are always easy when the ball is as good as it is. For me it's not that difficult to score that one when the delivery is that good."
Doubling his tally
In doing so, Priske doubled his Blues tally from last season and saw the funny side. "It wasn't too difficult to double it, I would say. Hopefully there's a lot more to come."
