After Norwich City's regular season came to an underwhelming end at Birmingham's hands, Samuel Seaman looks at six things you might have missed from St Andrew's.
1 - On The Road Again
The collective attention may have slipped away from City's horrendous away form with impressive results against Preston and Stoke, but their loss in the west Midlands brought it to the fore once again.
That record is particularly alarming against teams that struggled throughout the season, with only nine points picked up in their 12 away meetings with the bottom half of the Championship.
The good news is that they won't have to face one of those teams again this term, with only Elland Road left in their list of places to visit.
There remain concerns about the pattern that's developed away from home, however, with each trip outside of Norfolk prompting big questions and major criticisms of David Wagner's tactical nous.
2 - Taking time out
One of the downfalls of statistics is that they can often be used and decontextualized to fit any agenda and further any claim. The prime example of that in the world of yellow and green is Wagner's record of trusting youngsters.
It could be argued that the German has given members of City's academy valuable career experience in the form of a first-team routine and an inside perspective throughout a promotion push; Ken Aboh, Caleb Ansen, Pedro Lima, Guilherme Montoia, Waylon Renecke, Vicente Reyes and Finley Welch have been in matchday squads for more than 3,400 minutes combined.
The rather alarming bolt-on to that encouraging stat, however, is that only nine minutes of actual action have been played by those players.
Suddenly what feels like a positive becomes rather alarming when considering the lack of game time that's meant for those young players in recent weeks, with their development stalling and Wagner's options diminished with individuals he doesn't trust.
Ken Aboh was left on the bench again (Image: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd)
3 - Creating problems
Say what you will about Wagner's tactics, and people did on Saturday, it's hard to deny how freely he's got his side scoring.
Attacking incisiveness has been a key pillar of their rise from 17th in the table to play-off qualifiers, with Messrs Sargent, Sara and Sainz all making more than their fair share of offensive contributions.
The worrying thing is how quickly and painfully that came to a grinding halt in B9, with Birmingham's hollow victory the first time in 17 games that Norwich have failed to score.
It was also the first time they've failed to register six shots in 17 games, and it produced their lowest expected goals value of the season. Surely it doesn't need saying that improvement is needed.
4 - Gunn shines again
It was hard to pick any good performances out of a miserable afternoon at St. Andrew's, but Angus Gunn's performance was a minor positive to take into the season end game.
His denial of Krystian Bielik from all of four yards was perhaps his most impressive intervention of the afternoon, but he bailed the visitors out with a number of sharp clearances and smothers.
His efforts weren't enough on this occasion, but City fans will be pleased to have a key man back on form as the term reaches its enthralling climax.
Angus Gunn impressed (Image: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd)
5 - Two sides of the coin
There may not have been a game that's better summed up Shane Duffy's strengths and weaknesses since moving to East Anglia.
On one side he was impressive, stringing together a series of fine blocks, clearances and interceptions as the midfielders in front of him struggled to get a grip on the game.
When Norwich needed calm in possession and quality to get them forward, however, his familiar shortcomings on the ball came to the fore. Duffy lost it six times throughout the afternoon, his continual failed long balls beaten only by off-colour player of the season Kenny McLean.
Shane Duffy had a contrasting afternoon (Image: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd)
6 - The in-form side
Combine the Birmingham loss with two fairly disappointing draws at home, and it's looked like a pretty drab end to the season. Throw in the fact that their last win ended up coming against a side that lost their next three, and it feels like a pretty poor way to go into the semi-finals.
But the incessant stalling from their play-off rivals actually means Norwich still go into the mini-tournament as the form side.
They are 12th in the short-term table for the whole division, with only six points claimed from their last five, but apparently that counts for a decent amount when there's almost no momentum anywhere in the top half.
The Canaries will start their play-off campaign against Leeds (Image: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd)
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