We Should Be Used To This By Now

A day later and it still feels like we lost. Letting leads slip away from us is something we should be used to after games against Derby and Middlesbrough this season, but you’d be forgiven for thinking we had finally won away for the first time since February when Chris Wood scored in the 88th minute to put the Blues 2-1 up. Evidently, as it always is with Birmingham: it wasn’t as simple as that.

With the opening exchanges labored, chances were few and far between. The host’s first chance of the game fell to Mark Yeates who fired a shot goal wards which he saw tipped over by the fingers of Boaz Myhill. However to the surprise of the home – and away – fans, a goalkick was awarded.

Blues saw plenty of possession in the first forty-five minutes but struggled to create an opening or any chances of note. Nathan Redmond started on the wing again however was marked out the game with two Watford players on him almost all the time. Chris Burke also struggled to create on the opposite wing, and Blues seemed to have travelled to Watford with a lack of ideas.

That, however, changed just before half time when the deadlock was broken by the visitors. Jean Beausejour’s corner found the head of David Murphy who cushioned the ball down to Adam Rooney who knocked the ball into the net from close range, allowing the already loud travelling support to make their voices heard further. It was almost 2-0 moments later but Burke’s headed goal after a long throw from Murphy was ruled out after scorer of the first goal, Rooney, committed a foul on keeper Scott Loach.

As the second half began Blues looked comfortable on the ball but still lacked the threatening, cutting edge. Watford were very much obvious in attack, and the solid Blues defence coped well with everything thrown at them. However after expert saves by Myhill for the majority of the second half, he was beaten by a Marvin Sordell shot from the area after 80 minutes, and after Blues looking so comfortable the score was now 1-1.

Ever the battlers, Blues fought back, and it was Chris Wood who looked to have got the winner with his second goal in as many games. The on-loan Baggies forward received a cutting pass from Beausejour, and made no mistake of finding the net before running over to the jubilant 1,400 travelling fans.

But in a cruel twist, ex-Blue Martin Taylor netted in the 91st minute after Sordell’s shot was palmed back into danger by Myhill, and Taylor was gifted a goal and his team were gifted a point, and the Blues players, fans and management alike looked on in horror as three points became one.


Full Time: Watford 2-2 BLUES
Goal Scorers: Rooney (39), Sordell (80), Wood (88), Taylor (90+1)
Star Man: The fans: didn’t stop singing all game, excellent support
Next Up: Millwall at home - Championship