Unpredictable

Last minute goals, victories for the underdog, ridiculous circumstances no one thought would happen. The thing I love most about football is its unpredictability.

This weekend we watched two unpredictable ends to two important games. Wigan scoring in the 90th minute to beat top dogs Manchester City, winning the FA Cup for the first time in their history, followed the next day by the play-off semi-final second leg involving Watford and Leicester. A penalty and the follow-up saved at one end, and ten seconds later the ball in the net at the other end all in the dying seconds of the game.


Last gasp winners. Images: Sky News / Getty Images

It was fascinating to watch particularly the latter unfold. I don’t have any real affiliation to either Leicester or Watford, but I watched the events unfolding before my eyes with the hairs standing up on my arms, because this is what football is all about.

Watching both games made me remember, not for the first time, why I and millions of others are so engrossed in this sport. We go every week for moments like this. The underdogs beating a top team, not only in a competition as big as the FA Cup, but in the last minute to win the trophy like Wigan did is something special.

Being a Birmingham City fan I’ve experienced that moment with my own team; I could never forget Obafemi Martins scoring in the 89th minute to win us the League Cup against Arsenal, nor my first ever European away game against Brugge with Chris Wood scoring the winning goal in added time. And who could forget Stern John in the last minute at Villa Park?

Wembley Winners. Image: The Guardian

These instances don’t happen every week in football. Often you have to wait for wonderful, completely unscripted moments like last minute goals and unpredictable wins, but it’s worth the wait. The tough and grueling games you have to sit through to get there, the losses you suffer, the relegations you go through. The great moments make it all so worth it.

And when you're on the other end of it? I'm sure if you speak to any Leicester fan this week they'll tell you how much it hurts going from jubilation to complete despair. We've all been there, but it's the great moments, when you're the ones celebrating at the end, that make up for the heart break.

Although there will always be the Manchester Uniteds and the Arsenals of this world going for titles and Europe, and the same crop of teams battling relegation every season up and down the leagues, moments like this weekend just show that football is never completely predictable.

There will always be moments of magic, teams who take the script, rip it up and write a completely new one.

And the best thing? It happens in every league, in every competition. Wigan in the 90th minute to win the FA Cup, Didier Drogba equalising in the last minute to take the Champions League final to extra time, Brentford missing a penalty and Doncaster scoring at the other end to send them up as Champions, Martins to win the League Cup, Chris Wood to seal an away victory in Europe, Sergio Aguero to win the league.

Here’s to the teams who do the unthinkable, who threaten the top teams, who ruin bets, break hearts, make dreams come true. This is what makes football the greatest sport on earth.

"I swear you'll never see anything like this ever again"

We've seen Blues on a European tour...

And so the Euro tour is over. After we managed to complete our task at hand, winning by a solitary first half goal from Adam Rooney stooping to meet the inch-perfect cross from Nathan Redmond, Braga, down to ten men after just fifteen minutes, failed to overcome Club Brugge and the pair shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw; which saw both teams through to the knock-out stages.

Our dreams of lengthening our European tour were over, but what a few months it has been. Starting in August, we travelled to the small island of Madeira to play out a fantastic 0-0 draw against C.D Nacional, a game in which we could and should have come out victorious. The return leg saw us this time take our chances and progress into the group stages of the competition, after goals from Nathan Redmond, David Murphy and Chris Wood rightfully saw us 3-0 winners on the night.

Club Brugge, Nk Maribor and last year’s losing finalists SC Braga lay in wait in Group H, and we were brought back down to earth in a 3-1 defeat at the hands Braga in the first group game. It looked to be going from bad to worse in our first away game in Slovenia, when Maribor went 1-0 ahead after a colossal mix-up at the back leaving Colin Doyle and Jonathan Spector both blushing. But strikes from first Chris Burke and then Wade Elliott secured our first victory in the group and our first away win.

We were in away day dreamland again in late-October; a 5,000+ following of jubilant Bluenoses saw their team again go behind, but again come back to win; this time in the most spectacular of fashions. David Murphy got his side back on level terms in the first half, and deep into 10 minutes of injury time after Pablo Ibanez’s head injury, substitute Chris Wood connected with Marlon King’s cross and sent the travelling Blues into delirium. Another away victory, another battling performance… and another city drank dry!

Facing Brugge again in our second home game in the group stages, we faced an uphill struggle after going two goals down in quick succession. But Blues displayed all the characteristics that got them to the group stages: desire, determination and spirit. First came a goal from Jean Beausejour which sparked the come back, and then a Marlon King penalty sealed a point for the blue boys and gave the club a real chance of progressing into the knock-out stages.

Braga, the only team to have taken all three points off us so far, were our next opponents: and it was all going so well. Attacking flair from the off won us an early penalty, but Nikola Zigic failed to convert and we were unlucky to lose by a single goal; courtesy of a long range shot from Hugo Viana which was going wide until a harsh deflection from Curtis Davies meant the ball crept past Boaz Myhill. And the bad night didn’t stop there: Maribor, three-nil up against Brugge, collapsed and conceded four goals in quick succession, meaning that qualification was out of our hands going into the final game of Group H.

And that’s where Blues’ European adventure ended; with a deserved 1-0 win against Maribor. But that doesn’t mean that we should be disheartened. A team – a Championship team – that was cleverly crafted on a shoe string budget by new manager Chris Hughton in the summer, have shown pride in battle getting so far in a European competition. They’ve given us some fantastic nights that will live long in the memory, some dazzling performances that we can all be proud of, and plenty of great goals which we can treasure forever. We’ve all been part of it: from the winning goal in the Carling Cup final to the full time whistle against Maribor last night, and it’s something I’m sure we’ll all look back on and smile at. We entered the competition, an unknown quantity to not only the teams competing against us but to ourselves – after a summer of turbulence seeing players depart and new faces arrive – but we gave it a bloody good go, made some alliances with clubs and fans along the way and at no point did we disgrace ourselves nor become disheartened. And you know what? We even diminished the ‘true blues’ fashion of falling at the last hurdle, by completing our side of the bargain and finishing on a high.

A brilliant adventure that none of us will ever forget. All together now: We’ve all been on a European tour, a European tour, a European tour…

Birmingham's Pride

It’s a strange situation we find ourselves in. Here we are, the end of another game in Europe, having lost 1-0 against last year’s losing finalists. And we’re absolutely devastated because we could have, and really should have, won the game.

The 4-5-1 formation showed we were playing to contain, and for the draw, yet coming out the blocks so fast and starting the way we did was phenomenal. Chris Burke was having a field day on the wing, and within ten minutes, Wade Elliott’s run into the box was stopped by Ewerton and Blues were awarded a penalty that their hard work thus far really did deserve. And then Nikola Zigic stepped up; and my head went into my hands. He is a good player, he does have it in him, but I knew right there that he wouldn’t score because he is not a penalty taker. He doesn’t have a hard shot. And then the inevitable happened and it was back to square one, when we should have been celebrating. The pendulum just wouldn’t swing in the right direction for us. In fact, Ewerton not getting a second yellow after a challenge on Burke should have warned us about what was to come, and remind us that we aren’t blessed with a lot of luck.

From there on out we continued to play with the passion and belief that Chris Hughton has so admirably installed into a team which, at the start of the season, none of us expected to reap such great rewards. And then came the absolute sucker punch that neither us nor Braga deserved, and the deflection off Curtis Davies summed up our luck for the night. But, we were still attacking; Marlon King and Nathan Redmond were brought on to shore up the attack. Chris Wood was introduced later on but still we had no breakthrough, and as the clock ran down time eventually ran out. Chris Hughton’s side had lost for the first time away in Europe during this season’s campaign. And the most devastating news of the night, typically and ironically apt, came just before the final whistle: Maribor 3-4 Brugge after the home side being 3-0 up. It summed up the whole night. Our very unlucky night.

Yet, it sounds like I’m putting the blame on Maribor for losing. We ourselves should have done more; taken our chances, God knows we’ve rued enough missed chances in the past few games. We should have learnt. And now we have one game to qualify, and it’s out of our hands as we will be relying on not just our own result at home to Maribor, but we will be relying on Braga beating Brugge at the Jan Breydel Stadium. It seems like a lost cause, but lest we forget how we got here in the first place: a win against Villa almost a year to the day now; coming from 3-1 down against West Ham to win 4-3; scoring in the 89th minute at Wembley to beat Arsenal; beating C.D Nacional 3-0 in a two-legged qualifier; two away wins against first Maribor and then Brugge where a 99th minute winner sealed the three points. We’ve come a long way in the past year. We’ve been relegated, we’ve lost our manager, we’ve lost our players and our owner is in all sorts of trouble. But amongst all that we’ve won a trophy and we’re playing in Europe. If this is where it ends, in two weeks’ time against Maribor – then so be it. I’ve collected enough memories in the past year to last me a lifetime, but if we were to pull off the unthinkable and manage to qualify then I wouldn’t begrudge another European away day. And you know what? I wouldn’t put it past this team to be celebrating come full time on the 15th December, and I urge every single one of you to get down to St. Andrews for what could be a magical night of European football – and it could very well be our last.

The Magic Of Europe

I guess they call it a game of two halves. Seemingly down and out after going behind by two goals to nil in the first half; Blues’ character and determination ensured they hit the ground running in the second half and pulled off another historic comeback against Club Brugge KV.

Under the kosh for the majority of the first half, Blues lacked creativity and this allowed Brugge to play their fast-paced passing game. In fact, the first time any real noise could be heard from the Birmingham fans was in the 23rd minute of the match; which saw both sets of fans unite once again in a fitting tribute to Francois Sterchele; Brugge’s up and coming star who sadly passed away a few years previous.

No defence splitting passes nor Brazil-esque possession stats were being created by Birmingham last night and as the game wore on it was clear that Brugge were getting closer and closer to their opening goal, which they finally found just five minutes before half time. A corner was swung into the box and Thomas Meunier was given enough time to control the ball with his chest and let it drop before he volleyed it past Colin Doyle in the Blues net. Lackluster defending and failure to close the Brugge midfielder down meant Blues were chasing the game. And it was about to become even more of an uphill struggle.

Blues’ response to the opening goal was to go all-out attack. Unfortunately, this meant they left themselves open at the back, and a quick counter attack by Brugge saw Vadis Odjidja slide the ball into the path of Joseph Akpala – scorer of Brugges’ goal in the reverse fixture in Belgium – who slotted the ball home even though he looked to be offside.

Blues’ European dreams seemed to be falling on deaf ears, but the second forty-five produced an incredible fight back by Chris Hughton’s men. Adam Rooney, pairing Nikola Zigic up front, had an early chance to get his team back into the game early on and the Blues attacking threat took off at a canter from there on out. As the crowd sensed a Blues comeback, the team grew in confidence; with Jean Beausejour and David Murphy working tirelessly down the left wing and the former getting the goal that brought Blues back into the game. Wade Elliott’s cross found Zigic who controlled the ball but failed to get a shot off after a block from ex-Baggie Ryan Donk, and to Blues’ luck the ball fell straight to Beausejour who sweetly struck the ball home to produce an emphatic roar from the crowd. Game on.

Brugge, knocked a little in confidence by the early second half goal, were now on the back foot and it was Birmingham who were taking charge of proceedings. Spurred on by the deafening crowd, Blues surged forward at every opportunity, and free kicks from Elliott and Murphy almost produced equalising goals but fell just short of the target.

Hughton made a triple substitution, bringing on Chris Burke, Marlon King and Chris Wood; which turned out to be inspiring and influential changes. Both teams were now attacking with full force but defending in numbers, and another Blues chance came from an unlikely source. Guirane N’Daw found the ball at his feet 30 yards out and, being urged to shoot by the St. Andrews faithful, unleashed a fierce shot which looked to be going in had it not been for a brilliant fingertip save from Vladan Kujovic.

This fired up the fans in the stand further who sensed an equalizer coming, and they only had to wait a few minutes for the inevitable. Beausejour made a run into the box and was brought down in a seemingly soft challenge. Nevertheless, the referee made no mistake in pointing firmly to the spot: a deafening cheer went up, and Marlon King confidently picked the ball up and walked over to the penalty spot. After discussions between the Brugge players and the referee, King calmly stepped up to take the penalty and expertly slotted home to send the Blues fans into delirium once again. With Brugge shaken, Blues pressed on in search of a winner but even with the attacking threat of Burke and the firepower of Wood they couldn’t manage to find another goal. Nevertheless, coming back from 2-0 down to draw and pick up another valuable point in Europe feels like a win in what was another special night at St. Andrews.

With two games left to play Blues now find themselves on equal points (7) with both Brugge and Braga, but second in the table because of Uefa’s head to head ruling. With a tough test at Braga left to play Blues will have to hope to pick up at least a point before heading into the last game, a home fixture against Maribor, while hoping for the best result possible out of the other final group H game; Brugge v Braga.

But Chris Hughton will surely be able to inspire his team in the next two fixtures, and after picking up a much-deserved October Manager of the Month award, both him and his players will be going into both games full on confidence, and full of hope that they can pull off another two remarkable results to secure a couple more games of European football at least.


Full Time: BLUES 2-2 Club Brugge KV
Goal Scorers: Meunier (39) Akpala (44) Beausejour (55) King (74)
Star Man: Jean Beausejour for his countless runs down the left hand side, his work to win freekicks (no matter how easily he seemed to go down!) his crosses and most importantly his goal which sparked the Blues comeback
Next Up: Reading away - Championship

Brazil, it's just like watching Brazil...

It was possible to get confused Thursday night. Yellow shirts, attacking football: anyone would think they'd turned up to see the South America footballing wizards rather than a team of Bosman signings from Birmingham who, after going 1-0 down, came up with a brilliant fighting performance and a quite unbelievable victory... Well, we can dream that one day we will be as good as Brazil, but what we're doing at the moment is good enough for me.

Due to the ease of getting to Belgium and the affordability, Club Brugge KV was the European away game of choice for many Blues fans: 5,400 in total in the ground and, according to reports, another few thousand watching the game in bars in Brugge. And those thousands of Blues fans went home more than happy, in what turned out to be a brilliant few days and an unbelievable result.

It’s probably worth noting that Brugge had never lost at home to an English team, with Chelsea and Tottenham amongst those who failed to pick up three points in Belgium. So Blues had a mammoth task ahead of them, especially considering Brugge’s record this season has been more than impressive, but coming off the back of three straight victories – two of them away from home – an air of confidence was clear amongst the fans and the players. However, that didn’t mean to say we were sure of victory. Asked many times by barmen and taxi drivers what we thought the result would be: in truth, we didn’t really mind. None of us ever thought we’d see our team in Europe, so a win would be a bonus, especially against a team of Brugge’s caliber.

Blues fans came for the experience. The square on the day of the game from early morning was buzzing. Flags everywhere, beer being consumed and even a game of football with the thousands of fans who were in the square. It was a sight to behold and a nice, good natured beginning to what was to be one of the best days in the life of every single Blues fan who had made the journey across the channel.



The atmosphere continued into the afternoon, and as the game approached the 5,000+ Bluenoses headed on the shuttle buses to the Jan Breydel Stadium. A concrete prison-type building from the outside and not much better once inside, Blues fans filled the away stand and continued brilliant atmosphere from the square earlier on in the day. As the game began the singing continued, but Brugge threatened to ruin the party; and after some very questionable defending from a changed Blues side from the previous game against Leicester, Joseph Akpala was on hand to put Club Brugge ahead just three minutes into the game. It looked to be a long night in store for Birmingham.

After waking up a little Blues began to gather pace and come into the game. Chris Burke particularly impressed in the early stages, getting crosses into the box for the tireless Adam Rooney and Nikola Zigic. In the 23rd minute the whole ground were on their feet, in applause in memory of Brugge player Francois Sterchele who sadly passed away a few years ago in a car accident. All Blues fans had been encouraged to join in and they did just that, in a magnificent gesture towards Sterchele, who was an up and coming star player in the Brugge side before his tragic death.

And Blues were applauding again three minutes later, but for a totally different reason. It was Burke who began the move for the equalising goal half way through the first forty-five, feeding the ball to Wade Elliott who wove through the Brugge defenders and sent a brilliant ball into the box which the incoming David Murphy connected with and made no mistake in slotting it into the back of the net. The already loud Blues fans were sparked into a frenzy, and the away end produced scenes of madness, with no one quite believing that they’d just witnessed an away goal in Europe.

But the best was yet to come. Blues were on the up and chance after chance was being created, with Rooney and Zigic both having brilliant opportunities to put their side ahead. Late on in the second half the front pair, who had worked their socks off all night, we’re replaced with fresh legs in Chris Wood and Marlon King, who both made an instant impact, working together to allow Elliott a shot on goal, firing just wide of the target.

The only downer of the match was the late injury to defender Pablo Ibanez ten minutes from time. A nasty collision left Ibanez on the floor with a head injury so bad it left Guirane N’Daw distraught. Ibanez received a lengthy period of treatment on the pitch which meant an extra ten minutes was added on at the end of the game, and just as the clock was reaching the 100th minute, a moment of absolute magic happened. King picked up the ball and sent the ball into the box with Wood running in. From close range, Wood connected and the ball ended up in the back of the net. The Bluenoses behind the goal went into delirium, fans went flying and players piled in to celebrate with the man who had surely won the match for Blues after, yet again, being in the right place at the right time.


As the full time whistle went everyone went into party mode. The players came over to applaud the magnificent support of the travelling 5,400 and the fans in return congratulated the players who had put everything into the game, with some magnificent performances namely from Burke, Elliott, Zigic and Rooney, as well as the defence who coped with everything the pacey Brugge attack had to offer. For the last two seasons we have been used to battling and hoping to nick a goal; but this current team, even when weakened, still puts in as much of a battling, fighting performance as well as putting everything into the attacking side of play too, and as the game showed: sometimes, it really, really works. You don’t have to have a team full of million pound players to win, after all, you can’t buy passion and fight; something which this set of players really have in abundance.

Brugge fans also stayed behind and videoed the Blues fans, and this youtube video really shows the magnificent travelling support and makes me not only proud to be a Bluenose but grateful that I was there to celebrate a famous victory.

As the party carried on into the night both players and fans celebrated what was a magnificent win, and our fourth win on the bounce: three of them being away from home, two away from home in the Europa League. It was honestly the most brilliant few days of my life and something I will never forget, I just wish I had the money to do it all over again against Braga in November! I’m so glad I got to see my team play in Europe and so happy I got to experience not only a great performance but a win as well. It was worth every single penny at 1-0 down, so at 2-1 up I don’t think any of us could quite believe it: last minute winners are the best ways to win games, without a doubt! I couldn’t have written a better script. This is why I find it annoying when people devalue the Carling Cup, and when teams such as Spurs don't even want to be in the Europa League. Without the Carling Cup we wouldn't be here in the first place, and without the Europa League I wouldn't have just experienced the best couple of days of my life.

Top of Group H. and bursting with pride and, also, confidence. Our Blues are back, and the other night really was just like watching Brazil. Take me back there right now!

First Europe Points

Obafemi Martins in the 89th minute of the Carling Cup Final. With a little help from Wojciech Szczesny and Laurent Koscielny, the Nigerian striker made history with that famous goal and sent us soaring into the Europa League. That’s why we are where we are this evening; in Europe. Winning away.

Against the champions of the Slovenian league we appeared to fare well in the opening stages of the game. Marlon King playing up front caused problems early doors, with his headed shot from captain for the night Liam Ridgewell’s cross falling into the arms of the Maribor shot stopper. In the ascendancy early on Blues found themselves with another great chance, after Wade Elliott’s deep corner found the head of Steven Caldwell, and Ridgewell was involved again however his weak header fell straight to Jasmin Handanovic.
The home side began to get a foot-hold in the game however their attacking threat, although prominent, was handled with well by the Blues back-line and covering midfielders, namely Keith Fahey, with his first start since returning from injury, and Jean Beausejour and Morgaro Gomis who assisted with defensive duties too. But the resurgent defence almost conceded eighteen minutes into the game with goalkeeper Colin Doyle, getting a chance in the side after his impressive display against Manchester City, diving brilliantly to his right to keep the game at 0-0.

But luck was to change for the Ireland-born shot stopper when he failed to clear a bobbling back-pass from Jonathan Spector, playing at right-back in the absence of Captain Stephen Carr. He watched in agony as the ball bounced over his foot and into the path of Dalibor Volas who comfortably slotted the ball home to give the home side an undeserved lead, to give the excellent Maribor fans something to really cheer about.

Severely dampening Blues’ spirits, Maribor played with an air of confidence for the majority of the first half, however they still struggled to break Blues down further. Likewise, the Championship side were frustratingly kept at bay, with Chris Burke’s powerful effort being saved by Handanovic, and Spector’s cross into the box also being saved by Maribor’s goalkeeper. Beausejour particularly impressed down the wing causing problems, but still not being able to cause Maribor any distress.

The second half continued in the same manner with Blues unable to break the Slovenian outfit down. That was until just after the half hour mark, in a fantastic move by the away side to put them on level terms. King slipped a perfectly timed ball into the path of Burke who set off on one of his runs which finished in the ball ending up nestled in the back of the net and the Blues fans going mental to the left of the goal.

Nikola Zigic was immediately introduced for King who up until his involvement in the goal had no joy at all in the second half. The tables were then turned in what was previously a more even game. Blues were playing with confidence again and Wade Elliott almost put the Blues ahead but was denied by Handanovic, who was on top form. But he didn’t give up there. With just ten minutes left on the clock the man who sent Burnely into the Premier League hit a magnificent strike, which crept past the keeper and into the corner of the net to put the determined Blues side 2-1 up.

It was a waiting game then as the clock was run down by the away side, and although the mobile Maribor front line continued to press, Blues remained resilient. Finally, the referee blew the full time whistle and a massive roar could be heard from the one corner of the ground that housed the travelling Brummies. A brilliant turn around, a fantastic away victory… and all in Europe!

Just seven months ago we were cheering a Carling Cup Winning goal, and tonight we cheer three points in Europe. It might be a completely different team with new management, but it still feels just as sweet and still feels just as unbelievable.



Full Time: NK Maribor 1-2 BLUES
Goal Scorers: Volas (29) Burke (64) Elliott (79)
Star Man: They all put a shift in but I was particularly impressed with Jean Beausejour who more than made up for poor performances in previous games Nex Up: Nottingham Forest away - Championship

We're All Going On A European Tour

Fifty years since the last European game at St. Andrews, Birmingham City last night proceeded to the group stages of the Europa League in style, beating Portuguese outfit C.D. Nacional 3-0, in front of a packed out St. Andrews.

Nacional began the game much like the first leg of the tie, showing their stylish passing ability, but it was Blues who went ahead in the fifteenth minute courtesy of teenager Nathan Redmond. Picking up the ball, Redmond skipped through the Nacional defence before shooting from distance, and looked on as his unstoppable shot flew straight into the bottom corner to send the Bluenoses in the stands crazy as their team drew first blood in the two legged tie.

If the first goal didn’t rock Nacional, the second certainly put the tie out of reach after just 25 minutes. It was Redmond again who provided, shooting from distance again to win a corner which was subsequently taken by Jean Beausejour and headed home by David Murphy to put the Blues 2-0 up.

And the most impressive first half display by Blues for a long time wasn’t over yet. Front pair Chris Wood and Adam Rooney both had chances to put their side even further ahead, but the intervention of first Alberto and then goalkeeper Elisson saved Nacional’s blushes.

As the second half got underway, the Nacional keeper was called upon again when Rooney was through on goal, but Elisson was able to save the shot with his legs. In not-so-true Blues nature, the best opportunities were being created by the home side, and they were unlucky not to add to their tally for the night on several occasions. Rooney had a wonderful chance to do so when he found himself one on one with Elisson; with Wood to his left, he chose to go alone and was denied once again by the frame of the Nacional keeper, and the tie remained at 2-0.

After frustrating the Nacional team all night, man of the match Redmond showed his class throughout the game at just 17 years of age, and almost scored again after a brilliant cross into the box agonizingly hit the inside of the post. But it was soon 3-0 to Blues after a delightful move which saw Wood finally get the goal he deserved: Blues broke after Nacional went on an unfruitful attack, with Carr feeding the ball into the path of the on-loan West Brom striker who made no mistake of putting his side three goals to the good, opening his Birmingham City account in a more than enjoyable night at St. Andrews.

Not only was the score-line brilliant but the performance was exceptional also. The stand out performers for me were the three goal scorers: Nathan Redmond, who has the crowed behind him all the way as the wove through the Nacional defence all night long; David Murphy who didn’t put a foot wrong all night and even chipped in with a rare goal; and Chris Wood who has deserved a goal since he came here which he finally got tonight, hopefully we can extend his loan until the end of the season – at 19 he too has a big future ahead of him. The whole team, in fact, deserves praise for giving the fans not only a win, but showing them a style of play that has been unfamiliar to the Birmingham City faithful in recent years. Manager Chris Hughton also warrants applause, and the packed out St. Andrews crowed last night showed him just that; singing his name all night long.


The draw for the Europa League group stages, as you all know, took place this afternoon. After a lengthy procedure and more than enough 'special guests', Blues were placed in Group H along with Braga of Portugal, Club Brugge of Belgium and FC Maribor of Slovenia. The European Tour starts here!

Stalemate In Madeira

Fifty years is a long time to wait for European football, but Birmingham City began their much awaited European campaign tonight at the Estadio da Madeira against C.D Nacional, in the first leg of the play off to gain entry to the group stages of the Europa League.

Chris Hughton lined his side up in a 4-1-4-1 formation, with Liam Ridgewell playing just in front of the back four and Chris Wood starting as the lone striker as he did at the weekend against Coventry.

Admittedly not knowing too much about the Maderia outfit, I was not too sure how much of a threat Nacional would pose and although the early chances were had by the home side Boaz Myhill wasn't tested too extensively, saying that, they would have had a great chances early on were it not for a brilliantly well timed tackle by Curtis Davies, preventing the on-coming danger in the form of Mateus, who was through on goal were it not for the defender's intervention.

The hundreds of dedicated Blues fans who made the journey to Maderia didn't stop singing all night, and almost had something to cheer about early on when Davies - who had a fantastic game - uncharacteristically broke with the ball. With Chris Wood waiting eagerly in the middle, Davies decided to go it alone and saw his shot tipped behind. Steven Caldwell connected with the resulting corner, taken by Jean Beausejour, and saw his header rattle against the inside of the post.

Nacional were on the back foot, and as the game neared half time Blues had the best chance of the game yet, when Chris Wood agonisingly hit the bar from inside the area: Beausejour's freekick sailed into the box and, with the Nacional keeper under pressure from Davies, he flapped at the ball leaving it free for Wood to pounce on who hit the woodwork.

With Nacional making two half time changes - both met by a loud 'WHOOOO?' from the travelling Blues - the visiting side were sent out for the second forty-five with an unchanged side; manager Hughton clearly impressed with what he had seen so far: and he had every right to be. Early on in the second half Wood again came close for Blues; first Nathan Redmond's shot was well saved by the Nacional keeper and, as the save found its way to Chris Burke, he managed to find team mate Wood who saw his header hit the woodwork again! All three involved in the move put in a brilliant shift for their side tonight.

Playing with more urgency in the second forty-five, Chris Hughton's charges appeared comfortable on and off the ball, with Myhill hardly being troubled all game having only a few long distance shots and the odd corner to worry him. Curtis Davies again showed why he is a more than worthy replacement for Roger Johnson with another strong and well timed challenge to prevent a promising Nacional attack.

As the mist descended on the mountain top stadium as the clock struck the hour mark, both sides had periods in which they dominated, but Blues were the side with the major chances, and the side who should have been in front. Winger Burke had a promising run and an impressive shot which looked to have caught the uncertain Nacional keeper off guard, however his shot flew just past the far post.

Blues looked happy with the 0-0 draw and comfortably saw the game out. The same could be said for the travelling Blues fans, who ended the game singing "don't wanna go home, this is the best trip I've ever been on." Surely it is advantage Birmingham City for the second leg, and the group stages look like a real possibility now.


Full Time: C.D Nacional 0-0 BLUES
Goal Scorers: None
Star Man: Curtis Davies - Roger Johnson who?
Next Up: Middlesbrough Away - Championship