Still In With A Shout

The romance of the FA Cup may have been in full force elsewhere yesterday, but it certainly didn’t appear anywhere during the extremely dull encounter between Midlands rivals Birmingham and Wolves at St. Andrews yesterday afternoon, in what was a far from enthralling encounter culminating in a 0-0 draw.

Beforehand we were aware that the game was not a priority for either manager; with Chris Hughton chasing the play-off places and promotion and Mick McCarthy trying to keep his teams’ head above the water in the race for Premier League survival. Therefore both sides chose to play weakened teams, although Wolves’ changes were limited, and certainly had more Premier League quality players in their stating eleven, whilst Blues went for their second string who put up a good fight against their Midlands counterparts.

One of the positive points from the match, along with another clean sheet and our unbeaten home run still intact, was the midfield; Guirane N’Daw and Morgaro Gomis in particular, both linking up well in midfield and the former getting the man of the match award yet again, and rightly so. After taking a while to adapt to the English game, the on-loan Senegal international has won over Blues fans with his no-nonsense tackling and his whole-hearted displays in the centre of midfield. The African Cup of Nations will now mean he misses a handful of games, depending on how far Senegal progress in the competition.

Colin Doyle is another player who deserves praise after yesterday, and it is positive to note that we can call upon a player, who rarely plays, and know we can trust him to put in a good performance. His double save in the dying minutes of the game yesterday sparked the home crowd into rapturous applause for the Republic of Ireland shot stopper, who deserves all the praise he gets after his instinctive saves to deny Wolves passage into the 4th round of the FA Cup.

The return of Roger Johnson was another talking point of the afternoon; the outspoken defender made his first return to St. Andrews and received a mixed reception, mostly being booed by Blues fans. Coming up for a corner in the first half, Johnson was mocked and booed and replying by looking towards the Tilton and shaking his head, as if he expected more from the fans who adored him not even a year previously. I must admit, I wasn’t one of those who booed him, but I did find it funny when he got injured and had to go off; resulting in a famous Roger tantrum: throwing his captains armband off in disgust as he was helped off the pitch, and subsequently taking his frustration out on the away dugout.

The 0-0 draw definitely wasn’t an advert for Midlands football, nor for the FA Cup itself, but the replay suits the home side more than the away side and I am confident we can go to The Molinuex and progress into the next round of the FA Cup. Can we go one better than we did last year in England’s (second) best cup competition and make it to the semi-finals, or maybe even the final, at Wembley?

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly... and the three points!

After a series of defeats a much-welcomed home game, although needed, put pressure upon a team who really needed to start picking up points again. As it usually is in these type of ‘must win’ situations, the game grinded out a result rather than producing a performance full of goals and free-flowing football. But with that being said, points on the board are all that matter and that’s exactly what Blues ended up with, although in true Birmingham style; they left it late.

It was all about getting the right result and to do that we needed goals. Of late we’ve not been hitting the back of the net, and although chances have been created the final touch has been missing. But we were again left ruing our missed chances when a quick counter attack saw Doncaster take the lead, further frustrating Chris Hughton and the fans after we had more than enough chances to go ahead before Marc-Antoine Fortune put Rovers in front.

Yet, credit where it is most certainly due, Blues kept on at it and the equalising goal was testament to their dogged attitude and never say die spirit. The chasing down and harrying of Carl Ikeme and Habib Beye by Chris Burke and Marlon King allowed the former to dispossess the on-loan Villa man, passing straight to King who duly slotted home.

Advantage Blues, and after pushing for a winner they finally reaped the rewards of their hard work just two minutes from time. A superb move saw Burke again set up King who coolly slid the ball through Ikeme’s legs as St. Andrews breathed a sigh of relief and picked up three points which Blues’ performances deserved. The good, the bad, the ugly; the only way Blues know how.

And finally...

The Good
Two goals from a striker, two assists by Chris Burke and a glimpse of that fighting spirit we’ve been missing for a couple of games. Guirane N’Daw especially impressed on his first league start; a real fighting midfielder who doesn’t take any flack.

The Bad
We really need to learn to take our opportunities. Unlike last season, we are now seeing some brilliant build up play – thanks to more attacking-minded wingers – but we just don’t seem to know how to finish the chances. Target practice is a must!

The Ugly
People booing one of our own players. Or player, should I say. I never agree with booing, no matter how bad they as a team or as individuals have played. So people booing Keith Fahey when he came on as a substitute made me disappointed of a section of our fans. I like Fahey. He’s not world class but I’ll defend him because I honestly think he is a good player; he’s neat, he’s tidy and he’ll even get stuck in. Granted you don’t have to get behind every single player but booing someone when they’ve not even kicked a ball is definitely uncalled for and took a bit of a shine off what was otherwise a positive second half. You support the whole team; don’t make someone an exception just because you don’t think he’s not as good as the rest. There’s a reason why first McLeish and now Hughton put him in the starting eleven more often than not.