A Fruitful Easter

Taking four points out of a maximum of six over Easter weekend sees Birmingham in a healthy position, but you can’t help but think it could have been more had they just managed to hold onto the lead at West Ham yesterday evening.

Saturday saw Crystal Palace visit St. Andrew’s and become the next victims of Chris Hughton’s terrific attacking side. After a disjointed start the home side finally got a hold on the game and it took them just twenty-one minutes to break the deadlock. Picking up the ball outside the area, Chris Burke cut inside and produced a fine shot that curled into the net. The front runner for player of the season also has a handful of goal of the season contenders too, after adding this fine effort against Palace to his tally of impressive long range goals.

Just over a minute from the restart and Blues were two goals to the good; Burke was involved again, this time provider for Keith Fahey whose superb looping shot left Julian Speroni helpless as the ball smacked the post before crashing into the back of the net. On fire Blues looked to be going on to score more, with the Palace defence unable to cope with the attacking display being put on by the St. Andrew’s outfit.

And there wasn’t long to wait before Blues found the back of the net again as just ten minutes after Fahey’s goal they were at it again; this time David Murphy the scorer, who found the back of the net for the third time in as many games to put his side three goals to the good.

Palace then scored an impressive goal of their own just before the break, with Owen Garvan reducing the deficit for the Eagles just before the half time whistle was blown.

After what was arguably the best first half performance we have witnessed from Blues this season, the second half started with the visitors having the upper hand, with Blues taking their foot off the gas momentarily with an important game away to West Ham on Monday in mind.

Jordon Mutch came close to putting the Blues out of sight when his free kick was chested over the bar by Speroni, but the score stayed at 3-1 for the third game in a row and put a nice cushion between Blues and the play-off contenders below them.

No time to rest as Blues headed to the Boleyn Ground for an all-important game against West Ham, in which the home side realistically needed to win if they were to keep up their push for automatic promotion. As such it was the Hammers who began the game with impetus, leaving the visitors no choice but to defend for their lives, barely able to get out their own half in the opening stages of the game.

Yet it was Blues who took a surprise lead just before the half hour mark. After coping resiliently with the Hammers pressure, the visitors mounted an attack with culminated in a fine long range effort to add to their increasing tally of impressive goals. Jordon Mutch found the ball at his feet 25 yards out and managed to fire the ball past Robert Green who didn’t even move.

A shock to the system for the home side and a real boost for Blues who have been so clinical of late. Just three minutes later, Marlon King found himself one on one with Green and doubled Blues’ advantage, sending the Blues players wild and the travelling Bluenoses at the other end of the pitch into delirium.

There was time for West Ham to get back into the game though, with Ricardo Vaz Te scoring a header from a corner just before half time. But just as they did in their last game away from St. Andrew’s, Blues responded just moments later by increasing their goal cushion once again; as Chris Burke’s scuffed shot from a corner managed to find its way into the back of the net to send Blues in at half time with a 3-1 lead.

The second half pressure from West Ham was expected, and it was only a matter of time before they got back into the game. Carlon Cole, after an impressive second half performance, took advantage of the space given to him inside the area and was able to control and pick his spot before duly slotting past Boaz Myhill.

In search for an equaliser West Ham pulled out all the stops and, agonizingly for Blues, they got their reward on the 89^th minute. Goal scorer Burke handled the ball inside the area and Vaz Te stepped up to salvage a point for the Hammers, smashing his penalty home. Deserved for the home side it may be, but Blues should feel disappointed dropping two points so late on in the game after leading for so long. Nevertheless, with results going their way yesterday Blues have an even healthier cushion as they sit pretty in fourth place with just four games to go.

Three points in an all important home fixture against Bristol City on Saturday should all but seal a play-off place depending on results elsewhere, with an away trip to Ipswich following the home fixture, and tough games against Brighton and Reading to follow.

Image: BCFC.com

Festive Fixtures

The three tough festive fixtures in the past week heralded a great task for Birmingham City, but one which they ultimately prevailed in; unbeaten in all three games picking up five points out of a possible nine and keeping their unbeaten home record intact – the only club still able to hold claim to that in the Championship.

It all started against West Ham in front of a crowd of over 20,000 plus more watching at home on Sky Sports. But it looked to be a Boxing Day to forget as the visitors took the lead in under four minutes due to some uncertain defending by Pablo Ibanez leading to Carlton Cole capitalising on the mistake and slotting the ball past Boaz Myhill. Down but not out, Blues were roared on by their passionate home supporters and after 90 minutes of standing toe to toe with the league favourites, they were rewarded when David Murphy scored a late equaliser to pick up a point.

That late Christmas present was then topped off by a superb 3-0 win against Blackpool on New Year’s Eve. Curtis Davies began the rout, heading home just before half time when Blues should and could have already been at least two or three nil to the good. The second half saw yet more terrific attacking football, and Marlon King put the game seemingly beyond the reach of Blackpool when he scored Blues’ second goal of the game. Shortly after it was really all over, as ex-Blue Barry Ferguson was dismissed after a bad challenge on Guirane N’Daw, much to the delight of the already jubilant supporters in the stands who applauded Ferguson off singing his name. Ian Holloway was also sent to the stands after become so irate with the decision he had to be escorted away by a handful of stewards. Youngster Nathan Redmond then topped off the day by scoring a third late on to top off what was a turbulent but, none the less, brilliant year for Blues; which saw an emphatic 4-3 win over West Ham in the Carling Cup lead to their first real piece of silver wear after a 2-1 victory over Arsenal at Wembley in unbelievable circumstances. Relegation, money laundering charges and a departing manager followed; but new faces and a new style of football has installed hope, belief and excitement back into the Birmingham City faithful, and reaching the group stages of the Europa League in what is probably a once in a lifetime opportunity made sure that the low points of the year have well and truly been put behind us, for the time being anyway.

A new year awaited Blues but the hope of continuing the push for unlikely promotion remained a constant when the team visited Peterborough yesterday afternoon in their first game of 2012. The day began with the arrival of some sad news, as the information reached the footballing world of the death of former Blues, Everton and Liverpool defender Gary Ablett. The thousands Birmingham fans in attendance at London Road, as well as the home fans, players and staff held a minute’s silence-turn-applause prior to the game to celebrate the life of a great footballer, and a great man, who died at the young age of just forty-six.

Sadly for Blues the day didn’t get much better, as Peterborough took the lead within thirty seconds, as Emile Sinclair beat the offside trap to put the Posh in front. After a sloppy start Blues picked up the pace and as such managed to control the game; having the majority of possession and peppering Joe Lewis’ goal with distance shots from the likes of Keith Fahey as well as close range efforts from Nikola Zigic, one of which was saved magnificently by Lewis. It looked to be all over for Blues but deep into injury time a Peterborough hand touched the ball in the penalty area and Marlon king stepped up to take the resulting penalty kick; placing the ball into the far right hand corner and running away in celebration, hand cupped to his ear as he raced past the Peterborough fans.

It was a deserved point and capped off a fruitful festive period for Birmingham City and a good start to 2012. If this year is even half as eventful as the one it succeeded then we’ll be lucky, but if I know Blues at least something unbelievably remarkable will happen this year. After all, it’s never dull is it?

Not the prettiest, but we don't care

Right now none of us care how the points come. It'd be nice to secure them in a superb attacking fashion, but we're in a relegation battle; not a Europa League push. Right now, a goal is a goal and a win is a win - however they may come - and today was a very big win indeed.

In a real relegation 6 pointer after Wolves and Wigan winning yesterday, the aim of today was simple for both teams: win. Both teams therefore started quite edgy and nervous, neither side willing to sacrifice too many men going forward in fear of being cut open at the back, but at the same time neither wanted to play too defensive, so both managers opted for a strong 4-4-2 formation.

It was West Ham who enjoyed the majority of possession in the first half, which was the be expected from a Blues point of view. However both teams had their fair share of chances, with Victor Obinna looking lively yet again for the Hammers and Bentley working his magic down the wing, but neither really got any clear cut chances for their side. The home side had the better of the chances, but great defensive work for Blues yet again, especially from Roger Johnson (are you watching Fabio?) kept the away side level going into half time, after West Ham had edged the first forty-five.


With inspiring second half performances from the last few games, Blues were looking to do the same again in the second half of this game, and started fairly brightly. It was still an end to end encounter though, and both teams were desperately trying to find an opening.

Seeing more of the game now, Blues came close with Zigic heading just wide at the far post, and that was enough for McLeish to decide to change things. He took off Jerome - who still looks less than match fit - and brought on Sebastian Larsson. And that proved to be the tuning moment of the game. The Swede looked incredibly lively when he came on, and moments after the inspired substitution came the break through. Blues were awarded to free-kicks in succession, and the second proved to be the most costly for West ham, as the substitute Larsson whipped in a brilliant ball which was headed in from a couple of yards out by Zigic for Birmingham to take the lead.


The crowed grew anxious and it was a nervy last 20 minutes for both teams; Blues not wanting to squander their lead, and West ham not wanting to concede another. The home side threw plenty at Blues in the closing stages, with ineffective strike pair Piquionne and Keane coming off to be replaced by goal-poacher Carlton Cole and new boy Demba Ba, they were aching for an equaliser. And Ba almost made an instant impact, hitting the post after the ball had gone loose in the area.


But Blues stood strong and managed to hold on to an important victory, which took them out of the relegation zone. It wasn't the prettiest of games, it was a real nervous encounter between two teams desperate for points. But Blues showed character and prevailed, and got the much needed three points with only their second away win of the season.

p next we have three winnable home games against Stoke, Newcastle and manager-less West Brom, and sandwiched between those games are the FA Cup game and the small matter of a Carling Cup final to contend with. But pack St. Andrews out, get behind the boys because we can really push on and stay up now. Keep Right On!

Full Time: West Ham United 0-1 Birmingham City

Wembley

Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. It's almost always the other way round. The amount of times we've gone one or two goals up, only to finish the game with a draw or even a defeat... take Bolton at the start of the season for example; 2-0 up, Bolton down to ten men, and we go and draw it 2-2. Last night made up for all the times we'd done that, in fact it pretty much made up for all the hurt we've felt in the past five or so years.

There was one thing we didn't want to and that was to concede first. So obviously, being Blues, that's exactly what we did. We didn't close Cole down and he struck the ball very well, and the ball crept past Foster into the net. On the one night we wanted Blues to perform, it looked like we hadn't turned up. 'Just once' i thought, 'just once can we have our night.'

At half time I was standing with some of my mates and we were all pretty depressed. We all thought we'd be able to score one goal, but two... we didn't think we possible, especially as the one thing we've been pretty poor at for a while now is scoring goals. Little did we know Blues were about to put on the performance of their lives.

We threw everything at West Ham second half. Everything. The kitchen sink, the cat, the dog. Everything. It reminded me of last season when we used to put everything on the line; or against Chelsea this season when we were defending that one goal lead for about 70 minutes. It was brilliant and exciting; but at the same time it was the most nervous I and many others have ever been. But that first goal by Bowyer. That relieved some of the nerves. The feeling when that went in was immense. It really was. It was a superb strike and it really set us on our way, everyone in the ground could sense what was coming next.


And, plenty of attacks, corners and decent Green saves later, it came. Bowyer's corner found Roger Johnson head, which found the back of the net (the ball, not his head. I can't word that bit right) and the place erupted. I mean it really erupted. You know when you go so mental you don't even know what you're doing, and you're cheering so loud you know any minute your voice will go. And the stand was bouncing. And the fans were all on their feet going absolutely - pardon my French - fucking mental. And the West Ham fans couldn't believe it. Neither could we. It was 2-2 on aggregate, it was game on, and we were taking this one right to the wire: the Blues way. We nearly did it in normal time though, Craig Gardner hit the post in the last few seconds. It so almost crept in. Almost.


But we just kept the momentum going from the second half into extra time, and that's when it happened. The ball was passed long to a West Ham player. Stephen Carr read the pass and ran. He ran so fast I'm not sure how he had the energy to after running so much in the second half. But he was so determined to get there first. And he stole the ball. And he ran. And he passed it to Gardner. And that's when it happened. That's when Craig Gardner, the Bluenose, the lifelong Birmingham City supporter, scored the winning goal. Now if you think the celebrations for Roger Johnson's goal were mental, they were nothing compared to this. I will never forget that moment. 4 minutes into extra time and we were ahead. We just needed to keep it that way.


We had so many other chances to score and to create. As did West Ham, but our defence were so, so resilient they just couldn't break us down. With a few minutes to go a man in front of us started signing about Wembley. About five of us turned to him and shouted "NOT YET! NOT YET!" because we knew this was Blues and that anything could happen. But he was right. And with a minute to go, the whole ground was belting out que sera sera, and at that moment Howard Webb blew his whistle, every one just let everything go. There were tears, there were... well, just about every emotion under the sun. Pure relief, absolute delirium, just everything and more. Standing on our chairs singing 'que sera sera' is a moment I will never, ever forget. Because we did it. We're going to Wembley.


I think 'the Blues way' is the only way we could have done it, It was never going to be easy because it never is with Blues. We should have know that we'd do it in the end, that we'd be too much for West Ham, but I guess part of you isn't too sure when to believe in Blues because of how many times they've let you down in the past. But if last night taught me one thing; it's to never, ever doubt Birmingham City.

A Carling Cup final date at Wembley with Arsenal awaits us. The best thing about it is that we've got nothing to lose. Everyone expects Arsenal to win, so it's great that we have no pressure. All we have to do is go out there, do our thing and see what happens. The worst that can happen is that we get runners up medals. So for the love of God, everyone: just enjoy it, it won't come around very often. I hope you all had a brilliant night last night. See you all at Wembley.

Full Time: Birmingham City 3-1 West Ham (AGG: 4-3)

90 Minutes

To most, It's "only the Carling cup." It's the mickey mouse cup as soon as your out of it. It's the cup that's "disrespected" by the bigger teams because they want to concentrate on "more important games." But when you're 90 minutes away from Wembley, it doesn't matter who you are - be it Arsenal or Birmingham - the Carling Cup is the most important thing in your life at that precise moment.

All I've ever wanted is to see my team play at Wembley. I don't care what circumstances it's under; be it F.A cup or play off final, I really don't mind. The only thing I've ever wanted, other than glory, loads of wins and brilliant players, is to see my team walk out and Wembley and to be there to witness it. I've never thought about the score or worried about what I'd do if we lost. I know a couple of Sheffield United fans who said the play off final was the best day of their lives even though they lost, because their dream to see their team play at Wembley came true. Same as all the Villa fans I know - they said it was brilliant. They've been there twice, they've lost twice; yet those two games were two of the best days of their lives.

And I want that. That is all I want. Right now, that's all any Blues fan wants. And we're just 90 minutes away from it. And not just 90 minutes away from Wembley like we were last season, but actually 90 minutes away from a cup final. That's why it'll hurt more if we lose. Last season it was an F.A Cup semi final at stake. Sure, it was at Wembley and it would have been brilliant,. But it wasn't to be, and it wasn't a final either. This is a final. Win this game on Wednesday, and we're 90 minutes away from winning a trophy. An actual trophy. Silver and everything. Proper medals to go around the players' necks - one's with 'winner' printed on them. Fireworks. Open top buses. Glory. Our moment. A little bit of history. The lot.

But let's not get carried away; we've still got Wednesday to contend with yet. West Ham are 2-1 up on aggregate, so technically they have the advantage. But what we have on our side is a home tie under the lights with a full ground. You can't buy atmospheres like that, especially at Blues, and I know the fans will be doing everything to get behind the team because of how much we all want this.

So, the team. This is aimed directly at you now: do anything you can to win. None of us care how you do it, honestly, we just want you to do it. Win by two clear goals and we don't even need to go to extra time and penalties. Win 2-0 and we've done it. Those two goals can come however you please; off Jerome's left heel; deflected in from a free kick; Gardner sliding in at the last minute; even an own goal from Upson. We don't care. They don't have to be stunning goals, they just have to be goals. And say we go 1-0 down, we pick ourselves up and go at it again. If you have to score three goals, you're going to have to score three goals. If we go 2-0 down, we're going to expect you to score four goals, or even five. Because we really, really want this.

As a club we've never really won much, as we so often get reminded by our nearest but definitely not dearest neighbours. So this is something we've wanted for years now, and I'm sure West Ham want it just as much as we do. I'm sure plenty of their fans are saying the same thing as I'm saying right now. I'm sure their players know how important an occasion it is too, especially as they are 2-1 up from the first leg. But we've got to play like we want it more.

The only thing I'm sure about on Wednesday night is that you'll give us a performance to be proud of. I know I can be confident of that. Lets just make sure that when that full time whistle goes, I'm proud of our achievement of getting to Wembley and not just the fighting, yet losing, display we put on.

We need that passion and with that we displayed so many times last season more than ever now, and we need it Wednesday night. Forget the league for now; that doesn't matter this week, we can think about that again another time. For now, all any Blues fan and anyone associated with this great football club wants is to get to Wembley. We're closer than we've been in years to a cup final now, don't let this great opportunity slip through your hands Blues. Grasp it as hard as you can and do not let go.

Lets hope next time you read anything from me on here, It's some jumbled nonsense about the best night of my life, and a trip to Wembley to look forward to.

Que sera sera and all that.

The Kings of Comebacks

Contrary to what Match Of The Day lead you to believe, it wasn't actually West Ham Versus no one for the first 60 minutes. Although at times it did feel like that. It's true, we didn't get in the game until late on, but we were actually playing in the first half. Just what we were playing at though, I'm not too sure.

The performances in our last three games have been great. At Arsenal we were strong, and can take pride in the fact we almost got a point from there. Against Blackpool we were brilliant, the new formation worked and like Holloway said, we stopped Blackpool from playing their game. At Villa we were resilient, we played with passion and very almost clinched a victory. Today, against West Ham, we were poor. Nothing seemed to work; even what should have been the most talented play on the pitch in Alex Hleb, didn't work. We lacked not only lustre, but pretty much everything else.

We seem to fall into the trap sometimes of starting quite brightly, and then letting the opposition get more into the game. When we do that, like we did today, the other team become more confident. And then we get driven more and more out of the game, until the game is flipped on it's head and we're no longer in control. We pass the ball about brilliantly at times, and you can see the class and the skill is still there amongst the players, but the end product, that final bit of magic; it just isn't there sometimes. And after playing so well in the games prior to this match, you wonder why.


There were two things that happened in the first half: the first was the sprinkles coming on in the first when West Ham were on the attack - only at Blues! - it was comical and gave the crowd something to smile about at least! The second was that the Hammers nearly took the lead - and most of the crowd thought the ball had gone in the back of the net - but Ben Foster managed to tip the ball onto the post, which rolled across the goal-line to Scott Dann who booted it out of play. Chants of 'England's number one' rung out around the ground from the home support, and rightly so.

It was a game of few chances for Blues, and so West Ham deservedly took the lead just after half time. It came through a quick move that split the defence and allowed Frederic Piquionne (remember him?) to slide the ball past Ben Foster, who could do nothing but stand there and watch the ball go past him.

It got even worse for Blues exactly 10 minutes later, when a similar move saw Behrami find the back of the net after being set up by Carlton Cole - who had a good game himself.

McLeish decided to change things around, and bought on Beausejour and Gardner in place of Fahey and Hleb, and Blues began the comeback. Larsson's cross found the head of Zigic, who nodded it down into the path of Jerome, who from a yard or two out calmly hit the ball into the back of the net. Game on.


Blues seemed to wake up then, and again despite what the BBC want you to think, Blues had several chances to make it 2-2, with Beausejour amongst others being denied. Blues found the equaliser in the end though: Larsson's free-kick was parried by Rob Green, into the path of Ridgewell who firmly slotted the ball home and ran away in celebration.


Blues almost went on to win the game with Jerome being denied, but with the way the game went, the home side were more than happy to get a point, but we all know the performance needs to be stepped up for the next game. However, a special mention goes to Stephen Carr - someone who was retired a few years ago - and seemed like the only player who cared throughout the whole game. Super Captain Carr: man of the match. And deservedly so.

Full Time: Birmingham City 2-2 West Ham