A year unbeaten...

Well, we did it; a whole calendar year unbeaten at home. Not exactly the way we wanted to do it though and it certainly doesn’t excuse how poor we were today.

The game throughout seemed to be played at a slow pace. In all fairness, no one looked too bothered about what was going on, or too bothered to actually pick up the pace and attack with much force.

Wigan had the best chance of the game in the first half through the greedy b--, I mean, through Charles N’Zogbia, whose shot was palmed over the bar by Ben Foster, who had a few good saves during the match, and was the busier goalkeeper of the two.

Cameron Jerome, the lone striker, had a few good chances; namely one near the end of the first half, when Al Habsi dropped the ball which then went between his legs before he managed to pick it up. Seeing the opposition goalkeeper as clumsy as this, we really should have pressured him more.

Blues lacked a lot of things today, but the thing they lacked most was pace. And passing. The game seemed to move at snails pace; the ball was dead on numerous occasions and no one seemed to want the ball or when they did, no one was moving for them to pass to.

The second half had nothing to boast about, other than a few chances for both the home side and the away side, with Wigan looking the more likely team to win it as the game came to a close. It was a frustrating day for the home side, who were even ironically cheering Zigic when he won the ball in the air – which he did all of about three times. For a 6ft8” bloke, he doesn’t use his height very well.

The only light at the end of a seemingly long tunnel was that when Beausejour came on he looked sharp. He can beat a man and that’s something we’ve desperately been looking for, for quite a while now; if I was Alex McLeish, I would start him next Saturday against Everton, and also start Derbyshire alongside Jerome.

Another point from the match; I hope the ‘McFadden hate brigade’ are feeling very sheepish right now. We miss him. A lot, in fact. Most people use him as a scapegoat, but they fail to realise how much he does for the team: not only his skill and ability to beat a man and put a cross in, but the amount of tracking back he does. We were caught on the break a lot today, and we really do miss him.

The 400 or so Wigan fans had something to cheer about as Craig Gardner was sent off for a tackle - which the Mark Clattenburg blew for five seconds after he’d let Craig Gardner play on. After missing clear handballs and tackles previous to this, the Blues fans started to get on the back of the ref, and chants of “you’re not fit to referee” rung round the stadium, while Gardner trudged off the pitch with his shirt in his hands.

That was the only issue of note that happened in the match. N’Zogbia and Clattenburg can flip a coin to decide who the most hated person at St. Andrews was this afternoon, and Blues can pick themselves up and start again. And quickly; another home gamer against bottom of the league Everton next weekend, and boy do both teams need a win.

Full Time: Birmingham City 0-0 Wigan Athletic