Absolutely Brilliant

Last season we played Portsmouth in the quarter finals of the FA Cup and lost. A couple of weeks later we played them in the league and won - a moral victory seeing as we were already guaranteed safety, and we would have much rather had the semi final win. This season we played Bolton in the quarter finals of the FA Cup and lost. A couple of weeks later we played them. Again we won, but the circumstances meant so, so much more than getting to Wembley. I'll take the three points over the FA Cup semi final. As for the title of this blog, well, it alludes to quite a few areas. The first one being of course; the players.

I don't know what McLeish has been feeding them during the international break but I hope he carries on giving it to them because they were on fire today. The tempo from kick off was great and we got an early goal which showed just how up for it they were. The defence were especially superb, especially in the last ten minutes when Bolton were piling on the pressure they coped with everything. And then the man behind them too, England's rightful number one it seems, had another blinder today. We really have been blessed with great goalkeepers over the past couple of seasons and some of the saves Foster made today really could be put under the bracket of 'world class' - take note tonight of two he made right at the death, one of which God only knows how he managed to tip it over!


The midfield were also excellent, they kept the ball superbly and some of the balls they were playing made you wonder how we are in a relegation zone (and then you remember performances like Wigan away and realise why!) The partnership of Phillips and Jerome up front worked really well, and hindsight will probably tell you Phillips should have played more this season, and definitely should have played in the last game against Wigan.Those two up front seem to be just the right mix: Jerome to win the ball in the air to knock down to Phillips who will always do something for you.

The next subject the title of this refers to is the performance as a whole. Every single one of them were up for it today. All of them. They were a team today, and defended not only for the cause but for each other as well. I cannot fault any of them because, although there were some misplaced passes and times we/Jerome should have scored, they all gave it everything today and at the end of the day we came away with three very valuble points - so we can;t complain can we! What summed it up for me was when Roger Johnson came over to the Tilton at the end to applaud us and he started pumping his fists and shouting. That's passion. And that's what every single one of them showed today.


The final thing the blog title can apply to today is the fans. We came out in our numbers today and sung, cheered, applaud the team onto victory. It is a cliche but we were the 12th man today and although we went quiet towards the end because of the nerves, but the rest of the game the support was great. With just under 3,000 going to Blackburn next week we should look to create another great atmosphere but today proves just how much it helps the team.

We can forget the missed chances, the dodgy decisions from the linesman and anything else for that matter: all we needed to do today was pick up the three points and we did. Well done to every one today. You were all absolutely brilliant.

Full Time: Birmingham City 2-1 Bolton Wanderers

So Close

First off I just want to say how immensely proud I am of the players today. It was a make-shift team somewhat - not that I'm using that as an excuse - and they took a strong Bolton team right down to the wire and we were unlucky not to get a replay, or even win. The battle and persistence they showed today proved that we have got more than enough to stay up; we just need to replicate that in our Premier League games now, starting with Wigan next weekend.

All of the changes made for the game today were forced upon McLeish, but that's not to say their replacements were poor - far from it. With early chances from Blues and Bolton, and with both teams having their fair share of the ball, it was a pretty even game until the away side managed to take the lead. Elmander was fed the ball in the six yard box and with no oncoming pressure from the Blues defence, he neatly shot past Foster to give his side the lead.

Another two changes had to be made soon after with Ferguson picking up a thigh injury and Jiranek also having to go off - so on came Redmond and Ridgewell in their place.


Blues picked up the pace and after a positive amount of pressure, they finally found the equaliser. Cameron Jerome - who has been getting better and better in the last few games - was persistent, and eventually brought the ball down well and shot hard past Jaaskelainen to level the score.

It was Blues who were in the ascendancy for the remainder of the half, and at half time there were many positives that could be taken from the first forty-five minutes, even though we had sustained two injuries to key players.


Blues kept up the pressure at the beginning of the second half, and could have had a penalty when Jerome was one on one with Jaaskelainen and fell to the floor, however it seemed to be the right decision from the referee who only awarded a corner.

The St. Andrews crowd were really getting loud now and could sense a goal to put them ahead in the tie, and that almost came when a corner was swung in by Larsson from the right, which found its way to Phillips who would have put his side in front were it not for the goal line clearance from Lee Chung-Yong - with his first touch of the ball after coming on as a substitute!

Blues almost rued their missed chance a couple of minutes later when Kevin Davies found the back of the net, only to be flagged offside. Blues fans and players were relieved, but a short while later Bolton found themselves ahead again when they were awarded a penalty after Davies (of Blues) seemed to foul his namesake, and Davies (of Bolton) shot hard down the middle and sent the Bolton fans crazy.

With just ten minutes left Matt Derbyshire - the forgotten man in recent games- stepped up to the side of the pitch, presumably to come on in place of Kevin Phillips. But Super Kev, just outside the area, saw the ball come over his head and stuck a foot out. He just got contact and the ball looped over the head of the Bolton keeper; it really showed the never say die attitude of not only Blues, but of Super Kevin Phillips who truly is one of the best finishers English football has ever been graced with.


This really put more and more belief into a Blues team who had it in abundance already. As the fans rose to their feet, applauding and singing "that's why we're champions," the players kept on fighting and trying to win the game. Unfortunately, Blues were to concede a cruel last minute goal from Lee Chung-Yong and there was no way back for Blues this time.


It was a valiant effort by the side and all the players put in a great performance. Jordon Mutch, Seb Larsson and Cameron Jerome particularly impressed me; Larsson especially as he was absolutely everywhere on the pitch today, showing that he does love the club and that he does want to stay here. Even though we lost there are many positives to take from this game. If a make-shift team can put in that performance then there is no reason why our fully fit first team can't replicate it. Another positive being Jordon Mutch and Nathan Redmond who are most definitely the future. Also, when was the last time our two strikers scored in the same game?!

I'd like to finish this by congratulating Bolton; thank you for a great game today: end to end, exciting, and I hope you have a great day out at Wembley. Hopefully we can beat you in the league now as a little consolation for today - just like we did against Portsmouth last season!

It would have been great to get to Wembley again but not we can concentrate on the league and hopefully kick on and win a few - whilst emulating this performance. Plus, it's saved us a bit of money, which can go straight into the 'European Tour' fund...

Full Time: Birmingham City 2-3 Bolton Wanderers

Draws that feel like a loss

Yesterday was just that. When you go two nil up against ten men, even away from home, you must expect to win, and anything other than that is a failure. You still must search for the third goal, and you must still use your extra man to your advantage… Blues did neither of those things and ended up going back down to the Midlands confused as to where it all went wrong.

The move for the first goal was brilliant; McFadden’s clever pass to slip Bowyer in who ran through the defence to dink the ball across the surface into the path of Cameron Jerome; whose small, but vital, touch found the out-stretched leg of Roger Johnson for his first ever goal in a Blues shirt - something which we’ve all been waiting for, him especially, for such a long time!

Going in front first is not something we do all too often; especially when it’s after four minutes. You’d think we would slip up after that, as of corse, this is Birmingham City. But credit to the team; they were great in the first half: keeping Bolton at bay and having a good amount of possession and chances.

And then something that still confuses me now happened: in the 36th minute, Roger Johnson jumped for the ball with Jussi Jaaskelainen. They both got up off the floor, and Jaaskelainen turned to face Johnson and slapped him. Slapped him. One of the most experienced Premiership goalkeepers lost his head and bitch-slapped a player. It was all quite surreal, and Johnson turned away holding the side of his face as Jussi was shown a red card, leaving Bolton a goal down and a man down as they went in at half time - to a chorus of boos aimed at referee Kevin Friend, who had sent off one of their players for near assaulting an opposition player… (no, I didn’t get why they were booing either.)

Five minutes into the second half of the game and Birmingham were two up; McFadden put in a neat cross which found Jerome who, seeing his team mate Gardner in a better position than him, very unselfishly passed the ball into his path, who took two attempts to get the ball into the net before he ran off pumping his chest in front of the Blues supporters.

Bolton were down but certainly not out, and they produced a couple of saves from England-number-one-hopeful Ben Foster, before they eventually got the ball in the back of the net. A rather questionable penalty was awarded to Bolton after Johnson seemed to foul Davies. Davies himself stepped up to take the penalty and expertly slotted the spot kick away, and for you statisticians out there: this was the third penalty in a row awarded against Blues in their first three Premier League games this season.

With less than ten minutes left on the clock, Bolton were awarded a free kick on the edge of the area, after two Bolton players fouled each other (I’ll leave it to logic to figure that one out) and ex-Blues player Robbie Blake took his opportunity to equalise; and that he did.

With a few frantic efforts from Blues in the dying minutes, they couldn’t find that all important winner, and the full time whistle was blown, leaving Blues wondering why they let a two-goal lead slip, and the rest of us wondering the same.

Full Time: Bolton Wanderers 2-2 Birmingham City

the end of another season..

yesterday marked the last game of the premier league season. safe by christmas, blues finished the season in ninth place on 50 points; their best finish in fifty one years. ninth place. fifty points. fifty one years. and everyone said we'd get relegated...

the 4,200 blues fans that made the trip down to bolton created a brilliant part atmosphere. blues played a 4-5-1 formation, which somewhat confused the traveling fans. however blues started the slightly brighter team, creating a couple of chances in the first few minutes.



in all fairness, i'm not going to write much about the game because it was very much an end of season affair, that lived up to the little expectations that were set before the game - i.e it wasn't exactly the most exciting of games. bolton's first goal came courtesy of some questionable birmingham defending, their second a work of art from loanee weiss, finished off by another loanee klasnic.


blues' goal came from a strange decision from the referee, in fact most of mr. friend's decisions in the game were.. silly, actually. i can't think of another word for it - i'm sure roger johnson could think of a few though.. but the penalty, well i'm glad he gave it, but chucho was never going to get the ball, sure he was 'impeded' or whatever, but still.. also, he was abit yellow card happy all afternoon; handing out seven yellow cards in a game that meant nothing to either side, and blowing up everytime a little thing happened. whatever happened to letting play run.



anyway, james mcfadden, being the sentimental little so and so that he is handed the ball to chucho to let him take the penalty. we all knew he'd miss it. we were begging him to score, but we all knew in our hearts that he'd miss it.. good job our actual penalty taker was there to slot in the (second) rebound.


and of corse, the last game of the season isn't complete without a funny story to tell afterwards: 'pamela anderson' broke away from the blues fans and made a beeline for chucho, shook his hand, and ran all the way up to joe hart; gave him a little dance and hugged him. it was the funniest thing i have seen in a long time, i just feel sorry for chucho the poor man must've been scared for his life! 'pamela' received a standing ovation from the whole ground as s/he was escorted away by the police - and escaped only with a caution! take a bow.

i wouldn't call it a disappointing end to the season. some of the stuff we played yesterday, some of the little flicks, and the build up to our disallowed goal was brilliant. it was a joy to watch, it really was. it was a shame we didn't win, or even draw, but it was still a brilliant day.


it was emotional too; the players came over to applaud the fans at full time. i can safely say alot of people had a tear in their eye, more so when hart came over. some people say he cried, i don't know i was quite far back, but walking away from 4,200 blues fans chanting your name.. i'd find it quite hard to hold back tears if i was him.


beforehand, i'd only ever cried over one player when he left us (robbie savage, you absolute arsehole) but with a lump in my throat, i watched joe hart walk away from us, and when he went to hug dave watson, i had to wipe my eyes a little bit. he's become an honorary blues fan; someone we'll never forget, etc. but really, it was an honour to have him play for us, and i wish him the best of luck at manchester city, and for the future: for england.


thank you for such a brilliant season blues, ninth place; i never would've thought it. you all deserve a nice long holiday, and then come august you'll have it all to do again. i think this season has proved that you should never right teams off; us and wolves have proved all doubters wrong, both in some style might i add.

keep right on and thank you blues.