Battle of the Blues

Last night’s FA Cup replay between Birmingham City and Chelsea was perhaps overshadowed by the sacking of Andre-Villas Boas prior to the game, and as such not as much focus was put on the match itself. After a toughly contested battle at the Bridge in which the Championship side stood toe to toe with the Premier League elite for the whole of the ninety minutes, the Blues from Birmingham had every right to be confident going into yesterday evening’s fixture. But in the battle of the Blues it was the London contingent who came out smiling.

An injury-hit Birmingham fielded a weakened team from their weekend’s draw against Derby County. Midfielder Guirane N’Daw was drafted in at left back, whilst out and out striker Adam Rooney played in more of a winger’s role. Chelsea again fielded a team fit to grace the Premier League, just like they had at Stamford Bridge where the teams drew 1-1, with Petr Cech, Fernando Torres, Saloman Kalou and Gary Cahill just some of the big name players in the starting line-up.

But once the game kicked off it was a different story. Again, Blues were Chelsea’s equals: frustrating the away side and playing the better football in the opening periods of the game. Nikola Zigic’s sublime flick of the ball set up Wade Elliott early on, but the midfielder was unable to take advantage of some outstanding play. Chelsea’s defence were put on red alert soon after, with Zigic again getting in on the act; this time setting up Nathan Redmond who, on his eighteenth birthday, was dispossessed before he could unleash a shot on goal.

After some half-chances for Chelsea that were coped with well by the Blues defence, the forty minute mark saw the home side come inches from getting their noses in front. Jordon Mutch’s free kick met the head of Curtis Davies, who’s header was flicked goal wards by Zigic. The ball looked to be heading for the roof of the net until Cech pulled off a fingertip save to deny the Serbian. The tables then turned, this time with Chelsea having a brilliant chance to break the deadlock, but Torres shot horribly wide and was suitably jeered by the Tilton for his simply awful effort.

Roberto Di Matteo’s half time team talk certainly worked wonders as Chelsea came out of the blocks second half with intent to wrap the game up early on. They had break through not long after, with Juan Mata finally getting the better of Colin Doyle and putting his side in front.

Minutes later and they had their second, this time Raul Meireles firing an unstoppable shot past Doyle who had no hope. Blues looked like they were going to be on the wrong end of a big score-line, and it got worse when N’Daw’s trip on Torres gave Chelsea a spot kick. But Doyle was the shot stopping hero again, foiling Mata like he had at the Bridge and giving Blues hope that they may get something out of the game.

With time left Blues produced attack after attack. Hughton threw caution to the wind and opted for three at the back, in the hope that his side would get back into the game. Their best chance of the game fell to Mutch as substitute Chris Burke fed him a perfect ball but, one on one with the keeper, Mutch fired agonizingly over the goal.

And two nil it finished, but Blues can admire their courageous efforts against one of the Premier League’s top teams. All focus is now solely on promotion, with the chase heading to relegation strugglers Coventry City on Saturday. Blues, although in the top six, may find themselves outside of it come match-day with Brighton and Cardiff due to play each other later on this evening.

"Birmingham, from the Championship, did their club proud"

The mid-week game between promotion pushers Birmingham City and Hull City was well-matched, toughly fought and, ultimately, it came down to two great defences not letting much past them. A point is a point, and it was time to turn attentions elsewhere: to the FA Cup tie at Chelsea.

If there is ever a good time to play a team like Chelsea, it’s now: a certain air of mutiny is about the Bridge, with manager Andre Villas-Boas certainly not a fans’ favourite. Yet, compare them to high-flying Blues; a team who are all pulling in the same direction and a manager who has a strong relationship with the fans, yesterday’s cup tie turned into a battle of spirit and guile: and if anyone came out on top of the 1-1 draw, it was Birmingham City.

Backed by a loud following, it was the away side who surprisingly drew first blood in the tie. Although Chelsea had the majority of possession, which was to be expected, Blues saw the counter attack as a weapon in their arsenal and their second corner of the game, thanks to some lacklustre defending from the London Blues, meant David Murphy fired his side into the lead with a well-struck shot.

The home fans were stunned; the away fans, all 3,000 of them, quite the opposite. Still in delirium and after celebrations that were as loud and as chaotic as scenes from a few months ago in Brugge, Blues shot themselves in the foot just two minutes later when Wade Elliott gave away a penalty.

Colin Doyle, who was dropped in 2007 after a poor game at Stamford Bridge, was completely in the zone. He resembled Joe Hart as he shouted at his players and waved his arms about, using distraction tactics to warn off Juan Mata. And it worked. Mata’s well struck penalty was equaled by the right hand of Doyle who pushed the shot on to the post before it was eventually cleared, much to the delight of the Birmingham fans to the left of that goal who celebrated the save as if it were another goal for their own team.

A resilient Blues held off the Chelsea possession and pressure, and played some brilliant football their selves at times. Morgaro Gomis in midfield particularly impressed, breaking up play and brilliantly slotting into a midfield that he doesn’t often get into as if he played there every week. It is a testament to manager Chris Hughton that his players can so easily do this; he can utilize squad rotation and make it effective, which is why our Europa league campaign and our continuing FA Cup run this season have been so successful.

An extremely agitated Chelsea began to get restless as the game wore on, with fans growing ever impatient with manager AVB. But, the first time Chelsea actually got the ball on the wing and sent in an inch perfect cross, was the first time Chelsea looked like beating Doyle – and they did. Daniel Sturridge rose and curled in a beautiful header, beating the Ireland shot stopper and relieving some of the pressure off the shoulders of his manager.

After some nervy final moments and a late Nathan Redmond chance that he should have done better with, the full time whistle was blown and was met with boos from the home fans but, in the corner of the Shed End, a magnificent noise erupted as the travelling Bluenoses reveled in a fantastic performance by their weakened Championship side against a Chelsea team fit to grace the Premier League. Blues fans saluted first players and then manager, serenading the latter who has now lead Blues on a fourteen match unbeaten run and made sure their name is in the pot for the FA Cup quarter final draw for the third season in a row.

Although we now have an extremely congested fixture list, which will become almost unmanageable if we beat Chelsea and have to play a quarter final tie and have another match postponed, no one is going to say no to a replay against one of the Premier League’s top teams in England’s greatest cup competition.

The Battle of the Champions...

I had a dream a few weeks ago. It was 0-0 at The Bridge, approaching full time, when Blues got a corner. Larsson took it from the right and Roger Johnson rose majestically (as majestically as old-fashioned centre halves can) and connected with the ball, beating his marker and sending a bullet header past Petr Cech. He ran off in celebration and Blues clung on to do the double over Chelsea, and Johnson got a goal against the club he supported as a boy.

So before the game yesterday I put a bet on Roger Johnson as the last goalscorer at 40/1 to see if my dream would come true.

Well on three minutes it wasn't looking exactly like my dream as we went 1-0 behind courtesy of Malouda; after a brilliant pass from Terry found Ferreira and as equally good a cross from him made the finish for Malouda easy. As memories of the 5-0 defeat at Old Trafford came flooding back it seemed like it would be a very long night for Blues and the 700 odd fans who had travelled down to watch them. But surprisingly for some, Blues received a bit of a wake up call and kept quite a lot of possession of the ball, but unfortunately not taking their chances. Jerome was looking especially lively as he has done in the past few games, this time having to play on his own in a 451 formation. At least we dispelled the myth for some that we weren't a passing side (ahem, Mr. Hleb).


After 26 minutes there was another set back as Kalou, who wasn't closed down quick enough, fired Chelsea into a 2-0 lead. It seemed a long way back from here for the battling Blues now.

Early on in the second half Roger Johnson had a chance to make my £123 dream come true but his header from a corner went just wide. Sensing a reply from Blues, the home side were in search of a third to completely kill the game off, and thanks to Florent Malouda some questionable defending, (why was no one marking Malouda and why was Ridgewell behind him and ducking when Malouda rose for the header?!) the current Premier League and FA Cup Champions put the game firmly beyond the reach of the Carling Cup holders.

A consolation goal for the away side came in the form of a penalty. Substitute Matt Derbyshire made a run into the box but was tackled by Luiz, and a penalty was awarded (our second in the Premier League this season, - I feel spoiled!!) Gardner and Larsson had a bit of a lovers tiff about who took it, whilst I was waiting for Roger Johnson to come storming into the penalty area, give 'the Jiranek stare of death' at the squabbling pair and take the penalty himself. Alas, it wasn't to be; Larsson won the battle, scored quite possibly the best penalty you will see this season - powerful and into the top corner - and gave Gardner a little hug.


Going down after three minutes at Chelsea and losing 3-1 is nothing to be ashamed of at all, and for what it's worth I thought the team did well. The goals conceded could have been avoided, but with a make-shift defence you could argue and say it could have been worse. At least it wasn't a must win game!

If the game taught me anything, it's that you should never bet because of something you dreamt about: that's three pounds I will never see again. Could have been worse; I could have bet a tenner!

Full Time: Chelsea 3-1 Birmingham City

Birmingham City 1-0 Chelsea. I can't say it enough.

It's taken thirty years, but Birmingham City have finally managed to beat Chelsea. How? I will tell you how...

Ben Foster
I said it yesterday: Joe Hart had one of his best games in a Blues shirt against Chelsea last season; he really was brilliant. But Ben Foster today absolutely outshone him by a fair few hundred miles. You have to be alert when playing Chelsea, and he was totally on the ball all game, making so many saves I think we all lost count. He was outstanding. If Blues made a DVD of his saves from today's game I'm sure we'd all buy it. Someone buy the lad a pint and Blues, give him a bonus.



The Defence
Chelsea absolutely threw everything into the box, but we were happy to sit there and defend, to take a quote from Chris Kamara, like beavers. Nothing was getting past them today. Nothing. Even injuries and knocsk wouldn't keep Roger Johnson from running back onto the pitch to win yet another header and keep a clean sheet and all three points. All four of them were outstanding, and I can't fault a single one of them, nor can I thank them enough for how much passion they put into their game.



Determination
If I said Blues were the better team today, I'd be lying. But I am 100% telling the truth when I say they were the more determined team. They got their goal, and then they were determined to not concede for the rest of the match. It was magnificent to see every single one of those players give their all today. I haven't got a bad thing to say about any one, and I'm sure I speak for every Bluenose when I say that we are all beaming with pride at not only the performance, but the manner in which we played the game.



Larsson > Jerome > Bowyer > Goal
Obviously, the defining moment of the first half. Larsson gets the ball; whips it fiercley and expertly to the head of Jerome who knocks it down brilliantly into what seemed like an open space. Fair enough, I thought; great ball in, great knock down, just unlucky no one was there to pick it up. And then Lee Bowyer pops up out of no where and slots it beyond Petr Cech. It was unreal. It was amazing. And it was, not necessarily deserved, but it felt bloody brilliant all the same.



The 'Never Say Die' Attitude
We showed it numerous times last season, espeically throughout our unbeatable run of games; but this season, sometimes it seems to go missing slightly. But it's always there somewhere. Today, it was out in full force. None of those players wanted to lose, and all of them were prepared to put their bodies on the line for the cause. It was excellent. Foster and the defence dealt with everything expertly; the midfield kept everything ticking over - Fahey really seems to be growing in confidence now, Larsson runs and runs and will work for you all day long which is key in games against teams with Chelsea's calibre, and it was great to see Ferguson and Bowyer back in the middle together again. Jerome and Zigic ran the line brilliantly. Jerome, like always, ran his socks off; and Zigic had a great game too - he seems to be finding his feet well in the Premier League now: it's taken time, but I think he's finally there.



And that was it. Chelsea, credit to them, played well. They threw everything but the kitchen sink at us and we simply dealt with it. it was a real team performance and every single one of those Blues players can hold their heads high knowing they did themselves, and the rest of Birmingham, proud today. Our last two games have been Manchester City away and Chelsea at home and we've picked up four points. Tell me: who thought, looking at those fixtures beforehand, that we'd get that many points out of these games?! Because I certainly didn't. I was looking for a point, maybe two, but we got four. We got four points out of two of the best sides in the division.

Normally when sides win games like this, they say 'I still can't believe it' but you know what? I can believe it. Because we defending like soldiers today, and we deserved to get something out of thios game, and the fact that it's three points is fantastic. I'm a very proud Bluenose right now.

Full Time: Birmingham City 1-0 Chelsea