Craigy Gardner Is A...

As the final whistle blew at White Hart Lane and Birmingham’s relegation was confirmed, the look of Craig Gardner’s face seemed to sum the whole sorry mess up. The look of complete loss on the boyhood Bluenose’s face was the same feeling of dejection felt amongst the travelling blues fans in the stands, and of the rest of the Birmingham faithful up and down the country.

Upon signing for Blues, Gardner revealed just how big a Bluenose he really was, and that was reiterated in his following performances. He prided himself on passion whilst playing in the royal blue and white of Birmingham which was apparent in his attitudes on and off the field.

You see a lot of badge kissing amongst players who have no real affiliation to the club they are playing for, but when Gardner scored his first goal for Blues, in the 2-2 draw at St. Andrews against Everton in 2010, you saw a young man who had achieved the dream that so many desire: playing for your boyhood club. He kissed the badge, and you know he meant it.

When we won the Carling Cup he was like a little kid at Christmas. He orchestrated keep right on with a flag someone had handed to him whilst parading round the Wembley pitch, and he later bounded into a Ben Foster interview, all smiles, singing 'We're On Our Way’.

I’ve wondered since then that, if the opportunity came, would he leave? After a series of unwanted events, namely relegation, my question was finally answered today. It was not the answer I was hoping for but I guess in the back of my mind, I knew he was never going to finish his career at Birmingham.

I do wish him well in his future at Sunderland. He was a real driving force in midfield and epitomised the spirit and work ethic which is required at Blues. Passionate and professional, Gardner contributed not only great performances but plenty of goals too in his short 18 month spell at Blues; his strike which fittingly sent Blues to Wembley being the most memorable.
However, as his decision to leave seems to be his own, i am inclined to be somewhat critical of him. As he himself admitted in an interview with Tom Ross, which sparked debate amongst Blues fans, he needed to make sure he could “look after” his family and that the Premier League is “the place to be.”

Indeed, in Gardner’s ideal world he would be playing week in, week out in the Premier League with his boyhood club; but Sunderland’s offer of Premier League football and a large wage packet seemed to tip the scales. Money and top league football versus hero status and playing for your boyhood club. In the current climate, the former is sadly the choice for the majority of players.

He will be remembered for his passion and drive in his short-lived Blues career, but unfortunately he will also be remembered as the Bluenose who jumped ship when times got hard. He could have lead his team back to the Premier League, gained hero status, been a legend. Had he been just another player with no ties to the club I would have been less disappointed about his decision to leave, yet being a self-proclaimed Bluenose his choice to leave when the club is at a real low disheartens me. This is another harsh lesson in reality and loyalty for me, and I’m sure I will encounter many more in years to come.

An Eventful Week In The Midlands

Amid Alex McLeish talking to Randy Lerner, online protests from adamant fans, hilarious little gatherings at Villa park and Craig Gardner making some rather questionable remarks; Blues have made another addition to the squad.

Morgaro Gomis, formally of Dundee United, completed his free transfer to the club today and will join the rest of the players when they resume training in a few weeks time. As a midfielder, Gomis played over 100 times for Dundee and has described his move to Blues as "a dream." Maybe someone should mention to him that this is the Blues of Birmingham, rather than the Blues of Chelsea!


By ways of players leaving the club, nothing else has been set in stone yet, however there are rumours that Barry Ferguson will follow McLeish in leaving the club, presumably to follow him to Aston Villa - should the Scot take up the vacant managers position there.

Elsewhere, Craig Gardner's comments have been a talking point this week, as the midfielder told Tom Ross that the Premier League is the place to be and mentioned he is "a Blues player at the moment" but he does have "a family to support," suggesting that however many thousand a week he is on clearly is not enough to support a wife and a new born baby. It just brings up the debate about money in football, and the fact players' loyalties can be bought - even self-proclaimed fans of the club - just for the sake of a few more thousand pounds per week and the promise of Premier League football. Stay and be a hero at the club he has always supported, or earn a bit more in the Premier League at a mid-table club? Your choice Craig.

Of course the one major talking point of the week that cannot be ignored is Alex McLeish. The Villa fans have certainly made it clear what they think about him managing their club, and that's that they do not want him there. The protests from the minority of their fans outside Villa Park yesterday highlighted their frustrations furhter, and it is clear to see that there will be major problems should McLeish be appointed manager - something which seems more and more possible as the days progress.

As a Blues fan, our sole concentration now should be on who we appoint as a manager and I'm putting my faith in the board to make the right decision. It's a new beginning for Blues now and it could possibly be the fresh start we need. Hopefully.

Safety almost secured

Blues moved one more step closer towards Premier League survival this afternoon after clinching a 2-0 win over a Sunderland side who continue their bad run of form. McLeish named an unchanged side meaning those who had battled against Blackburn and Bolton regained their place yet again, and deservedly so.

In front of a near enough sell out crowd the home side began the game brightly, with Jerome again looking incredibly lively in the first few minutes as he has done the previous two games. And he nearly got the opening goal when he was put clean through but his shot was saved by Sunderland keeper Mignolet.

Sunderland then began to get into the game and had more of the possession but failed to create. They almost got a break though when, on the edge of his box, Barry Ferguson uncharacteristically lost the ball but Ben Foster and Roger Johnson were both on hand to spare his blushes; the former making a great dive to scoop the ball away from the feet of a Sunderland player, and the latter making a goal line clearance when it looked inevitable that the away side would take the lead.

It was a nervy period for Blues and the crowd were getting anxious as the ball kept making its way back to Foster, but that was exactly what led to the first Blues goal: Foster cleared it high up field with one of his massive kicks; Jerome flicked the ball on superbly and Larsson ran on. Confusion between Mignolet and Bardsley allowed Larsson to sneak a foot in on the end of the box and the ball rolled into the back of the net - 1-0 to Blues and just the boost we needed.


The second half saw immediate Sunderland pressure but some very un-clinical finishing; some super Ben Foster saves and some last ditch defending saw that Blues maintained their one goal lead. Phillips, who struggled to get into the game, was substituted and Hleb filled the gap, and just five minutes later he provided the pass that set p the second goal. After some neat passing by Blues the ball fell to the feet of Hleb, who instead of running on found Gardner free on the edge of a box. Craig picked up the ball and hit hard with his left foot, which bounced in front of their Sunderland keeper and into the back of the net to give Blues a two-goal lead.


By then, you could tell it was Blues who would run out winners, and they saw the final fifteen minutes of the game out seemingly comfortably. Man of the match Larsson, on his 100th Premier League appearance, left the field to a standing ovation and a few chants of "sign him up" rang from the Tilton as the game came to a close.

It's not often we're the most clinical team, but today proved that goals win games and no matter how much possession you have or how many shots you have, it takes goals to win games and fortunately Blues were able to score two of them today.

Three points in the right direction, two goals scored and a clean sheet which will have done wonders for the back four and England's number one in goal. Well done Blues, another win should surely do it now!

Full Time: Birmingham City 2-0 Sunderland

Thinking of Wembley

I think we should have guessed what the game would turn out like when kick off went wrong. Or when Newcastle went 1-0 up after a minute and forty seconds.. What really did it for me though, was when Stephen Carr nearly impaled someone sitting in the Family Stand when he angrily threw a pitch fork over the advertising hoardings. In short: tonight just wasn't our night.

Going one nil down so early on in the game is real confidence knock, especially to a team with one eye on Wembley and the other on not picking up any injuries. But after that early blip, we pretty much ran the rest of the first half. We had the majority of the possession and were getting in good places, but we just couldn't find that killer ball and we're lacking any form of shot on target. But then again, so were Newcastle, it was just lucky breaks and bad defending from Blues than got them their early goal that proved very costly for the home side, and very beneficial to the travelling Geordies.

The flag happy linesmen didn't really help the shots on target total though, who rose their arm pretty much every time Zigic went near the ball. Surely he's not that stupid to be offside that many times, but I guess we won't know until we see the game again... which I doubt many of us will be doing any time soon!
Obafemi Martins looked lively again like he did in the Stoke game at the weekend, but lacked the cutting edge. His control is brilliant though: if only Cameron Jerome had that touch! He seemed to overdo it at times too, much like team mate David Bentley, who strangely won man of the match. He wasn't at the races tonight and went missing at times during the first forty-five, and when he did get the ball, granted he put in some decent crosses and did some good running, but sometimes he just overdoes it and tries to do too many fancy turns: just get it in the box Bentley!


It was a pity the first half had to end, as Blues were the team in control and the team who shaded the half; despite lack of real chances as other than a Gardner shot after a nice passing move went just over, we didn't really have too much to shout about. The second half again started badly for Blues as they went two goals behind after a goal from Leon Best. One goal, we may have been able to do, but two seemed pretty impossible - and the rest of the game proved this.

Heads dropped as Newcastle began to seize the game into their control. Blues tried to get back into it but with no avail. Roger Johnson almost did a Wayne Rooney when the ball fell to him just outside the area but it fell agonisingly wide of the post, and the defender walked away to chants of 'Rooney! Rooney!' from the Tilton. Zigic also came close a number of times, especially with a header that went just over the bar, and Roger Johnson again came close when he headed the ball hard from a corner, only for his effort to fall straight to Harper in the Newcastle goal.

With 20 minutes to go Blues began to surge forward more, with Cameron Jerome - who came on earlier in the half in place of Martins - causing problems. A few corners, offsides and Newcastle falls (over thin air) later, and it seemed that two goals from the home side really was too much to ask, and the game finished 0-2 to the away side - only the third home defeat all season for Blues.


The Premier League can be pushed to one side for a moment now as we have the FA Cup game against Sheffield Wednesday at the weekend, and a Wembley date the Sunday after. Nothing really went our way tonight and credit where its due - Newcastle simply wanted it more than we did, although we had enough possession to create, we just didn't.

Winning three on the bounce just isn't our thing anyway...

Full Time: Birmingham City 0-2 Newcastle United

Goal scoring issues: resolved

Our problem is scoring goals and that's been our problem for a while now. However in the two games prior to this match we'd actually scored six goals in total, playing the fan-favoured 4-4-2 formation, as a posed to scoring one or maybe even two if we were lucky playing Alex's preferred 4-5-1 layout. Sometimes, the more defensive option is needed, but sometimes; the fans are right. Most of us would rather lose 2 or 3 nil trying to win a game and going all out, than being really defensive all game and just losing 1-0.

Tonight wasn't much different. We set out in a 4-4-2 formation up against Manchester City's tremendous attacking line-up of 4-3-3, with Silva, Tevez and Dzeko all starting up front. Scary, but nothing should phase Blues nowadays. Unfortunately though, we let Man City get a very slopping goal in the first few minutes coutosy of Carlos Tevez and some sloppy defending. The one thing you don't do is let Silva and Tevez have their own way, and we did just that, and left only ourselves to blame.

Never to be shot down though, we kept going at it, and eventually got the equaliser through Nikola Zigic, who had looked lively all game. After coming close with an excellent but casual volley minutes before, Zigic took advantage of some questionable Man City defending from a Bentley free-kick and slide the ball through Joe Hart's legs to put the Blues on level terms.


In between Zigic's chance and Zigic's goal was a heart stopping moment: Barry Ferguson turned and fell to the ground in agony. From where I was sitting I could see the pain on his face, and it did not look good. The whole ground as one watched with their heart in their mouths and their head thinking about the Carling Cup final and relegation battle, and watched on as Sir Barry eventually rose to his feet, limping slightly, to carry on with the game. Relief all round.

There was another, more serious, injury later on in that half which saw seven minutes added time. Micah Richards and Nigel De Jong collided, leaving Richards out on the floor with a scary head injury, and was stretchered off with Kolo Toure coming on to replace him.

After playing well Blues were again the masters of their own downfall, conceding a free-kick right on the edge of the area. I said before Kolarov took it that he would score. I was right, and he did score. The wall wasn't strong enough for his bullet of a shot and we should have been aware of that. So we had to do it all over again in the second half, yet again!


If we started the first half in the same way we started the second half we would be laughing. Not for the first time we came straight out the blocks and went for it. Bentley and Carr were a joy to watch down the right hand side and an equalising goal came agonisingly close a number of times. Kevin Phillips came on to save the day again, and gave a little helping hand towards the goal by winning a penalty.

When I first saw it, I thought we were lucky but after seeing replays you can see why the referee gave it. Add that to the fact we've had some complete stonewallers turned down this season, not I nor any other Bluenose cared about the nature in which we were awarded this penalty. Joe Hart did his usual distracting techniques but Craig Gardner gave him the eyes and blasted it down the middle to equalise. After that, we honestly could have gone on to win it, but City came so close at the death with yet another free-kick from Kolarov who shot just inches wide.


Also, it was great to see England's number two back at St. Andrews last night. He came, he conceded, he danced. And he also left with a black eye! There's only one Joe Hart!

In the end it was a great result and a good game, which either team could have won in the end. From our point of view it was a great point, and we'll take that performance and the two that came before it into Sundays 'six pointer.' And hey, we score goals now! What's there to worry about...

Full Time: Birmingham City 2-2 Manchester City

Footnote:
Thumbs up top the guy who jokingly shook the hand of every steward in front of block 6.
Thumbs down to the snatch squad who fronted up to him and frog marched him out.

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)

We're on our way

With the team still high on a rare win away on Tuesday, they were looking to pick up another in the FA Cup at Millwall today - and they did just that! Changes were made with Foster given a well deserved rest, Scott Dann made captain and the rest of the defence being dropped to make way for Parnaby, Murphy and Jiranek. The midfield was attacking with Gardner, Mutch, Beausejour and Hleb starting, and Derbyshire partnering Zigic in attack.

The players in the team all had a point to prove, but it was the home side who started better, but they weren't able to convert the chances they had. They paid for their lack of clinical finishing when Blues went on a counter attack in the 17th minute with Beausejour sliding the ball through to Derbyshire who calmly chiped the ball into the net from a wide angel - a top finish from a striker who deserved his chance.


After the setback, Millwall continued to press, but the Blues defence coped reasonably well with what was thrown at them, and again Millwall were made to rue their missed chances when Blues got their second of the game: Beausejour again helped in the making, as Derbyshire was brought down on his run towards goal after a neat ball through from the Chilean. Murphy stepped up and beautifully looped the ball over the wall and into the net to give the away side a comfortable lead.

Blues were playing with a aura of confidence now and more chances came their way. A Gardner free-kick was parried away and Derbyshire almost got onto the loose ball before it was blocked by a Millwall defender. The shape of the Blues midfield was causing the Lions the most problems; Hleb went wherever he pleased and kept the ball moving, Gardner's surging runs forward gave a real threat to the Blues attack, Mutch's distribution and eye for space was key, and Beausejour had one of his best games in a Blues shirt, always going forward and tracking back when needed.

Milwall got back into the game as the half wore on, and looking for a response got a couple of corners and a handful of chances; with James Henry's shot from far out nearly getting his team back into the game, and an offside goal as well - deemed the correct decision after replays were shown.


But Blues punished the home side again just before half time. Matt Derbyshire was in the right place at the right time once again to finish calmly after a 1 on 1 from a piercing through ball from Gardner. The away side finished the half 3 goals to the good and oozing with confidence.

With Millwall not only looking for a response but now desperately needing one, they came out the blocks quick and had a succession of chances. A penalty was awarded to the home team which was labelled by commentators as "very soft", but maybe luck was on our side as the penalty as struck poorly and Maik Taylor was able to save it, and it was cleared for a corner, which prompted a goal-mouth frenzy, with shots galore and the ball finally being cleared off the line and away to safety. Clearly, it was just not Millwall's day.

With Beausjour searing for the goal that he deserved,it was clear that the fourth goal was not very far away at all. But much to the Chilean's disappointment, it wasn't him that scored it. Fahey, who was substituted of in place of Hleb, put in a brilliant cross on his wrong foot and Jerome who had just came on for Zigic headed the ball home; a brilliant day at the office for Blues. It didn't stop Millwall trying though, and as fans headed for the exits, they got a deserved consolation from Schofield in extra time.

This will do our confidence the world of good going into Tuesday's important Carling Cup semi-final first leg: two away wins on the bounce, we couldn't possibly make it three, could we?

Full Time: Millwall 1-4 Birmingham City

A little bit of luck and a lot of character

Handball? Maybe. Foul? Could have been. Offside? Possibly. Absolutely brilliant? Yes yes and yes again. Once again our never say die attitude and not knowing when to give up paid off, and we got a really, really big point tonight.

With the irony of Manchester United fans labelling us cheats, I've found it hard to construct thoughts into a proper blog post because I'm laughing so much. It really is brilliant isn't it; in fact if it was offside, it it was a foul and if it was handball, I'm glad. Actually, I hope it was all of them because it would make it even funnier. I think they call it karma...

I wouldn't say either team truly 'deserved' anything but really no one 'deserves' anything out of a game unless they play the other team off the park. Man United started well, which was to be expected; even as the home team you have to expect a team like United to come at you. But Blues didn't just gift United the ball and let them do what they pleased with it, those players actually fought for the ball and for each other, and didn't stop until the final whistle - something which was missing from the previous game against Wolves.


In fact, everything that was missing in the blip in the previous game was back again. The desire was clear in all the players and they stepped their game up a notch, like we always do when the big boys come to town. Ben Foster had a little something to prove after not having the best of times at Man United; and with a few good saves and a solid performance, he left the field with a smug smile on his face.

The Blues defence were again rock solid, and the only times they were torn apart were for Berbatov's goal and for a spell after United's goal when they had the stuffing knocked out of them a little. Other than that, it was akin to the shut out against Chelsea a few weeks ago, with Roger Johnson and Scott Dann winning plenty of balls in the air, coping well with an off the pace Wayne Rooney, and Ridgewell and Carr doing a superb job too.

The midfield really gave it their all, and Bluenose Craig Gardner could have even given his team the lead in the second half, when a short corner was played back to Bowyer, whose blocked shot found Gardner but he could only manage a shot straight at Van Der Sar. Barry Ferguson ran the show again and picked up man of the match, which is getting quite boring now actually! He drives the team forward and will pick out a pass no one else could see, as well as picking out the easy passes to keep the game flowing, in short, he's just brilliant. Jean Beausejour also known as Dave - for ease - got a start, and had a great game. He's someone we need: a player that can beat a man, a player with pace, and a player with a good cross on him, and hopefully last night gave him a bit of practise. I was impressed.


Although Berbatov's goal knocked it out of Blues a little, you can't fault their attitude. Heads dropped a little, but the desire was still there and those players kept on pushing until the final whistle, where they got a reward for all their hard graft; and we have Roger Johnson, Nikola Zigic, Lee Bowyer and a little bit of luck to thank for that.


Maybe it was handball, it could have been a foul leading up to the goal, and it probably was offside, but throughout the game I was thinking "are we ever going to get any luck?" and we may have go tit in the 89th minute... and about bloody time too.

With another big game against a top team Saturday, a repeat of this performance wouldn't go amiss, and after all; anything can happen at St. Andrews (maybe sometimes with a little bit of help from the officials).

Full Time: Birmingham Ciy 1-1 Manchester United

What a comeba... almost

It's the 'summarising-points-because-it's-tuesday-night-and-i'm-tired-(and weary)-blog-post' ...

1. Up until we came back - again - we were very poor indeed. We were simply not good enough. We weren't at the races. We were playing at 10 miles per hour and Stoke at 90. It was too similar to Saturday in that we let the opposition come on to us way too much. Last season we showed how well we play when we take control of the game and get a hold of the ball. We need to do that again.

2. We only get the belief when we go 2-0 down. Why?! Two goals down, especially away from home, is a mountain to climb! We may as well start to game two goals down the way were going - it started off as a light hearted joke last season against Everton when we got it back to 2-2. But then we did it again, and the more we do it, the less 'good' the comeback feels and the more serious the problem becomes.


3. Criticise Keith Fahey all you like, but when he came on he changed the game. He came on, sporting a nice little moustache, and was assertive, quick, and passed the ball around well. He got into great positions and his goal was as perfect as you like. The way he controlled it to the way he finished it was sublime - great way to score his first Premier League goal, too bad he couldn't celebrate it like he deserved to! Now give the guy a break.

4. Dave (aka Beausejour) was ineffective tonight. After what we've seen of him so far he does look promising, but he was off the pace tonight and needs to learn he doesn't have as much time on the ball in the Premier League. He will be a great player, I think most can see that, we just need to teach him how to be a great Premier League player.

5. We seem to have a knack of rounding off good goalkeepers and making them into great ones. Ben Foster was on top form tonight - and he needed to be - he puts his heart on his sleeve and gets stuck in there, much like the defence in front of him. He shows no fear in going to collect the ball, and although some of his kicks tonight and one time where he made the wrong decision and Fuller nearly scored, he was brilliant, and kept us in the game first half and at the start of the second half as well.


6. Craig Gardner. Where do I start with him? He had some brilliant shots tonight, namely the free-kick and the shot that was tipped over the bar just after we had got it back to 2-2. He shows something in the centre of midfield that Hleb doesn't show, and that's a real fight. It's all well and good Hleb doing the little flicks and tricks and the 'perfect passes' but when it comes down to it, sometimes you need someone who will just get their head down and drive forward on his own, and like Hleb, he can also pull off moments of magic where you just stand and stare in admiration. Thank you Aston Villa.

7. Credit has to go to Ricardo Fuller and his 100th goal in British football. It was a lovely solo run and a brilliant strike to finish it off. He is a well-rounded striker and a brilliant shooter of the ball, and you could do nothing but admire the goal he scored today. I almost applauded it but then I remembered he had just scored it against my team.


8. Pulis got what he wanted, then. I'd say Clattenburg had a decent game, but when Stoke called it, they got it. I'll say not much more on the matter other than managers do effect referees decisions, it's just normally the Wengers and Fergusons of this world that are the ones affecting them.

9. You can dress it up which ever way you like, but we certainly are in a relegation battle this season. No unbeaten runs, no 'invincibles', and unlike last season, no dead certs to g down. There are more than a handful of teams that could face the drop this season, and unfortunately it looks like we're one of them; but that doesn't mean we haven't got enough to beat the drop.

10. Well Blues, you did it again, although this time it didn't quite work. The next few games are extremely tough, but nothing is impossible in football. Nothing.

Full Time: Stoke City 3-2 Birmingham City

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

Craig Gardner: Five Minute Man... and the rest

Hleb must have wondered what he’d got himself in to at the weekend when he saw his new side lose 3-1 to relegation candidates and local rivals West Brom. The same could be said again when he walked out onto a pitch of just over 9,000 at St. Andrews last night, being used to crowds of much over 80,000 back in Spain.

At least the score didn’t replicate that of Saturdays, though, as Blues ran out comfortable 3-1 winners over their League 1 opposition MK Dons.

That ‘it’s going to be a long night’ feeling was felt by most in the opening ten minutes. That changed abruptly when Michel pulled up with a knee injury and was replaced by Craig Gardner.

That one man won the game for Blues, and rightly got Man of the Match. As soon as he came on, the game picked up pace, and three goals were scored in quick succession; Gardner fed a great ball to Beausejour who found Hleb who in turn calmly and brilliantly found the back of the net.

The second Blues goal came just minutes later, and it was Zigic who got his first goal in a Blues shirt, and it was Beausjour who provided the cross – who had a superb home debut.

Gardner got a well deserved goal of his own, again just moments later, with one of his trademark long-range shots. Within the space of five minutes, Craig Grdner had effectively won the game for Blues.

MK Dons would have been forgiven for rolling over and letting Blues walk all over them, but credit to them as they were resilient through out, and prevented ahy more Blues goals being scored in the second half, even with chances galore from players such as Derbyshire, Zigic and debutant Jiranek.

The Dons got a small consolation near the end of the game as Wlbraham slotted home with ten minutes left. However a consolation was all it was, as the home team went on to be 3-1 winners on the night, and book themselves a place in the last sixteen of the Carling Cup – where it starts to get exciting!

All the Blues players had a great game; particularly impressing were Hleb – it’s brilliant seeing him in a Blues shirt! Beausejour – he is already proving to be a great winger, even if it was only against lower league opposition. Fahey – who I thought had a good game in his favoured position of centre-midfield. Murphy – who now back from injury has played important parts in both the cup games so far, and of corse the man of the moment Craig Gardner – I think seeing him to us was the best thing Villa have ever done for us.

Full Time: Birmingham City 3-1 Milton Keynes Dons

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

Not brilliant; but definitly resilient

Hitting the ground running is not one of Blues’ strongest points, and that was shown again yesterday as they had to come from behind yet again, but this time to collect all three points, and carry on that all important home form from last season into the new season.

Match of the Day shows as little of Blues games as it can - it appears to be some kind of unwritten rule they have at the BBC - but showing about five seconds (literally) of the first half from yesterday was probably just about right. Both teams created little in the opening 45 minutes, and Blues seemed to be succumbing to Blackburn’s game of keeping the ball in the air; much to the frustration of the Blues crowd. However, both teams did play the first half at quite a pace, making for a rather end to end game.

Starting his first game for the Blues was Nikola Zigic, and it was good to see that we didn’t do the obvious all the time; which would be to hoof the ball up top ‘Allerdyce-style’ and hope Zigic got onto it. On the contrary; I only remember a few occasions that he actually won the ball in the air which is ironic to say the least, given that he was the biggest player on the pitch. He’s much better with the ball at his feet as he has a brilliant footballing brain, and speaking in the programme it’s interesting to note that he said that he will “just fit in with the tactics.” Clearly, this man is intelligent, and is willing to do all he can to play the best he can for Blues, and he is willing to fit into any formation we play.

The second half started much brighter, with Birmingham coming out with all guns blazing. But that wilted a little on the 49th minute, as Blackburn were awarded a penalty after some shirt-pulling and man-handling from Zigic, who took his punishment without any argument; clearly knowing he was in the wrong.

After coming so close to saving Darren Bent’s penalty against Sunderland last weekend, Foster again chose to dive the right way and this time saved the penalty expertly; palming the shot onto the cross bar and away to safety. This was treated like a goal by the Blues fans, who cheered and chanted ’England’s number one.’ He was called into action again just moments later, tipping the ball away for a corner. Blackburn eventually beat Foster, as Nzonzi headed home from the corner.

But only three minutes later, Blues found an equaliser: a brilliant cross from James McFadden found the foot of Craig Gardner, and Blues were back in the game again. The eventual winner came again from that man Craig Gardner, who found the ball at his feet with as much space as he could’ve wished for, only 25 yards out from goal. And after taking the ball on a little he let rip a fierce shot, which trickled past the then furious Paul Robinson and into the back of the net, sending St. Andrews wild again.

After a few nervous moments towards the end of the game, Blues finished the game winners; maintaining their brilliant home form that made sure they finished in the top 9 last season. Although they had to come from behind again, Blues showed their resilience that they displayed countless times last season, and their never-say-die attitude bodes well with all Blues fans… we just wish we didn’t always have to come from behind this often!

Full Time: Birmingham City 2-1 Blackburn Rovers