Crunch Time

It’s been said before by many a Bluenose and I will reiterate it here for what won’t be the final time I’m sure: what a season it’s been so far. You can take away a lot from a football club. You can take away the money, you can take away the star players, you can even take away some of the fan base, who detach themselves from a club when they become uninterested.

But one thing you can never take away from the fans who remain, the players on the pitch or the manager in the dugout, is passion for the game, and pride for the shirt. This season we’ve seen some ultimately brilliant performances, some sensational goals and passing play and although we’ve hit bad patches, we must remember that every team goes through at least one rough spot a season.

But Blues seem to be getting over the bump in the road to promotion and if last night’s performance is anything to go by, it shows that we can win when the pressure is on us. It might not be perfect, but then it never has been.

A shaky start meant bottom of the league Doncaster found themselves in front, with Frederic Piquionne scoring past Boaz Myhill with just four minutes of the game gone. Not the be underestimated, the determined basement club went in search of a second, but this always leaves the defence open to a counter attack which Blues took full advantage of.

After waking up, the away side Blues began to threaten the Donny backline, with Marlon King hitting the bar before David Murphy equalised from the resulting corner, sending the travelling Blues fans wild and increasing the volume further from that section of the ground.

Taking control, the promotion pushers went in search for a second, and it looked to be coming when King was put through on goal. But taking one touch too many, the striker skipped past Carl Ikeme and looked to have been caught, falling down and claiming a penalty. Yet the referee had other ideas; and booked King for diving – much to the player’s disbelief.

Blues continued their slick attacking play after the break, with Nikola Zigic coming close to putting his side in the lead on more than one occasion but with Ikeme in the Rovers net in good form, it looked as if it would take something a little bit special to beat him for a second time; and when you want a moment of class, there’s no one more willing than Chris Burke to provide it for you.

Some quick interchanges between strike pairing Zigic and King fed the Scot the ball on the edge of the box and, cutting in from the right, he unleashed a perfect curling shot which slotted right past the stretching Ikeme.

Blues were hungry for a third, and with the 1,600 travelling Bluenoses in full voice the Doncaster resistance looked to have been well and truly broken, with Blues in complete ascendancy. Burke again tried his luck from range not once but twice and came close both times, and with the minutes to go Murphy’s delightful ball over the top to King saw the striker beat the offside trap and, with no Rovers player tracking his run, he went alone and sweetly struck the ball to slot past Ikeme for the third Blues goal of the night to wrap up all three points and send Blues into fourth place.

With one game in hand over the teams around them, Blues have their fate in their own hands as we enter the final games of the season. But I think we can all agree, whatever happens, we have surpassed all expectations set at the start of what we thought was going to be a season of transition, that has turned into a season filled with triumph. And it’s not over yet.

Image: BCFC.com

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly... and the three points!

After a series of defeats a much-welcomed home game, although needed, put pressure upon a team who really needed to start picking up points again. As it usually is in these type of ‘must win’ situations, the game grinded out a result rather than producing a performance full of goals and free-flowing football. But with that being said, points on the board are all that matter and that’s exactly what Blues ended up with, although in true Birmingham style; they left it late.

It was all about getting the right result and to do that we needed goals. Of late we’ve not been hitting the back of the net, and although chances have been created the final touch has been missing. But we were again left ruing our missed chances when a quick counter attack saw Doncaster take the lead, further frustrating Chris Hughton and the fans after we had more than enough chances to go ahead before Marc-Antoine Fortune put Rovers in front.

Yet, credit where it is most certainly due, Blues kept on at it and the equalising goal was testament to their dogged attitude and never say die spirit. The chasing down and harrying of Carl Ikeme and Habib Beye by Chris Burke and Marlon King allowed the former to dispossess the on-loan Villa man, passing straight to King who duly slotted home.

Advantage Blues, and after pushing for a winner they finally reaped the rewards of their hard work just two minutes from time. A superb move saw Burke again set up King who coolly slid the ball through Ikeme’s legs as St. Andrews breathed a sigh of relief and picked up three points which Blues’ performances deserved. The good, the bad, the ugly; the only way Blues know how.

And finally...

The Good
Two goals from a striker, two assists by Chris Burke and a glimpse of that fighting spirit we’ve been missing for a couple of games. Guirane N’Daw especially impressed on his first league start; a real fighting midfielder who doesn’t take any flack.

The Bad
We really need to learn to take our opportunities. Unlike last season, we are now seeing some brilliant build up play – thanks to more attacking-minded wingers – but we just don’t seem to know how to finish the chances. Target practice is a must!

The Ugly
People booing one of our own players. Or player, should I say. I never agree with booing, no matter how bad they as a team or as individuals have played. So people booing Keith Fahey when he came on as a substitute made me disappointed of a section of our fans. I like Fahey. He’s not world class but I’ll defend him because I honestly think he is a good player; he’s neat, he’s tidy and he’ll even get stuck in. Granted you don’t have to get behind every single player but booing someone when they’ve not even kicked a ball is definitely uncalled for and took a bit of a shine off what was otherwise a positive second half. You support the whole team; don’t make someone an exception just because you don’t think he’s not as good as the rest. There’s a reason why first McLeish and now Hughton put him in the starting eleven more often than not.