A Week To Forget

Birmingham’s promotion campaign took a slight stumble this week, only managing to pick up one point from two games leaving them just in the top six on goal-difference alone. In a week that saw a 4-1 loss away to bottom of the league Portsmouth and a tough-fought home draw against fellow promotion pushers Cardiff, it is one for Blues to perhaps forget and try to move on from as quickly as possible.

It all looked to be going so well when Nikola Zigic put his side ahead just seven minutes into the midweek game on the south coast, yet Blues were left to rue their inability to put the game to bed when Chris Maguire put Pompey back on level terms early in the second half. The onslaught ensued, as just three minutes later David Murphy was dismissed for a second bookable offence, and namesake David Norris put the struggling side ahead.

As Blues pushed for an equaliser, their depleting defence conceded two more, first from substitute Kelvin Etuhu who had been on the pitch a matter of minutes, and then Marko Futacs more than secured the three points in stoppage time to give his side an almighty lift in their fight for survival.

Blues were not only left to rue their missed chances, but the questionable refereeing decisions which lead to Murphy been sent for an early shower, and the free kick that lead to Portsmouth’s second goal appearing to strike a Pompey arm before falling to Norris. Manager Chris Hughton, never one to lament officiating, stated this as one of the reasons for his team’s loss.

But there was no time to dwell on it, with Cardiff City’s visit to St. Andrew’s imminent, Hughton had a few days to prepare for what everyone knew would be a tough fixture. After a poignant tribute to former-Blue Fabrice Muamba, who continues to recover day by day in hospital after collapsing last week, it was back to business on the pitch with the away side looking the more dangerous in the early stages, but failing to cause too many problems with their inability to beat the offside trap.

Blues failed to get anywhere near their best and on the whole, the first half was uninspiring to say the least. Keith Fahey was being missed by the midfield which seemed no-existant, with balls going straight up to Marlon King and Erik Huseklepp; bypassing the centre of the park. The away side definitely went in at half time the happier, seemingly finding the form again that they have lacked of late.

Yet, the second half saw Blues come out the blocks and attack with some real threat. After failing to get Chris Burke on the ball too often in the first forty-five, the ex-Cardiff man was now getting the ball down the wing and causing problems for the Cardiff back line.

As a result of their attacking play, Blues were awarded a penalty when Jordon Mutch was clearly brought down in the area. Marlon King stepped up to take the resulting spot kick, but was out-witted by David Marshall and the score remained at 0-0.
Erik Huseklepp, back in the side after not being able to play against his parent club midweek, almost made up for King’s failed efforts moments later when he found himself through on goal, but it was Marshall who came to the rescue again for Cardiff to keep the scores level.

The game was becoming more end to end, and after a Cardiff attack was dealt with Burke broke with the ball and motored up the pitch and, with Huseklepp in the six-yard box, he coolly squared the ball to the on-loan striker who scored from close range.

It was a fantastic solo effort by Burke culminating in another assist for the man who was voted in the top ten Championship players by the managers in the league earlier this month.

Blues looked to have done enough to take all three points after a seemingly rocky start, but with just twelve minutes left Cardiff produced a perfect move that meant Blues had to share the spoils; Peter Whittingham’s ball found Captain Mark Hudson who fired past Boaz Myhill, who had been untroubled for most of the afternoon.
On reflection it was a deserved equaliser, but at the business end of the season you want to be winning games – especially your home games – even if you don’t necessarily deserve the three points.

Blues travel to relegation threatened Doncaster on Friday night, hoping to get back to winning ways as the season draws to a close. No more mistakes can be made now as we go into the final stretch of games in our quest for promotion.

Another Disappointing Result

After seemingly wrapping up the three points after 57 minutes, Blues were the masters of their own downfall as they conceded two goals in quick succession to only pick up a point against bottom half of the table side Derby County. Their second home game in as many weeks had another miserable outcome, which felt more like a loss than a draw, and the dejection on the players’ faces at the full time whistle showed it all.

Acquiring the services of Peter Ramage and Caleb Folan – as well as Chris Hughton’s son Cian – before the transfer embargo was ordered after failing to get our accounts in on time, meant that the squad was now much stronger and ready to cope with the last leg of the push for promotion and to maintain a play-off place.

The disappointment of last week’s unfortunate defeat seemed to have been brushed under the carpet by the players as they dominated the opening stages of the game, with Derby rarely getting a sniff at goal and Boaz Myhill seemingly unemployed for the first half. And with less than twenty minutes played, Blues took a deserved lead. Jordon Mutch’s short corner was played to Andros Townsend who cut inside the oncoming Rams defender and shot at goal, with the deflection falling straight to Erik Huseklepp who had the task of easily slotting home to score his first goal in a royal blue shirt.

Creator of the goal Townsend impressed all afternoon, and was instrumental on the wing; skipping past every player he took on with ease and creating havoc for the Derby defence. And the Spurs loanee almost got his first goal for his new side too, but he saw his shot was cleared off the line just in time to prevent Blues from doubling their advantage.

But the home side didn’t have to wait long for that second goal. It was Townsend again the creator, who fed the ball into the path of Marlon King, and the forward added to his tally for the season with a smart finish with just over half an hour left to play.

Looking to be in cruise control, Blues seemed comfortable to go on and finish the game off. But two Derby goals in the space of five minutes, first from Steven Davies and then Theo Robinson, completely shell-shocked them, and they couldn’t muster a recovery, despite an onslaught of Frank Fielding’s goal for the last five minutes of the game. Credit must be given to Derby for an assured come-back, but Blues were largely at fault, especially for the second goal, for switching off at the back.

A controversial moment in the match also saw Nikola Zigic booked for an apparent dive in the penalty area, but replays show that he was caught directly on the knee, and a penalty should have been awarded.

Two disappointing results have left Blues still in the play-offs places – but only just. Concentration now switches to an all-important FA Cup replay against now manager-less Chelsea after their sacking of Andre Villas-Boas yesterday. A home advantage and high confidence will put Blues in the driving seat, but Chelsea may be looking to bounce back from a poor run of results that has left them fifth in the league and outside the Champions League place.

Mixed Results

It’s a funny old game, football.

Such is the demand of the forty-six game a season Championship games come thick and fast, and while on Tuesday Blues were celebrating another fantastic victory over Barnsley, Saturday saw a disappointing defeat and the end to an unbeaten run stretching all the way back to December.

What was most apparent in Tuesday’s clash at Oakwell, and something that has been visible for the last few games, is that we are now much more clinical. Where we were once having 5-10 shots with one or two on target – Peterborough away for example – we now have a much better shots to shots on target/goals ratio.

As such, our three excellent finishes – albeit one handsomely deflected – allowed us to appear a much more clinical side and win the game, with the help of some astute defending. Chris Burke’s deflected shot put Blues ahead in under ten minutes, before an unlikely equaliser from David Cotterill, after the defence had a momentary lapse on concentration and were duly punished.

But Blues found themselves ahead again thanks to a 20 yard shot from Keith Fahey. A man who has booed only months previously had his name sung by the travelling 700 Bluenoses, which is a testament to how much the Republic of Ireland midfielder has changed opinions at St. Andrew’s with his strong performances in the centre of the park.

After commendable performances by all, the home side were limited to chances and as such Blues put the game to bed with twelve minutes left on the clock. Substitute Nathan Redmond beat the keeper from the tightest of angels to seal all three points for Blues and keep their unbeaten run going.

The next couple of days saw two loan singings come in; first, Portsmouth’s Erik Huseklepp was added to Chris Hughton’s charges. The pacey forward left the south-coast struggles with a heavy heart, but determined to do well at his new club. Another addition was made shortly after; this time Tottenham Hotspur’s Andros Townsend joined the ranks, having been on loan at fellow Championship side Leeds United up until his move to B9.

The new signings were set to make an impact as up next at home was a relatively straight-forward match against Championship strugglers Nottingham Forest who, on paper, have a team oozing with talent and experience. The likes of George Elokobi, Dexter Blackstock and Chris Gunter to name but a few. And Blues fans and players alike shouldn’t have been so quick to dismiss this, as they were on the wrong end of a 2-1 score line, bringing not only their unbeaten home run to an end, but their fifteen match unbeaten run to a close as well.

Dexter Blackstock produced the goods for the away side in both halves, whilst sandwiched in the middle was another impressive Chris Burke strike which seemed to offer hope of a victory, before it being snatched away with just under half an hour to go by the team who, ultimately, wanted it more on the day.

Despite the unfortunate defeat, Blues still sit in the play-off places with an extremely favourable goal difference. The FA Cup reply next week may provide a distraction, but it certainly isn’t unwanted. After all, a year ago today was the greatest day in Birmingham City’s history, and another trip to Wembley certainly wouldn’t be a bad thing.