"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.

More Of The Same

The stat that greets the eyes of Birmingham City is not a pleasant one: one win in the last nine games in all competitions. After the promising start to the season, namely a fantastic October where Chris Hughton picked up the Manager of the Month award, Blues seem to be dwindling slightly and slowly running out of steam just when they need to pick up the pace.

Two tough away games and two lackluster performances in the past week have seen Blues fall down the table to 14th place in the league. After Sunday’s one-nil loss thanks to a poor display and a trademark Kenny Miller goal, typified by usually reliable Curtis Davies getting himself sent off, it looked to be a completely different story earlier this evening at the KC Stadium, when birthday boy Chris Wood put the Blues ahead just after the half hour mark.

Blues were able to reach half time a goal to the good despite a decent amount of Hull pressure, but it was back to the drawing board just two minutes into the second half when ex-West Brom midfielder Robert Koren equalized for Hull and let the Tigers out of their cage. From there on out Nicky Barmby’s outfit were on the front foot, and despite Blues’ attacking 4-4-2 formation – a statement of intent there by manager Chris Hughton – Hull kept on pressing and scored what turned out to be the winner in the 68th minute courtesy of Aaron McLean, beating Boaz Myhill at the near post.

The two losses paint a bleak picture for Birmingham, however the positives to be taken from the Hull game is, obviously, the fact that we managed to score a goal and also have another 7 shots on target. But as they say, a team could have 100 shots on target and not score, but the stat that matters the most is the goals they actually scored, and at the moment things don’t seem to be clicking for Hughton’s side.

It will be a welcomed break from away games this Saturday when Doncaster come to St. Andrews, where Blues have not lost all season. They will be looking desperately to continue their home form and get their promotion charge back on track, although, it’s looking less likely by the match that we will be able to complete such a feat. But never say never.

no excuses, we were poor

we created pretty much nothing all game, look to have run out of ideas and most, if not all, players are firmly on 'holiday mode' - i am scared about playing aston villa next week, the only thing keeping me from hibernating for a week and waking up after the game on the 25th, is knowing that at least we have something to play for against villa; local pride, 3 points, 'getting our own back' - that sort of thing.

today, we had pretty much nothing to play for other than keep our incredible home form intact - which we did, admittedly, but everything else we did today, or what we didn't do i should say, was very poor indeed. jimmy bullard ran the hull midfield, he'd be a brilliant guy to have in your team if only he wasn't injured half the time! and although it was 'two points dropped,' if anyone deserved to win that, hull did.

they had a fair bit of the possession in the first half, but neither side made much or had many chances. the best chance of the half, and in the end it turned out to be the best chance of the game, fell to hull, only to be denied by a brilliant save by joe hart - how many times have we said that this season. other 'good' chances in the first half fell few and far between, but a long range shot by james mcfadden that was just over, and also a good shots by bowyer and fahey were both saved by hull 'keeper matt duke.

the second half, arguably, was worse than the first. hull probably made more chances, however thankfully, you just couldn't seen them putting any of them away. that, or they we're either offside or playing basket ball (not that the referee noticed..) that last comment brings me onto the referee - mark clattenburg. now i'm never one to blame referees, and in this game i don't lame him; our performance made us drop the points. however he might as well of put on an orange shirt and joined the hull midfield for all he did; he didn't pick up the handballs, he gave everything hull's way; for example when a hull player practically jumped on jerome's back, who got the freekick? who do you think. another incident just before this involved jerome again, and hull city player mcshane, who decided he wanted to jump onto jerome's back - resulting in jerome being penalized for.. well, just being there i think.