Clawing our way to safety

Well we know how to do it the hard way don't we? Before the game, a point would have been a great result for Wolves, but after the game and under the circumstances, it was Alex McLeish who was left smiling after another battling performance by Blues.

In front of a near sell-out crowd the game began at a pace, and it wasn't long until the deadlock was broken under frustrating and at the time controversial circumstances. An awkward ball was played back to Ben Foster whose poor clearance was capitalised on by Stephen Ward, who charged into the box as a determined Foster rushed out of his goal with eyes on the ball. Foster slid in, clawing the ball away from Ward but simultaneously bringing down the player and the referee Kevin Friend – whom certainly didn’t make any friends in Birmingham today – pointed straight to the penalty spot, dishing out a yellow card to the Blues keeper in the process.

As Foster walked back to his goal shaking his head, protests were ignored by the referee from several Blues players, and Steven Fletcher stepped up to the spot as the Blues fans behind the goal sung the name of their goalkeeper in an attempt to put off the Wolves striker. Cameron Jerome pointed to Foster’s left and unfortunately Foster dove that way and Fletcher slotted a soft penalty into the other side of the net to give Wolves a priceless lead in the Midlands Derby after just over five minutes of play.

As the match went on the atmosphere grew incredibly hostile, and you could sense the game would not finish 11 v 11 as players began to get heated and challenges aplenty were flying in, with players squaring up to each other on the pitch, one of which saw Craig Gardner receive a yellow card - Kevin Friend’s inconsistency adding to the frustration of the Blues faithful.

The first big chance for Blues came in the fifteenth minute when they were awarded a free kick in a good position. Larsson stepped up and hit a wonderful shot which he agonizingly saw crash back off the woodwork.

With Larsson sensing a goal he capitalised on the second mistake made by the opposition in two straight home games, when Michael Mancienne was caught in the headlights and Super Seb picked up the ball and fired a brilliantly fierce shot past Hennessey in the Wolves goal to equalise.

The whole ground was now rocking and the already quiet Wolves fans sensed a home victory, and it seemed that way until just two minutes later when Gardner was given a second yellow for an alleged dive. I haven’t seen the replay so I can’t comment but those who have said it was a dive, and if that is the case then it was a stupid thing for him to do, especially being within shooting distance too.

Kevin Phillips was then sacrificed for Jean Beausejour – who had a great game - and Blues reverted to a 4-4-1 formation with Cameron Jerome – who also did a fantastic job and looked completely shattered by the end, like they all did – playing as the lone striker, and Blues faced the next 60 minutes with 10 men, after it looked like they would go on to win it.

The second half was as nerve-wracking as anything, but Wolves didn’t pose any major threat which I’m sure their fans will be annoyed it – I would be. I don’t normally critise players on here (yes, even Villa players) but I will make an exception for Karl Henry, who got nice and dirty and very unsporting. Unfortunately Mr. Friend only saw this once and brandished Henry a yellow card for his troubles. In fact, the man in the middle didn't see much this lunch time, with a blatent a hand in the face of Jean Beausejour being the one that stands out.

Never the less, Wolves really should have taken advantage of the ten man Birmingham, but fortunately for us they were very poor today, and had Craig Gardner not pretended to be playing for Barcelona we would have won that game, as even before the equaliser we seemed to be in the ascendancy.

We now have a four point gap between us and the bottom three, and a seven point gap between bottom of the table West Ham. With the fixtures that the teams below us have to play left, you would think we were safe, but you never know with this league. As long as we battle as we did today – and not make any more silly mistakes – we will once again be dining at the top table with the likes of Manchester United and Arsenal for a third consecutive season.

Full Time: Birmingham City 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers

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