Right On Track

The past week has been a fruitful one for Birmingham City. A resilient performance and a stalemate against local rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers in the FA Cup earned them a replay, and that was followed by consecutive victories in the Championship; first against Ipswich at home where a last gasp winner sealed all three points, and then yesterday against Milwall in a six-goal demolition of The Lions at The Den.

The midweek fixture against Ipswich, although not an exhilarating performance, still saw Blues pick up the much needed three points and left us just outside the play-off places, still with a game in hand. Nikola Zigic was highly instrumental in the victory, bagging two goals. After putting his side ahead, a brilliant piece of lone skill by Lee Martin put the away side back on level term going into half time. After being denied a late penalty, Ipswich were then cruelly denied a point when Zigic scored his second goal of the game from close range to pick up all three points, much to the delight of the Birmingham fans.

Image: bcfc.com

An away trip to Milwall then topped off a perfect footballing week. Curtis Davies’ header put Blues in front before Milwall went down to ten men after an incident involving Nikola Zigic and Shane Lowry, the latter having no complaints when he was sent for an early shower. The red mist descended once again on Milwall as they went down to nine men, this time for a tackle on Zigic by Alan Dunne, making the Serbian even less popular and angering the home fans who became severely angry at the referee’s decision.

Blues then made sure the match was beyond Milwall, as Keith Fahey’s perfectly timed ball found Marlon King who slotted the ball into the net. Chris Burke then compiled more misery onto The Lions, firing home to make it 3-0 Blues and no way back for the hosts. Two goals in quick succession from first Adam Rooney and then King’s second goal of the match sent the travelling Blues fans into away day dreamland, and substitute Nathan Redmond completed the stunning away victory by scoring a sixth, and heaped mounting pressure on Milwall who now sit dangerously just above the trap door of the relegation zone.

Two games, two wins, six points, and eight goals. It’s been a tremendous few days for Birmingham City and this should act as a major confidence boost ahead of the trip to Wolves for the FA Cup third round replay on Wednesday. Blues are still unbeaten in 2012 and now, sitting just outside the play offs, are right on track for a promotion chase as we enter the last few months of the season.

Image: bcfc.com

Impressive Displays All Round

An enjoyable afternoon for all - excluding Millwall - at St. Andrews earlier on as a comfortable 3-0 victory saw Blues soar into the top half of the table. A hat-trick from on-loan striker Chris Wood as well as some stand out performances from a number of others made sure Blues fans went home happy today. Here are some points I picked up from today's game:

Hat-trick Hero
1st March 2008, Birmingham City 4-1 Tottenham Hotspur. That was the last time a Blues player scored a hat-trick, with Mikael Forssell the hero that day scoring with his left foot, his right foot and his head to complete ‘the perfect hat-trick’. Three years on and loanee Chris Wood finally gave the Blues fans a hat-trick to cheer about, and in some style too. The first came just before the half-hour mark when Jean Beausejour slid the ball into the path of Wood to slot home his third goal in as many games. The aerial presence of Wood threatened the Millwall defence throughout the game, yet it was his feet they needed the watch out for as he doubled the score line when the ball fell to him in the area and he calmly fired home. The third goal was the best of the three: the ball found its way to Marlon King who controlled well and held it up before passing to Chris Burke who went on a great run. He looked up just in time to see Wood running in at the far post and put in an inch-perfect cross which found the head of the New Zealand international who completed his hat-trick. The 19-year-old looked confident, controlled and strong throughout. Man of the match and rightly so.

A case for the defence
Boaz Myhill, Stephen Carr, Curtis Davies, Steven Caldwell, Liam Ridgewell: a back-line that, on paper, oozes strength, experience and leadership; and we saw that on the pitch today. Myhill, although coming under criticism in recent games, was suitably flawless. Although the threat Millwall posed was not too great, the saves he had to make he pulled of professionally and will have done his confidence the world of good. As for the rest of the defence, a clean sheet was exactly what they deserve and after brilliant defensive headers from Davies and equally great sliding tackles by Caldwell, coupled with Carr and Ridgewell’s impressive forward play, we have a defence here who are extremely experienced and more than capable of keeping clean sheets in this division.

Refreshing Wingers
It is really refreshing to see wide players running at the defence, but not just running, actually taking their man on. I don’t tire of complementing Jean Beausejour, who was fantastic yet again on the wing. His off the ball work as well as on the ball work is excellent, and he ran Chris Wood close to man of the match today. On the opposite wing Chris Burke, although slightly anonymous for the first ten minutes, really got into the game and was influential particularly in the second half. His run and then perfect cross for the third goal shows exactly why we brought him to Blues.

Nullifying the threat
I wouldn’t say that 3-0 flattered us, because we worked hard all game for the goals. But Millwall’s threat at the other end of the pitch wasn’t too strong. Either that or our defence just coped with it superbly well. Myhill was called upon in the early stages of the game when former Blues player Hameur Bouazza’s freekick was saved by the Welshman. Millwall also rattled the post courtesy of a fizzing shot from Liam Feeney, and Bouazza came close again in the second half but was adjudged offside before he could shoot. The later stages of the second half certainly saw Blues put under pressure, but Myhill and the rest of the defence were able to cope with the late surge by the Londoners and kept a well-deserved clean sheet.

Stars of the show
The obvious stand out performer was Chris Wood whom, as I previously mentioned, not only scored three goals but put in a more than decent shift alongside first Adam Rooney and then Marlon King. The latter, who made his debut for the Blues today after recovering from injury, didn’t have much time to show what he had to offer but instantly impressed the Blues faithful with perfect control and brilliant hold up play. King will be a great partner for any of the strikers we have at Blues and having a proven goal-scorer fit and in the team can only be good. As I’ve already mentioned Beausejour he probably doesn’t need another mention, but two other midfielders I was suitably impressed with today were Morgaro Gomis and Jonathan Spector. The former was back in the side after recovering from injury and ran the midfield superbly. His link up play with Beausejour was second to none and I hope the knock he picked up near the end of the game isn’t too serious. On to Spector, who was all over the pitch this afternoon putting in a superb shift for the team. In recent appearances, in my opinion, he has been much more invisible, but today you could see the work he was putting in and he deserves to be praised for it. Steven Caldwell also impressed, putting in brilliant tackles to make sure he and his team kept a clean sheet. Honorable mentions go to the rest of the team who all played well today.

Final Points
It’s not often you come out of St. Andrews smiling after winning 3-0, let’s hope we can make it a regular occurrence! Attacking football, wingers who beat their man, hat-tricks and all that whilst still having a strong defence… I think I like the Hughton revolution.



Full Time: BLUES 3-0 Millwall
Goal Scorers: Wood (29) (62) (90)
Star Man: Chris Wood - reasons above
Next Up: SC Braga at home - Europa League Group Stages

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