The latest report from Bazza.

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The weather outside is frightful, the result of this delightful! Living as I do on the Surrey Hampshire border the snowfall this week has been very heavy and it is only the last day or so I have been able to get the car out at all. The neighbours in my road diligently cleared the road ourselves as there is no chance of the council coming to do it despite our high Council Tax burden. More snow was forecast and with the temperature at St Andrews -3 degrees Celsius and dropping to -8 by the end of the game I decided that discretion was the better part of valour and stayed at home in the warm to watch the game on the telly.

This was a truly fantastic result which in the end could have been a famous win. It was not looking that way in the early stages where United dominated the first half with the lion’s share of the possession making the Blues players chase shadows for the most part. When they did get it Manchester United pressed hard to retrieve it, a feature of their play that is often overlooked because of their overwhelming talents in other areas. Nevertheless, Birmingham’s willingness to throw their bodies in the way of shots and get their heads on crosses meant that despite all their dominance, United created only one moment of real danger in the first period. A misdirected header by Ridgewell was seized upon by Valencia whose exquisite cross found Rooney in the clear with only Joe Hart to beat. Rooney’s first touch was sublime his second saved by the keeper who spread himself to block the shot with his legs. This was a lucky escape and had we fallen behind at this juncture half way through the half the result would undoubtedly have meant end of unbeaten run. Blues hardly got out of their half until they won their first corner on 38 minutes, the result of a blocking of Jerome’s goal bound shot. The corner was incompletely cleared and headed back towards the goal by Bowyer. The ball ricocheted off the legs of Jonny Evans to Jerome who could hardly miss a gaping target from three yards. Against the run of play Blues were ahead and it was bedlam in our household as I and my two sons celebrated like headless chickens.

The second half was a more even contest with Blues more on the pace. Despite this a spell of pressure around the hour mark resulted in the resolute Blues backline finally cracking. There was a huge element of good fortune about the equaliser although no one could deny that United deserved their goal. Another blocked shot ricocheted to Evra on the left corner of the box. His fierce shot was sadly diverted into his own net by the luckless Scott Dann. There was a flag for offside against Rooney but subsequent pictures show Ridgewell was playing him onside anyway. Mark Clattenburg rightly awarded the goal having consulted his assistant. United didn’t really threaten us after this which surprised me as I was waiting for them to up the tempo and take the points with another goal or two. Remarkably it was Tomas Kuszczak in the United goal who had the most work to do making good saves from Benitez twice and Roger Johnson late on. Unfortunately the shots were all straight at him. A glorious opportunity was wasted by Jerome when we found ourselves three on two. The simple ball inside to Benitez or the straightforward cross shot were spurned and instead he over hit the dinked cross to Bowyer coming in at the far post and the chance was gone.

Six minutes from time Fletcher was dismissed for a cynical tackle on Jerome which prevented the striker engaging in a footrace with Evans as United pressed high up the pitch. He merely hung a leg out as the Blues centre-forward went by; it was deliberate, unsubtle and prevented a counter attack with United out of position. Despite Sir Alex’s whining afterwards the decision by Mr Clattenburg was correct and Fletcher can count himself fortunate that he wasn’t dismissed an hour earlier following a barrage of verbal abuse after he had already been booked for the foul on Bowyer. He was given a talking to instead despite that fact that Larsson was booked for speaking to the assistant regarding the United goal; no friendly chat there then! The young full back Raphael should have gone in the book as early as the third minute for clattering into the back of McFadden and was again warned for persistent fouling after about twenty-five minutes but it was deep into the second half before he was eventually cautioned for an identical infringement to the one ignored after three minutes! Sir Alex as usual, protests too much especially when things don’t go his way. However, even the red-nosed one had to admit that it was a good point for his team and the result was fair as indeed it was. I was watching the match in HD with the advantages that this brings to the enjoyment of the action; the down side is that you get detailed close up shots of the contents of the United manager’s mouth as he furiously chews his gum and the distraction of a forest of hairs festooning from each nostril – A little personal grooming would not go amiss Sir Alex; curbing the filthy habit of a lifetime of chewing gum with mouth wide open is probably asking too much.

The run continues and now represents a club record in the top flight of 12 league games unbeaten. This in itself is a magnificent achievement for which Alex Mcleish, his team and his players deserve their accolades. They are drawing and winning games they would have lost or drawn respectively two years ago and that is the difference between then and now. More of the same next week please – Bravo Brum!

KRO SOTV