VIEW FROM THE SOUTH – ASTON VILLA vs BIRMINGHAM CITY
Apr 26th, 2010 | By Aylesburyblue | Category: Match reports, Matches, Reports By BazzaThey say you don’t always get what you deserve in football and the game can be very cruel sometimes. Never can those two statements have been so clearly demonstrated than in this match. Villa have certainly had their fair share of poor decisions go against them this season and one only has to look at the Carling Cup Final and the FA Cup semi final for evidence of that so it is with exquisite irony that Aston Villa and Martin O’Neill were on the receiving end of a highly fortunate decision when Martin Atkinson, the referee erroneously awarded the home side a late penalty kick that James Milner converted to keep alive their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League. It was a truly dreadful decision that robbed Blues of at least a share of the spoils from an open, exciting and keenly contested game.
Roger Johnson clearly got the ball as he went to ground with Gabriel Agbonlahor in the 81st minute yet Atkinson must have focused his attention on the two players colliding rather than the path of the ball. In a game where to date only Cuellar and latterly Vignal had been booked, three other Blues’ players went into the book in the argumentative aftermath that went on. This was a pity because it was not a dirty game. Stephen Carr got his caution for deliberately scuffing the penalty spot which is behaviour I cannot condone whatever the provocation. Milner stepped up and hammered his kick emphatically straight down the middle gambling that Joe Hart would dive out of the way which he duly did to give Villa a win they did not warrant or deserve.
Villa were not without their chances before the interval but the best of the opportunities fell to Birmingham. Sebastian Larsson found himself one-on-one with Brad Friedel in the ninth minute after Lee Bowyer swapped passes with Cameron Jerome to put the Swede through but when Friedel dashed from his line and forced the Blues’ player wide. Larsson’s touch took him onto his less favoured left foot and he sliced behind from an already impossible angle.
Larsson’s was presented with a better opportunity just afterwards after Richard Dunne allowed Friedel’s gentle throw-out to go past him on the edge of the penalty area. Larsson pounced on the loose ball but failed to strike the ball as cleanly as he would have liked and Friedel scrambled across his line to make a creditable save. Blues were on top and McLeish showed his frustration on the touchline as he threw his arms in the air in exasperation. An excellent cross shot from Gardner who was superb all afternoon, tested the American keeper into another fine save just before the interval.
Joe Hart at the opposite end denied Stilian Petrov and Stewart Downing before producing a brilliant fingertip save to flick a left-foot volley from James Collins over the crossbar in the 34th minute. Birmingham were the better side and should have taken the lead at the start of the second half when three wonderful opportunities came and went.
Jerome, running onto Ferguson’s excellent through ball, saw his shot strike fortunate Friedel in the face as he bore down on goal and, with the Villa defence still in a state of panic, James McFadden cut inside before curling a left-footed effort that Carlos Cuellar deflected wide of the post. From the resulting corner, Downing cleared Ridgewell’s goal bound header off the line. Villa, yet again, had man of the match Brad Friedel to thank for a world class block to prevent Bowyer from scoring in the 67th minute.
Hart later made an excellent save to deny the Villa substitute Emile Heskey with what was Villa’s best chance of the game before Atkinson’s poor late decision granted O’Neill and his players a reprieve they did not deserve.
To say that I’m gutted is an understatement. Blues were the better side in this encounter and were robbed by an atrocious decision that sides near the top of the table seem to get and those lower down the league do not. Birmingham should have won this game today following one of the best performances they have produced in weeks. If we were going to play 4-5-1 the midfield McLeish picked was far better balanced with Larsson restored to the side with Bowyer, Fergusson, McFadden and the excellent Gardner across the park with Jerome up front who led the line well I thought.
With Dann injured, Ridgewell went to centre back to make way for Vignal in the left back berth. Fahey was demoted to the bench where he should have stayed in my view, Why were Michel and Chucho overlooked again? Birmingham should have won this game but once again it was a question of missed chances, fabulous goalkeeping from Friedel and THAT decision. Naturally Alex McLeish was upset with the official’s ruling though remaining diplomatic but as for Martin O’Neill, a man I greatly respect; he has just gone down one thousand per cent in my estimation. How he can possibly argue that Johnson’s tackle where he cleanly takes the ball is a penalty on the grounds that he took the man afterwards is farcical. For heaven’s sake be magnanimous in victory and be fair. Villa were given a huge slice of fortune today and O’Neill would maintain respect by admitting thus. At least we have next season to redress the balance – bring it on!
KRO SOTV
Go cry me a river blue nose!! Took the play from behind = Penalty. Stroll on MUG!
Birmingham have a few more years yet before they will even begin to redress the balance… Birmingham need to concentrate on themselves, and not aston villa. All week, city players were yapping on about beating villa bla bla bla… I didn’t hear diddly squat from Aston villa.
Yesterday was birminghams biggest game of the season, was it villas? Nope, albeit vital that we won. All day, city players were throwing themselves around like nutters into pointless tackles, villa just got on with the game as if it were any other…
its quite sad how your ambitions as a club are only to be the biggest in the midlands… Its not going to happen if all you ever focus on is beating aston villa twice a season, the gulf in class was illustrated even more so yesterday. villa didnt play well at all, and were still good enough to hold out and eventually win, though to be fair it wasnt a penalty at all. Birmingham played well and couldnt even score a goal when you had numerous guilt edge opportunites…
Birmingham will never sotv, and never have done… still confuses me to this day why you still sing that…
Thank you Matt (aka cretinous imbecile) for your comment. I can only suggest that you read the rules of Association Football which are quite clear on this issue. Given that all the professional pundits, all ex-players say it wasn’t a penalty and Johnson wasn’t behind Agbondlahor, he was alongside him and won the ball cleanly you seem to be in a minority which includes your partisan manager who refuse to accept the evidence put before them. Enjoy your hollow and pyrric victory; there is always next time. Our day will come and it will be all the sweeter for getting one over morons like you.
KRO SOTV
What pathetic comments from the two Vile fans above. It really shows the difference in class between the supporters. Birmingham are a family club but Vile are scum in every sense. In a derby you expect honesty and fairness that wasn’t shown. Vignal lies down injured after the balls been knocked out but they take a quick thrown in and gain a corner – SCUM!! Johnson did not approach from the back it was a side tackle and won the ball clearly and fairly.
Would everyone please keep the comments civil please.
Thanks.
Kev
Surprised you blue noses know how to use a PC!! As for next time – 6 in a row isnt it ladies!!
Sorry Kev, I thought this was a Birmingham blog. Maybe you should concentrate on keeping the Vilers comments off and stop having a go at one of your own?
Law 12 -
A direct free kick – or penalty if inside the area can be awarded if a player not in possession of the ball tackles a player with the ball in a careless or reckless manner.
Regardless of whether or not the ball was played first, the carelessness of the tackle caused Johnson to also take down Agbonlahor.
Also, stop moaning about it, because if had happened at the other end then you would accept it.
Also didn’t Fahey dive for a penalty against Wigan a few weeks back…..
Same old Birmingham fans…..
Yes Mr Atkinson, Fahey did dive for the penalty against Wigan when they visited St Andrews which I do not condone. I actually state this in my report of that game. All I want, like most right minded fans want, is fairness and consistency from officials which runs to the Villa being badly done to in the Cup competitions this year. I thought they were treated very unfairly. However, they fail to mention that they benefited from poor decisions which went their way at Crystal Palace, a game they should have lost but won because of the officials not knowing the difference between a goal kick and a corner. However, I digress; if you are suggesting that Johnson’s tackle was careless and deserving of a penalty kick then there would be at least a dozen awarded in every game at professional level as Andy Gray from SKY rightly points out. It is of interest that not one of the major ex-player pundits support your interpretation of Law 12 Mr Atkinson. Just accept it was a poor decision.
KRO SOTV
See that proves that Martin Atkinson is a Villa fan.
it was defo NOT a penalty! but we got the 3 points! who cares bout the rest!! Birmingham to your credit were the better team! unfortunately the stats wont say that!
Bazzathebluenose., In the game against Crystal Palace, Palace could and should have been down to 10 men for the last 25 minutes after, a Palace player blatantly elbowed Milner in the face.
On Sunday the Birmingham players were wound up from the start, Carr was an absolute disgrace and what Larsson was doing at the end, God only knows.
Put it this way, if the decision had been the other way, would McLeish have run on the pitch and said “Mr Referee, i refuse to accept it was a penalty, please allow Aston Villa to resume with the ball?”
Would he? No……….. and why not, because he is a hypocrit, just like every manager, player (apart from one incident with Robbie Fowler back in the day) and every fan around the country…….. great if things go for you, rubbish if it doesn’t.
That’s what make’s it the sport it is………. yes I was pissed of about a few decisions that have gone against us this year…….. but i have also accepted the one’s that went in our favour, so in that case i also must accept the decisions against us.
Sorry I upset you Mark, however I didn’t want the comments turning into a slanging match.
I wasn’t particularly having a go at you – but personally I think that we can discuss the points without name calling.
Birmingham are a ‘family club’…..only if your family is inbred and has the iq of a ham sandwich! Get real and stop crying noses, if shoe was on the other foot you’d be spouting your mouths off as you do every year until you get spanked again by the mighty villa. With players like Ferguson, Bowyer and Carr in your team you can only be seen as much as a bunch of mindless thugs as they are. Face it, you are all crying because this was the only game you had left with anything to play for this season and you got spanked, which ok we may not deserved but nonetheless was always going to happen, we’ll see you next year when you can cry a bit more.
Spanked?
JC, whoever he is, obviously had nothing better to do at 04.55 this morning. Probably smoking something illegal which has distorted his mind. Ignoring the comments about our genetics and IQs let’s just say that we were hardly spanked and deserved to win this game but I don’t expect such acceptance from those with stupid tribal tendencies. On a more serious note football should look at solutions to injustices like this by reviewing other sports. I think tennis and cricket have good ideas in this regard with contentious decisions in giving each team or individual in the case of tennis three challenges to go to TV review. I think this would have resolved this issue and have taken seconds to sort out. A corner would have been given and the correct call made. It would also weed out the divers, the hand ball merchants and the cheats. What do others think?
jc ………… what u gonna win this season best u can hope for is a second rate european comp which you wont win in a month of blue sundays …….. gobby played for that penalty as he does everytime he gets tackled
1.bluenosejon – at least were in it mug. What have you lot won in the last 50 years. Not as much as the Mighty Villa.
Now go crawl back into your cave until next year!
All i can say in response to Aston Vile, is “Roll on next season” and we look forward to meeting you at St Andrews