I decided to take the train for this one and caught the 10.31 from my local station Blackwater to Reading and from there changed for the Manchester Picadilly service to Leamington Spa. I love a plan when it comes together and so it was that I arrived on time at ten past twelve where Chris picked me up. I’d finished the latest book I was reading ‘The Tiger’s Wife’ by Téa Obreht and so I thought I would buy a programme at the ground so I’d have something to read for the return journey; talk about going from the sublime to the oh Gor’blimey! We travelled back to the Baginton Oak to pick up Chris’ grandson, Little Jack and had time for a quick pint before heading off to St Andrews where we arrived in plenty of time, parked up in St Andrew’s Street and found ourselves in the Royal George for another scoop. Norwich were playing Chelsea on the big screens and my only hope was that our match between two teams playing in the same colours would be a darn sight more entertaining. Ten minutes to three rolled round soon enough and we headed for our seats.

David Murphy was the only change in the Blues starting line-up from the last league game at Millwall with Ridgewell sidelined with injury. Blues made a sleepy start and were fortunate to not be punished for some sloppy play on nine minutes when Watford’s exciting young forward, Marvin Sordell, beat a poorly executed offside trap. Boaz Myhill came out to narrow the angle which bought enough time for the Blues defence as Sordell neither shot or passed and the ball was scrambled clear.

Burke was tormenting the Watford full back, Carl Dickinson and clearly had the beating of his opponent. A dangerous looking cross from the right from Burke required Scott Loach to palm away for a corner. Marlon King was unlucky to see a shot deflected wide while Watford were offering little in return apart from a weak effort from John Eustace that was more likely to damage the corner flag than the goal netting. Yet another Burke raid led to King setting up Jordon Mutch but the youngster’s curling shot was never going to trouble the man on the scoreboard and the game remained goalless. Another Burke cross towards Mutch looked promising but Lee Hodson intercepted to put the ball out for another corner. Blues were cranking up the pressure and this eventually told on 35 minutes. Once again Burke terrorized the Watford defence and found Keith Fahey on the edge of the area whose first time, in swinging cross was nodded into the top corner by Davies to give Blues a deserved lead. Birmingham comfortably saw the half out to the break with more promised for the second period.

There was a setback for Blues only six minutes into the second half as King clearly pulled up clutching his groin muscle and was immediately replaced by Adam Rooney.

There was little to report up to the hour mark with Blues doing most of the attacking when the game was essentially ended as a contest when Curtis Davies doubled his and the team’s tally with another easy header. A corner by Mutch was lofted towards the far post where Davies rose unchallenged to head the ball back across into the far top corner as easy as you like.

Blues continued to go forward without really threatening too much and there was virtually nothing coming from Watford at this stage. Jean Beausejour should have done better when he found himself clear inside the area after an excellent pass from Keith Fahey who was having an impressive game. The Chilean couldn’t decide whether to stick or twist and chose a rubbish pass in the end straight to one of the grateful Watford defenders. The game was finally put to bed on 81 minutes when Rooney’s header was cleared off the line. The clearance ended up at the feet of Burke who controlled it beautifully powered past a defender and smacked a fierce shot across Loach into the far corner of the Gil Merrick stand net to put Blues 3-0 up. Many of the now thoroughly subdued visiting supporters took their cue to make for the exits with cruel chants of “Time to go, time to go, time to go time to go-o-o” ringing in their ears. Another groundhog day for them and it could have been worse as their goalkeeper, Scott Loach not made an excellent save from substitute Nathan Redmond pushing the teenager’s venomous shot around the post to prevent a fourth goal for Blues.

This was one of the most comfortable wins I’ve witnessed all season. Watford are clearly struggling but they do have good players. Sordell is a fine talent and that fact is widely known. I was also impressed with Prince Buaben especially in the early stages of the game but he faded as the contest wore on and was replaced by Sean Dyche with Chris Iwelumo in the second half. Defender Nyron Nosworthy also caught my eye but Watford will need more of their players setting similar standards if they are to keep clear of relegation trouble because on the evidence of this match and the fixture at Vicarage Road earlier in the season they look a poor side at Championship level.

Birmingham City: Boaz Myhill 7; Jonathan Spector 7, Curtis Davies 9, Steven Caldwell 8, David Murphy 7; Chris Burke 8, Jordon Mutch 6, Keith Fahey 8, Jean Beausejour 6 (Nathan Redmond.84, N/A); Nikola Zigic 7 (Wade Elliott 84, N/A), Marlon King 7 (Adam Rooney 51, 7).

Subs (unused): Colin Doyle, Morgaro Gomis.

Goal: Davies (35, 60), Burke (81)

Watford: Scott Loach 6; Lee Hodson 6, Jonathan Hogg 6 (Ross Jenkins 84, N/A), Nyron Nosworthy 7, Carl Dickinson 5; Adrian Mariappa 6, Prince Bauben 7 (Chris Iwelumo 71, 6), John Eustace 6, Mark Yeates 5; Troy Deeney 6, Marvin Sordell 7.

Subs (unused): Jon Bond, Craig Forsyth, Lloyd Doyley.

Booking: Dickinson

The Good: Excellent win with no real scares to complete a highly satisfactory eight days. Up to sixth in the league and now for the tough bit; staying there!

The Bad: The windy, cold conditions which I feel may have contributed to some scrappy play in parts of this match. However, I think the players are to be commended for coping with the elements well overall.

The Ugly: The sight of King pulling up and wincing in pain as he clearly pulled a muscle in his groin. I hope that this doesn’t mean he’ll be out very long but I rather suspect it does.

Referee: Trevor Kettle 5: Distinctly average at best poor in patches. Too many decisions open to interpretation for both sides. There was one incident near the end in Blues penalty box when frankly I thought the visitors should have been awarded a penalty, there then looked to be a foul the other way as players tussled for the ball and there was then a clear hand ball from a Blues defender just outside the box as the ball was cleared; nothing was given! The linesman on the Kop side, Mr David Plowright was abysmal and assistants can and do drag a referee’s performance down. I can’t really speak for Mr Timothy Wood on the other side of the pitch as I was too far away but overall the refereeing was not of the best in my view. Fortunately, none of the contentious decisions were crucial or game changing so it’s just as well.

Attendance: 18,681 (1,089 away fans)

Bazza

KRO SOTV