Thinking that transport would be a lot less arduous this weekend, engineering works on the railways between Woking and Clapham Junction put paid to that. Fortunately, the connections weren’t too lengthy and I got up to South Bermondsey with little hassle despite the journey taking a little longer than usual.

The New Den

This game was nothing if it wasn’t eventful. There had been lots of talk in the media about Millwall not having scored a goal since the dinosaurs were roaming the earth and their form being poor and key players injured etc etc and that it was going to be a walk in the park or should I say the Den for Blues with our lads as favourites with the bookies. As we all know, it rarely works out like that and the home side came flying out of the traps and could have gone ahead after only three minutes when Bouazza’s left wing cross found N’Guessan at the near post; a glancing header and I suspect Myhill would have been picking the ball out of the back of the net. As it was, he got far too good a contact and the danger ended up wide. The impressive teenager, Tottenham loanee, Harry Kane thought he had scored when he connected well from eight yards but only a brilliant, last ditch block by Beausejour prevented Millwall taking a deserved lead. It took a similarly timely block by Ridgewell to prevent N’Guessan scoring in similar fashion a little later.

Frankly Millwall were all over us in the first quarter hour of the game aided and abetted by the Blues midfielders’ total inability to keep the ball for more than a couple of passes at a time. Jordon Mutch making his first start for some time was way off the pace and his distribution was frankly shocking. Keith Fahey was little better and neither of our wide men could get into the game with Chris Burke virtually anonymous. Zigic and King were doing alright up front but they were continually having to track back and defend due to the ineptitude of others. Ridgewell was in for Murphy at left back and looked rusty, slow and lacking match fitness and as for Spector, he was struggling for pace with the Millwall wide man.

It was against the run of play that Blues scored the first goal of the game; a free kick delivered into the box by Jordon Mutch to the far post was headed back across goal past David Forde as easy as you like. The marking was non-existent and in an instant all the good work of the early period by Millwall was undone. Worse was to follow as Villa loanee, Shane Lowry stamped on Nikola Zigic as he lay on the ground. Kenny Jacket is reported as saying that he didn’t get a clear view of the incident but thought it looked harsh! I don’t know how he reconciles the two parts of that statement but if there is any doubt I suggest he refers to the photograph on the Birmingham City Official website report  which clearly shows Lowry standing on Zigic’s left thigh. The linesman called the referee over and Mr Moss had no hesitation in dismissing the Viler to the dressing room. Despite this setback, Millwall continued to press and be the better side. Birmingham’s passing and distribution failed to improve and on balance I was happy to get to half time ahead by the single goal. There could have been few complaints had the score been 3-1 to the home side!

I hoped that Chris Hughton would rip into his players particularly his midfielders; I felt that Mutch had been so poor that he should be replaced and indeed he didn’t come out for the second half; Gomis replacing him. This was a sensible change as Mutch had picked up a yellow card as early as the fourth minute when he chopped down Kane when the youngster was about to force his way into the box and shoot. The temper of the game seem to suggest that Lowry’s dismissal might not be the last and Mutch could easily go for a second yellow attempting to up his performance. Blues started much more brightly and Gomis added vitally needed calm and stability. Blues were keeping the ball better and began to assert their authority. Zigic was excellent in the early period of the second half coming short, holding the ball up and demonstrating the art of distribution to his team mates. This short cameo period was the best I’ve seen from the big man all season and it led to a reckless, frustrated lunge by full back Alan Dunne on the big Serb on 57 minutes. Kenny Jackett reckoned this decision was harsh as well but it wasn’t. Zigic didn’t make a fuss and go down writhing but Dunne left his foot in high and Mr Moss was once again reaching for his red card. It was clear that the Millwall crowd were baying for Zigic to get sent off too and as he was on a yellow card from the first half, he was replaced by Adam Rooney; another excellent piece of management by Chris Hughton.

The goose was cooked and the fat fried as far as the home side was concerned two minutes later when King turned beautifully in the box to fire home into the far corner past a helpless Forde for 2-0. Millwall to their credit kept trying to go forward and kept trying to play some football despite their severe disadvantage. I felt at half time that they had put a huge amount of energy into the game to that point and the second period with two men light was bound to take its toll and it came as no surprise when a lovely one-two move between King and Burke resulted in the latter hammering a shot into the top corner across Forde for the pick of the goals. Blues played the ball back and forth across the wide Millwall pitch and ran the home side’s depleted forces ragged. As they tired, Blues took ruthless advantage; a cut back by Burke to Rooney on the edge of the area was side-footed home easily for four on 81 minutes and two minutes later a fifth arrived as King chested down Rooney’s pass to round Forde and fire into the empty net. Nathan Redmond came on for Burke and got in on the action in the last few seconds of time added on as the youngster was on hand to pass the ball into the net from the edge of the box for a similar finish to Rooney’s. There were only two minutes added which must have been because the officials took mercy on the home team. There were interruptions for the substitutions, the sending off and the usual crowd trouble as missiles were aimed at one of the assistant referees requiring a short stoppage for the referee to consult with Millwall officials.

Clearly a terrific win and one to savour but I think there has to be a proper sense of perspective placed on this. It was a hopeless cause for the home side when Dunne went off and Millwall were down to nine men. Everything went wrong for them after that and their players were totally spent by about 75 minutes and it was a matter of how many Birmingham would score. Millwall were even denied the consolation of a goal when it was 3-0 for offside. Credit must go to Blues who ruthlessly exploited Millwall’s disadvantage to the full but we would do well not to read too much into this result. Freak results like this happen for teams when on any given afternoon everything goes your way and even with a full complement of players on the pitch it is possible for a team to find itself several goals to the good or bad if chances that are created all go in. There was an element of that in this match; it doesn’t follow that Blues are suddenly world beaters or for that matter that Millwall are a lost cause. In the first period I was impressed with the home side and thought them the better side even with ten men. They did spend a lot of their energy in the first half however, and this definitely told on them towards the end when Blues ran riot. Good win nevertheless but Blues need to put it behind them and focus; far tougher assignments await them.

The Good: The clinical efficiency by which we took our chances when they arrived. Sixteen attempts, eleven on target; an excellent ratio.

The Bad: The first half performance despite the fact we led at the break. The ball retention and distribution was very poor especially from the central midfielders.

The Ugly: Crowd trouble in the second half which paused the game for a short period. The challenges that resulted in the dismissals.

Millwall: David Forde 6, Alan Dunne 5, Paul Robinson (C) 6, Liam Trotter 6, Hamer Bouazza 6, Liam Feeney 7 (James Henry 85, N/A), Jack Smith 6, Dany N’Guessan 7 (Josh McQuoid 71, 6), Jimmy Abdou 6, Shane Lowry 4, Harry Kane 8 (John Marquis 85, N/A)

Goals: None

Subs (unused): Steve Mildenhall, Tony Craig

Bookings: Trotter (42), N’Guessan (63)

Sent off: Lowry (22), Dunne (57)

Birmingham City: Boaz Myhill 6, Liam Ridgewell 6, Steven Caldwell (C) 7, Curtis Davies 7, Jonathan Spector 6, Jean Beausejour 6, Jordon Mutch 5 (Morgaro Gomis 7, 46), Keith Fahey 6, Chris Burke 7 (Nathan Redmond 82, N/A), Marlon King 8, Nikola Zigic 8 (Adam Rooney 60, 7)

Subs (unused): Colin Doyle, David Murphy

Goals: Davies (18), King (59, 83), Burke (74), Rooney (81), Redmond (90 +2)

Bookings: Mutch (4), Zigic (36), Rooney (64)

Referee: Mr J. Moss 7: Much better than the performance at Peterborough. He was right to send off the two Millwall players and was firm when the home crowd started acting up. He got the game restarted promptly and didn’t allow a few mindless morons to spoil the day. Credit must go to the Millwall stewards and the police in supporting the officials and keeping things under control.

Attendance: 10, 539 (958 Blues fans)