VIEW FROM THE SOUTH – PORTSMOUTH vs BIRMINGHAM CITY (REFRAIN)
Filed under: Blues News, Match reports, Matches, Reports By Bazza
Here is Bazza’s report from Tuesday night.
I went straight from work to Will’s place where I met his wife Julie for the first time. I introduced myself and said that yes, I really was the serial killer she thought I was given that Will had met me originally via the blog and therefore the internet. She thinks I’m joking so that’s all right then! 
Chris, Will’s brother had travelled down from Warwickshire for the game and to have a round of golf in the afternoon whilst muggings had to work. We set off for the short journey south to Portsmouth and managed to grab a pie and a hot drink in the ground. Will still cannot get over the fact that I hate Bovril and I settled instead for tea. We found our place in the stands and hoped we didn’t play like we did at the weekend.
What a difference from the events of Saturday? This was an impressive win following what must have been a bitterly disappointing defeat to the same team just three days earlier. Blues made four changes to the Saturday line up with Michel starting in place of Bowyer, Benitez was restored to the starting line up with McFadden demoted to the bench. Out also went Larsson who was replaced by Gardner and Fergusson took over from the rested Stephen Carr as captain, his place in the side being taken by Parnaby. The side had a better balance to it and as was the case at the weekend Blues dominated proceedings from the off with the essential difference that we looked dangerous going forward with Chucho adding that bit of spice that resulted in an early opener for Cameron Jerome in the 14th minute. A lovely touch through to the striker from his partner on the edge of the area gave Jerome the opening which he drilled low just inside the far post to send the assembled throng of noses wild with delight. Not only were we ahead but we were playing some slick flowing football in the middle of the park orchestrated by Michel who looked sure of touch, poised on the ball with an ability to pick a pass that always seemed to be delivered to the feet of a team mate! The stuff of dreams for a Blues side playing on this occasion in the white kit with the red penguin stripe down the front rather than the black strip that was still in the wash from Saturday. Portsmouth for their part were second best in the opening period and were opened up again when Benitez found himself one on one with David James in the middle of the goal with either side to choose to deliver the ball into. He chooses to dribble round the keeper only to be tackled by Hreidarsson. The frustrations of the travelling faithful were tangible as heads went into hands and expletives abounded. Nevertheless, within minutes the little Ecuadorian had made amends when a clever little back heel split the Pompey defence for Jerome to stroke the ball under the body of the diving James for 2 – 0. This score on 42 minutes was the least that Blues deserved and it could have been more such was the superiority that Blues held over their hapless opponents.
The second half was more one of containment of what Portsmouth had to offer which wasn’t a great deal to be honest and Blues should have added to their tally when Fahey delivered a cross too far in front of Jerome having carved Pompey open again. Dann missed a very presentable chance from fifteen yards placing his effort over the bar instead of the top corner and McFadden who came on late for the tiring Benitez almost caught James napping with a fierce shot towards the near post. Despite giving the eyes, James was equal to the save. The Pompey keeper was given a hard time by the noses behind him especially as he mimed the scooping out of a ball from the net just prior to the second half starting. We gave back with interest but the banter did descend somewhat into obscene chants about activities of his England team mate John Terry and what he may have done with James’ wife, sister, mother etc. We also sang ‘we’ll meet again’ and ‘we’ll never play you again,’ ‘Pay up Pompey!’ and many many more but my favourite of the evening was to the tune of the Conga ‘Let’s all have a whip round!’ Chris turned to me and said “Yow know why we know all the words of all these songs don’t ya?” “Why?” I said, “Cos we’ve ‘eard em sung to us so many times!” 
The only blemish of the evening was allowing Portsmouth a consolation goal in the 92nd minute when Kanu, a late Pompey substitute netted an inswinging cross to give us all a nervy last couple of minutes and Pompey, hope their performance did not merit. Fortunately, Blues held on comfortably enough but the margin should have been far greater than it was.
This was a very good win in the circumstances but before getting carried away with hyperbole, the quality of the opposition has to be taken into account. Portsmouth are bottom of the league for a reason and that is that they have lost 19 of their 28 games to date. They were outplayed by Blues last night which makes the loss to them on Saturday all the more frustrating. As I said in my last report, we lost it rather than them winning it with poor team selection and tactics in contrast to this game when the balance was correct, the ball moved slicker and the tempo was higher and we got in amongst them. I am still concerned that we still at times gave the home team too much space to play out wide especially in the first half and improvement will be needed against a resurgent and continually improving Everton who visit St Andrews on Saturday. We will pay heavily if this area is not tightened up on. There were things nevertheless to be encouraged about especially the performances of Michel, Gardner and Benitez. Jerome was also as excellent as he was awful on Saturday and took his goals well. It was sad to see Parnaby who had had a good game to the point where he limped off injured have to leave the field prematurely. He was ably replaced by Tainio.
Alex McCleish has intimated that we do not have enough firepower to challenge for a Europa League spot and I agree. Whilst the league standing may suggest we are in with a shout I think the realistic view is that we are not good enough yet but I am happy to be proved wrong. We have ten games left and before last night McCleish had set a target of 51 points or a point a game for the remaining fixtures. This may sound cautious but with away games at Sunderland, Blackburn, Manchester City, Vile and Bolton and at home fixtures against Everton, Arsenal, Liverpool, Hull and Burnley, I simply think he’s being realistic. Any more than 51 will be a bonus but I suspect whatever we finish up with will not be enough for a place in Europe. The facts remain that we need a centre forward who can deliver 15 goals minimum, fast wide men and a cover at full back down both flanks. Then and only then may we be able to compete.
KRO SOTV
Who’s going to be the top marksman?
Well we are out of the cup and there’s still a quarter of the league season to go but goal scoring remains a problem. The failure to sign a striker in January could well be telling. It looks like whoever ends up our leading scorer this year will do so with under ten goals but who do you reckon that is going to be. The current standings including cup goals are,
Lee Bowyer 6
Cameron Jerome 5
Seb Larsson 4
James McFadden, Christian Benitez, Kevin Phillips, Liam Ridgewell 3
So while the total might not be great, who do you think will end up Blues top scorer. Vote in the poll on the right.
In our last poll only 15% correctly predicted that we wouldn’t get further than the quarter final with almost double that thinking we would win it. That’s what optimism does for you..
VIEW FROM THE SOUTH – PORTSMOUTH v BIRMINGHAM CITY
Filed under: Blues News, Match reports, Matches, Players, Reports By Bazza
I had to re-type this, the tear stains on the original prevented me from copying it straight over. 
Over to Bazza:
I have found it very difficult even the day after to find the heart and energy to write my report on this game such is the sense of disappointment that I am sure is shared by every Blues fan this morning. Fratton Park is a simple train journey for me even though it still takes an hour and a half. Having arrived at Fratton station and walked to the ground I met ‘Sandwich’ Bill and Alan in the disabled car park who had travelled down from Birmingham after an early start. We must thank the football authorities at this point for putting our game on early despite the length of journey for the away side and their fans when the Fulham-Spurs tie would have been better suited; reminds me of the time when we reached a semi-final against Leeds and the match was played on a ‘neutral’ ground at Hillsborough!
Anyway, moving on Alan and Bill are some of the most long suffering noses I know and I have seen them many times before at away games. Alan, as he usually is, was smoking a fag in the back of the car and as he flicked the ash the slight breeze kept taking it onto Bill’s lap sitting in the front passenger seat with the door open. “Hey!” Bill kept saying flicking the ash off himself “watch what yow’er doin!”
After about the sixth time of asking Bill stood up protesting still but onto the deaf ears of Alan who simply lit up another having seconds before put the last one out. Both these boys are professionals when it comes to smoking which they continued to do whilst we reminisced about previous games against Pompey. “At least they got a roof on the away stand nowadays,” lamented Bill. We had all been at the game about 12 years ago when it rained incessantly and we all got soaked through to the skin. Four cigarettes later (Alan won the gold medal for smoking in the Olympics in 1964 ) it was time to walk round the other side of the ground to our seats. Pompey may have invested in a roof for the old open stand and over-invested in players they couldn’t afford but the investment stopped short at the toilets which remain pretty basic and have been so all the time I’ve been going to Fratton Park. As they say in these parts avoid the heads unless you’ve got to.
Well I’ve put off talking about the game for long enough so here goes; I thought Portsmouth would fly at us and we would have a torrid first twenty minutes. Apart from a weak shot from Belhadj in the first minute they offered very little and in fact Blues were the better side in the first half controlling the midfield in a calm composed manner but offering little threat. Jerome had a snap shot following good set up work from McFadden and Bowyer which was well saved by David James.
McCleish had started with the same formation as for the Fulham and Wigan games which surprised me as it hadn’t really worked at Fulham when the opposition scored our only goal and against Wigan we only won because we were given a dodgy penalty. Despite this I believe that with a half decent striker we would have gone into the break 2 – 0 to the good. As it was it was 0 – 0 and although we hadn’t made our overall dominance count there was little to complain about. I felt we were more than a match for anything they had to offer and would snatch the necessary winner at some stage purely by the law of averages.
Those hopes were dashed in three second half minutes when a lucky deflection led to a toe poked effort towards Hart who having appeared to grasp it, had it kicked out of his hands by Scott Dann challenging for the ball simultaneously. The ball flicked up off Hart’s leg to present Piquionne with a tap in from inches out that my arthritic granny could have scored to give Portsmouth the lead against the run of play and on the basis of their performance so far, one they scarcely deserved.
However, how typical this is of Blues. Failing to score when you are on top has cost and will continue to cost them which make their position in the Premier League all the more remarkable having scored only 26 goals all season. Blues were shaken and found themselves two down before they had cleared their heads. Piquionne twisted Roger Johnson inside out when the defender got isolated and a fine cross shot was buried into the bottom corner; oh for a striker of this quality! On came Kevin Phillips and Chucho for Fahey and McFadden and latterly Gardner for Larsson, a change that was made at least 45 minutes too late in my view, in an attempt to salvage the tie.
Ten minutes from the end a corner from Larsson was powerfully headed down towards the bottom corner by Roger Johnson only to be brilliantly saved by James. The rebound was headed in by Ridgewell at the far post but despite the ball being clearly over the line the assistant referee failed in his duty of actually watching what was going on and allowed James to claw the ball back from a foot behind the post. Television evidence shows clearly that the goal should have been awarded; it wasn’t and with that decision went Birmingham’s last chance of Wembley glory.
I rang Will after the game on the train home to get his take on the game from the television perspective. He made several valid observations that the formation meant the team was unbalanced as McFadden is not a centre-forward and Fahey is not a winger. Double Agent Ridgewell was our best player and provided the only width which says it all and I agree wholeheartedly. Larsson was truly dreadful both in the persistent way he kept turning in field instead of staying out wide and as for his set piece deliveries, enough said. Jerome was shocking in thought and movement and gave one of the worst performances I have seen from him. He normally at least works hard despite having the touch of a rapist and other shortcomings but this was a lacklustre performance and we saw little of his much lauded pace. Benitez when he came on showed nice touches but it was too late by then. Phillips and Gardner were introduced too late to have any impact. McFadden held onto the ball too long when well placed and the final ball from midfield generally especially to the players in wide positions was too often badly weighted or misdirected.
Portsmouth didn’t win this game; Birmingham lost it. They have themselves and themselves only to blame. This is such a shame given the season we have all enjoyed to date. One of the highlights was the win at Everton and although I wasn’t present for that one our first half performance was outstanding by all accounts. That day we went with McFadden and Chucho up front together. This may be an option to consider next week if McCleish is going to insist on playing McFadden as a centre-forward. Jerome was so poor it may be time to rest him. The same goes for Larsson; Gardner must be given his chance although he is better suited to a more central role and I really want to see Michel get some game time.
The needs of the squad were brutally exposed if further evidence was needed; two decent strikers and fast specialist wide players. Then and only then we may start offering a threat and win these big games when they present themselves. It has been 54 years since Birmingham last contested a FA Cup Final; it’s 55 now!
KRO SOTV
VIEW FROM THE SOUTH – BIRMINGHAM CITY v WIGAN ATHLETIC
Bazza’s latest match report.
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Will and I were joined for this one by my eldest son, home from University for a few days. We had a pretty clear journey punctuated by the occasional manic exhortation of “TWO!” referring to magpies that I saw on the roadside and in trees. I am ridiculously superstitious when it comes to those bloody birds which have now become so commonplace that you cannot help but see one especially on a Saturday morning. One for sorrow, two for joy and I kept seeing them in pairs all the way up to the Midlands although Will did point out on one of the occasions that a third one was present; three for a girl and as his wife is expecting that may be an omen.
We called in as usual at Will’s brother, Chris’ pub, The Oak at Baginton for a pint before going on to the game. It turns out, whilst touching on the subject of fertility; spring being just round the corner and all that, that Chris’ Border Collie, Jasper (named after Jasper Carrott; he has another Beau named after another well known dog) has been doing what comes naturally and much excitement was in the air as the possibility of a litter from another pedigree Border bitch was in the offing.
Jasper is apparently descended from a winner of Crufts a few generations back so his seed is much sought after! Gail, Chris’ wife assured me that she had personally witnessed the deed being done and I was anxious to establish that the full mating ritual had taken place. For those of you that don’t know when the dog initially mounts that is really only foreplay and he has to turn away from the bitch so that the two animals are facing away from each other. Gail said that this indeed had occurred and the dogs were locked together for at least ten minutes; beats thirty seconds I suppose. Anyway, Gail was off to the vets with the other owner for a doggie scan to confirm or refute the presence of the forthcoming patter of tiny paws.
On to less exciting things such as the game; we arrived near the ground and whilst walking up Arthur Street, Will told me I had to go back as I had trod on three pavement covers in a row and that was unlucky and I had to do it again. You see readers with me it’s magpies, with Will it’s paving slabs or covers. So back I went, trod on two and avoided the last. The relief on Will’s face was that of the dying man in the films when the victim is released into paradise to meet his maker. I couldn’t in all conscience let Will be tortured for the whole match worrying that we were going to lose because I’d stepped on three paving covers now could I?
OK that’s enough preambles what about the game? Well on the way home…………….. No seriously, the reason I’m telling you all this was that the game was non-descript to say the least. Some said it was absolutely abysmal but I don’t subscribe to that view; I thought it was simply dreadful! To be honest it was a game of two halves with Blues easily the better side in the first. Actually they played some pretty decent stuff in the first period and should have been comfortably ahead at the break. Scott Dann crashed a header against the bar from an excellent inswinging free kick from Larsson and missed the target with two other headers that he really should have done better with. Ridgewell, who had one of his best games this season, supplied Jerome with a glorious opportunity having got in behind the Wigan defence but the striker tried to take a touch and we all know how that was going to end; a first time side foot would surely have been the better option but the chance was gone.
Chris Kirkland made a brilliant point-blank save from McFadden from another Ridgewell delivery and it looked as if Wigan were going to hold out until half time. With seconds of the half remaining a cross from Fahey was only cleared back to him in the corner of the box. Mario Melchiot stabbed out a foot at the ball which was no longer there as it had been toe poked away by the midfielder who promptly hit the deck. I have to say that the excellent referee, Anthony Taylor gave the penalty immediately and it looked a sound decision from where I was. However, the replay on MotD showed virtually no contact and if there was, there certainly wasn’t enough to ground the player. I cannot condone this and for any Latics fans reading this; this is not that way I want my team to win football matches but sadly your team have been harshly done to on this occasion. Mind you, it was not as bad as ‘le plongeur extraordinaire,’ David Ngog at Liverpool who did a double pike twisting somersault with tuck to win his spot kick. McFadden dispatched the kick into the bottom corner sending Kirkland the wrong way. The lead was deserved most definitely however, the manner of it was not.
The second half was truly dire as Blues went off the boil and allowed Wigan the majority of the play although most of the time they played in front of our customarily well marshalled defence. Hugo Rodallega provided the only scares to be thwarted by a great save from Hart midway through the half and near the end shot two inches wide of the post with Hart beaten when well set up by Victor Moses. Stephen Carr tweaked a hamstring late on and had to be replaced by Gardner at full back instead of coming on for the disappointing Larsson. Kevin Phillips came on for McFadden and missed Blues best and only chance of the second half in the final seconds when having nicked the ball out wide and cut in past two desperately retreating defenders took the shot on when a square ball would surely have sealed the argument once and for all. The only other action of note was a scything tackle by Ridgewell on McCarthy which took out the Wigan player, the corner flag and the assistant referee who was lucky not to be blinded by the flag pole which pierced his forehead. The challenge looked far worse than it actually was and I’m glad to say that the referee who was excellent all afternoon did not overreact. Steve Bennett, the fourth official on this occasion ran the line for the final few minutes.
This was not a game for the connoisseurs of the beautiful game but it moves Blues onto the magical 40 points; a fantastic achievement with the squad we have. Well done to the players and Big Eck and his management and coaching staff. They have a real chance to achieve their best finish in the top flight since 1956. As for Wigan, I am afraid to say they are the poorest team I have seen at St Andrews this season but that is not to say they are necessarily that bad. They have a real struggle on their hands but I suspect that there are another two teams in this league worse that Wigan who along with Portsmouth will be playing their football in the Championship in August. Wigan should have enough firepower with Rodallega, Scotland and Moses at the DW to ensure their safety.
Back at The Oak, I understand that the scan was inconclusive and another examination is therefore required. It seems we don’t have to call Jasper, ‘Jaffa’ just yet!
KRO SOTV
Birmingham City v Wigan Preview
Tomorrow sees us face Wigan at St Andrews in the Premier League. I am going to be at this one as it also the latest fans forum at the club – more on that next week!
After a couple of disappointing results in the league, we will be looking to win and secure the 40 point mark – just to MAKE SURE that we are safe! 
After the fantastic run came to an end at Chelsea, we have struggled a bit. It is interesting that the squad has had a few changes too because of injuries. According to the news I have at the moment, we are back to full strength. It looks like Barry Ferguson is available again, of course he may not go straight into the side.
The other player who has missed a couple of games is Chucho. I didn’t see last Sunday’s game, but I gather that McFadden did pretty well up front with Jerome. Despite this, I think I would bring Chucho back in. This is the sort of game that he could get his first St Andrews goal. I get the impression, that he could go on a scoring run then.
As far as Wigan, they are going through a difficult time at the moment. They have only won one Premier League game since the end of November, a 2-0 away victory at Wolves. During that time was our 3-2 victory at their place, a mauling by Manchester United and they have failed to beat a number of clubs who are in the relegation fight.
Titus Bramble and James McCarthy are likely to miss the game due to injuries, but as far as I can tell, they don’t have any other problems with players.
With the greatest respect to Wigan, this is the sort of game we should be winning as we look to cement ourselves as a mid-table Premier League side. I hope that Alex McLeish gets us to go on the offensive and look to get the crowd going with an early goal.
It would be nice to see us win comfortably, however I would take a 1-0!
As long as we return to our the defensive organisation that we were getting credit for during the unbeaten run, we should win.
I’m going for a 2-0 to Blues as a confidence boost before we face Portsmouth twice in a week in the cup and the league.
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