View from the South – Birmingham City vs Blackpool

I was very worried about this game for several reasons. Our form had been indifferent to say the least, we were perilously close to the trap door of relegation despite it being early in the season still, Blackpool were showing anybody in the Premier League that was prepared to look and listen that they were going to have a right old go at teams and be cowered by no one. This had resulted, so far, in three fine wins away from home but the thing that really bothered me was our poor record against the Seasiders over many years. I was serving my country in foreign climes the time that we thrashed the boys in tangerine 7-1 in 1994 and so my only recollections of matches against them in my life time were defeats. History has a habit of repeating itself in football and Blackpool have been a bit of a bogey side over the piece and I remember more losses to them than not in the matches I’ve managed to attend over the years.

My youngest son had a bit of a hangover and so was a right so and so to get out of bed in time to get to meet up with Will in Guildford for the journey north. I hate being late as Will who generally always is, never lets me forget it for the rest of the day. Nevertheless, we got going 20 minutes or so behind schedule with Ben complaining that he needed a caffeine fix to wake him up. We ran into a bit of early traffic and so told him he’d have to wait until we got to Baginton where we were meeting Chris. Also accompanying us on the journey north was Will’s two year old daughter, Annabelle who was going to spend time with her Auntie Gayle and Cousin Jack (you know the little fella that has seen Blues five times now but never seen them score!) Will’s wife has just had a little lad who is still only a few days old and taking Annabelle along served as a bit of a break for her also. She was naturally worried that the little one would be alright with Ben but Will had assured her that Annabelle would look after Ben just fine and would get along well being intellectually on a similar level 😀

We made good time in the end and having picked up Chris and dropped off Annabelle we headed off to the game in plenty of time to grab a pint at the George. A couple of Red Bull’s got Ben kick started so all was going well. Now to the game: Blackpool started brightly and Gary Taylor-Fletcher directed a header just to the side of Ben Foster from Neal Eardley’s right-wing cross. This was the first minute and my head was in my hands. The keeper collected comfortably enough but a little wider of him and it would have been the sort of start I feared. Still no harm done and almost immediately, Blues retaliated and Eardley was yellow carded after four minutes for clipping the heels of Keith Fahey after he ran onto a beautiful pass from Hleb. Now this was the first contentious moment. The free kick was on the edge of the box so the award was correct but the weight of pass was so good and Fahey’s run so perfect that there is not a single shadow of doubt that he is hitting the ball first time. It was a clear goal scoring opportunity and therefore Eardley should have been shown a red not a yellow card. The fact that there were other defenders in line is immaterial; none of them are getting to Fahey and the last man thing is not the issue it is the opportunity denied that constitutes the gravity of the offence. Mr Taylor gave the first of a string of inaccurate and poor decisions but at least he was consistently poor.

Blackpool keeper Matthew Gilks was forced to tip over the resulting 20-yard free-kick from Sebastian Larsson. Zigic then deflected a low drive from Larsson but Gilks saved smartly. Blackpool appealed for a penalty after a corner from David Vaughan bounced up off the pitch and struck the arm of Ridgewell. They had a valid point. I don’t think Mr Taylor could see it from where he was standing but the Assistant, luckily for us chose to shirk his responsibilities; it was a penalty in my view.

Blackpool looked very shaky at the back and another lovely pass from Hleb sent O’Connor clear of their defence. I had remarked earlier that I felt that O’Connor was apart from Super Kev the only natural finisher among our strikers and I do not share the views of a number of people including Will and a mate that sits behind me every week that he is a completely useless Jessie! One on one I was confident of the opener but what O’Connor does lack is pace and Craig Cathcart made up several yards to deny him with a fine tackle as he prepared to shoot. This was a bad miss that prompted Will’s first text of the day ‘natural finisher, my arse!’ Chris always says that his brother can never be accused of having strong opinions! 😛

The game was flowing from end to end and former Birmingham striker DJ Campbell forced Foster to save low to his left. O’Connor had the ball in the net after 32 minutes but had strayed a yard offside; good finish for all that. Both full backs were getting forward and adding width especially Ridgewell who was having an excellent game on the left; my only criticism of our double agent’s crossing was poor considering the positions he was finding himself in. However, it was he that broke the deadlock after 36 minutes. Larsson’s deep corner was initially headed back across goal by Ridgewell, and when Zigic’s header struck the bar Ridgewell was first to react to the rebound and made no mistake from close range. Oh joy, oh rapture unbridled; is this what scoring a goal feels like? The relief around St Andrews was tangible; scruffy but who cares? Zigic had a chance to double City’s lead just before the interval after Carr had sent the ball across the box but he failed to make proper contact on his volley. Blues went into the interval well worth their lead but it could and should have been a bigger margin.

After an initial flurry from Blackpool, when Scott Dann had to make an important block to deny Luke Varney’s shot from the edge of the box early in the second half, Zigic struck for the second time in two games to double City’s lead. On 56 minutes
Johnson got on the end of Larsson’s corner and the loose ball was knocked back across the area by Ridgewell. Blackpool skipper Charlie Adam then inexplicably played the ball inside the six-yard box straight into the path of Zigic who gleefully took full advantage, firing home into the roof of the net. He tried to make up for his error just after but Foster saved his 15-yard drive when the midfielder was given too much space in our box.

McLeish brought on Lee Bowyer for Fahey who to my mind had had one of the best games for Blues in a long time and at the same juncture Holloway replaced Marlon Harewood and the limping Adam with Matt Phillips and Keith Southern. Southern flashed a shot across the face of goal but Blackpool’s race was almost run. They tried to pep things up one last time by bringing Brett Ormerod on for Varney but to no avail. The impressive Hleb pulled up in pain with no one near him late on and made way for David Murphy. Let’s hope it is not too serious.

Bowyer had the chance to make it 3-0 but sent his left-footed attempt wide from Murphy’s cross. O’Connor had a shot blocked which prompted another text from Will; ‘O’Connor is crap, bring on Derbyshire!’ This wish was granted as O’Connor was replaced on 83 minutes Derbyshire. A Campbell volley was blocked by Dann as Blackpool rallied in the closing stages and David Vaughan forced Foster to make an excellent full length save to his right moments before the final whistle. We had finally beaten a team in the league by two clear goals in nearly two years! They were good value for it but it should have been more.

It was a satisfactory journey back to the Oak at Baginton where we decided to eat before the journey home. It had been a chilly afternoon and as the weather forecast had accurately predicted a showery one with a substantial downpour in the middle of the game. A hot meal went down well and we picked up little Annabelle who said goodbye to Auntie Gayle and Uncle Piss! Yes you read it correct; Uncle Piss! Brilliant! On the way back Will ribbed me unmercifully about O’Connor’s perceived natural finishing and I told him he was taking the Chris! In fact I was very Chrissed Off about it! 😀
The Good: The performance from the whole team. I felt there was no player who had a mare but of course some stood out more than others.
The Bad: The refereeing; simply poor but as I said at least consistently dreadful.
The Ugly: Marlon Harewood; the tangerine’s version of Shrek!
KRO SOTV
Foster 8; Carr 8, Johnson 7, Dann 8, Ridgewell 8; Larsson 7, Ferguson 8, Hleb 9 (Murphy 74, 7) Fahey 8, (Bowyer 66, 7) Zigic 9) O’Connor 7 (Derbyshire 83, 6)
Gilks 7 Eardley 6 Evatt 6 Crainey 7 Cathcart 6 Vaughan 7 Adam 6 (Southern 67, 6) Taylor-Fletcher 8 Harewood 5 (Phillips 67, 5) Varney 7 (Ormerod 74, 6) Campbell 7