It is going to be a short report tonight as I was unable to go to the game because Liverpool, with the best will in the world, is a step too far in midweek from where I live; for those fans that travelled up on a windswept night, I salute you. I had gone straight from work to the dentist as recently I’ve been having some work done on a tooth that had developed a crack in it and now required a crown. I got back just in time for a bite to eat just as the Spurs game against AC Milan was kicking off. I watched the first 15 minutes of this encounter and reluctantly switched off before heading to the computer to stream our game. I was fortunate in that I got an excellent picture and sound with good resolution and almost no pauses for buffering. Blues lined up in a 4-5-1 formation with Cameron Jerome up top and I was pleased to see that Jordan Mutch was in the line-up in place of the injured Fahey. (Happened in the warm up apparently!) David Bentley, Sebastian Larsson and Lee Bowyer filled the other three berths in midfield. Martin Jiranek was back in the side replacing Curtis Davies following his recovery from a thigh injury. Stephen Carr, Roger Johnson and Liam Ridgewell completed the back four in front of Ben Foster in goal.
This game was dominated by Everton pretty well from start to finish in terms of possession. If football matches were won by the number of corners, the home side would have won a canter. Thankfully they are not and Blues were fortunate to score first somewhat against the run of play through Jean Beausejour who once again, as he did on Saturday, looked to be arguably our most effective player. Both sides received an early blow with only 8 minutes on the clock when for Birmingham, David Bentley was replaced by David Murphy who played on the left side of midfield in front of Liam Ridgewell. This gave Blues a solid if uninspiring look. Everton were also dealt a bad piece of fortune when Mikel Arteta pulled up with a hamstring tear that is likely to keep the brilliant Spaniard out of action for up to 6 weeks. Everton are also blighted with injuries, as are we, and their midfield from then on despite dominating possession found it difficult to break down a resolute Birmingham City defence. Blues could have scored after as little as 5 minutes when Cameron Jerome got a good header from Sebastian Larsson’s cross which took a deflection and was only prevented from crossing the line by an excellent save by Tim Howard.
Blues did take the lead on 17 minutes after good work by Bowyer who passed back for Jordan Mutch to send an excellent ball into the box. Beausejour had got in front of his taller marker to head past the despairing Everton keeper, Tim Howard who despite getting his fingers to the ball could not prevent it entering the net. Blues seemed content to soak up pressure and counter when possible and the game plan appeared to be working well until on 35 minutes, an uncharacteristically sloppy piece of work by Stephen Carr allowed Leon Osman to force a corner which was totally avoidable. The Everton man’s corner kick was only partially cleared by Cameron Jerome to the edge of the box where Thomas Heitinga was waiting. He produced a fabulous curling finish that could not have bisected the left-hand post and the bar more accurately without striking them. It was an unstoppable shot and a lovely goal but it was vexing that it came from a set piece that should never have been conceded. It seemed a pity to be drawing a game that Birmingham were in control of even though Everton were largely on the front foot.
The rest of the first half and much of the second was not much to write home about to be honest and comprised of a game of attack and defence with Blues representing the latter. Everton played mainly in front of Birmingham’s nine men defence and the result was a string of crosses most of which were played in from far too deep to be threatening. An increasingly frustrated home side huffed and puffed in an attempt to get the winner which I have no doubt would have been such had they managed to carve out another breakthrough. Blues showed very little attacking intent in the second half and at times were under the cosh for long periods. Things got a little better when with 15 minutes to go Nikola Zigic was brought on in place of the tiring Cameron Jerome. This did result in the ball sticking up front a little better and Birmingham were able to at least take some of the pressure off the defence as the game meandered tamely towards its end.
A point takes Blues out of the bottom three above West Ham United on goal difference. I for one would have settled for a draw before this game started and on the balance of play I think that we have to be very content with a share of the spoils. Everton were the dominant side and undoubtedly the better but for all their dominance they weren’t really good enough to get behind Birmingham and they certainly did not test Ben Foster anywhere near enough to justify the win.
The Good: The defensive display from Blues which was excellent tonight and a far cry from the dreadful performance of Saturday.
The Bad: We were guilty of giving the ball away far too cheaply especially in the second half which made Everton’s task of coming onto us much easier than it should have been. We were much better when Zigic came on.
The Ugly: There was a hideous looking Greek bloke in an advertisement at half-time on the computer stream. Naturally, I couldn’t understand a word he said!
Everton: Tim Howard 6, Tony Hibbert 7, Leighton Baines 8, John Heitinga 7 (Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, 87, N/A), Phil Jagielka 6, Louis Saha 7, Mikel Arteta N/A (Seamus Coleman, 9, 7), Sylvain Distin 6, Jermaine Beckford 7 (Victor Anichebe, 78, N/A), Leon Osman 7, Jack Rodwell 6.
Subs not used: Jan Mucha, Shkodran Mustafi, Shane Duffy, Jose Baxter.
Bookings: Heitinga (54)
Goals: Heitinga (36)
Birmingham City:
Ben Foster 7, Stephen Carr 6, Lee Bowyer 7, Roger Johnson 8, Liam Ridgewell 6, Seb Larsson 7, Cameron Jerome 6 (Nikola Zigic, 73, 7), David Bentley N/A (David Murphy, 8, 7), Jean Beausejour 8, Martin Jiranek 7, Jordon Mutch 7.
Subs not used: Kevin Phillips, Colin Doyle, Obafemi Martins, Stuart Parnaby, Curtis Davies.
Bookings: Mutch (40), Ridgewell (48). Murphy (81)
Goals: Beausejour (17)
Attendance: 33,974
Referee: Peter Walton 7: had a competent game in what was to prove a fairly uneventful non contentious match.
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