View from The South – Birmingham City vs Brighton & Hove Albion

I was on my own for the journey to the Midlands for this one so I decided to take the train from Blackwater to Reading and from there to Leamington Spa where I met Chris who kindly picked me up. We called by one of the local golf clubs where Chris’ seven year old grandson, Jack was having a golf lesson and collected him before proceeding on to St Andrews. It was good to be in plenty of time and Chris and I were ready for a pint in the George where we noted it was 3-2 to Arsenal in the big London derby; a match which finished 5-3 to the Gunners. What odds on an equally exciting game at our place eh? Well yes, not a lot and as it turned out not at all!

The only change to the Blues side from Wednesday was Chris Wood coming in for Zigic up front otherwise it was very much as you were. Brighton won the toss and elected to play towards the Gil Merrick end in the first half. I commented that we always seemed to play towards the Railway end in the second half years ago to which some of the older members around me guffawed and said I was showing my age as that was the fifties and sixties! The problem is it was! 🙁 The game started brightly enough with Blues pressing early on and putting the visitors onto the back foot. This created a glorious chance for Marlon King on 11 minutes from an in swinging corner. Having controlled the ball and turned he dragged his shot wide with Steve Harper in the Brighton goal a helpless spectator. That was about as good as this game got I’m afraid; the rest of the match will not linger long in the memory. In fact Steve Harper did not have to make a single save all match. Every one of Birmingham’s attempts, eleven of them, all missed the target. Brighton had six attempts with three on target but Myhill had merely to field them routinely and was never threatened by the Brighton forwards either.

The second half started in much the same vein although the Seagulls were starting to pose more of a greater threat, Liam Bridcutt, the pick of the Brighton players, forcing Boaz Myhill into his first meaningful save of the afternoon. Burke found the side-netting for Blues when he perhaps should have done better at the other end. Brighton if anything looked brighter than Blues in the second period as the home side looked jaded from recent excursions. The main difference was that the visitors’ ball retention was better with more care when in possession but very much like Bristol City last week and Leeds on Wednesday Blues shepherded them square across the pitch for the most part and for all their nice play they failed to threaten.

Hughton changed Wood and King after 67 minutes, introducing Zigic and Adam Rooney in their places, while Brighton brought on Billy Paynter a loanee from Leeds United for his debut. Mackail-Smith sent an effort narrowly wide from the edge of the penalty area before Gordon Greer’s header brought a routine save from Myhill. Zigic had a good chance late on but his header missed the target. Jean Beausejour fired a well-placed free-kick over in the 85th minute and this summed up the delivery of the ball into the box all afternoon; absolutely abysmal with the Chilean by far the worst offender in this regard. I am yet to see Beausejour take a decent free kick from a potentially scoring opportunity so why does he keep being allowed to take them? His corner kicks although we only had two all afternoon, were equally poor. Brighton failed to settle matters with an even later set-piece of their own. There was a lot of pointing a gesticulating with players refusing to retreat the full ten yards and also refusing to leave each other alone with lots of pushing and shoving and the referee delaying the kick to talk to players about their antics, all of whom took no notice regardless only for the kick when it was taken to be charged down and end up back in the Brighton half to ironic jeers from the Tilton. When you consider that incident was probably the most entertaining thing that happened all afternoon you have some idea just how dull this encounter was.

A goalless draw was a fair result with neither side doing enough to merit the win. It was inevitable that Blues’ winning streak would end and it was also inevitable that a team was going to keep a clean sheet against us and it came against a team that has not won in seven. However, they look a decent side who try and play football the way it is meant to be played and they reflect the beliefs of their manager Gus Poyet whom I think is doing a fine job for the south coast club. They will be comfortable this season though I doubt they are play off material this year. They are a club on the up however and will be a tough proposition in the return fixture at their place. Blues will have to play much better than this down there to avoid defeat.

The Good: The fact that Blues gained a point in a game when we haven’t played very well. Credit must go to Brighton however, who defended well and with resilience and their back four with Bridcutt worked as a unit to keep King and Wood quiet. They thoroughly deserved their share of the spoils. It could have been worse for us as Brighton could have snatched the winner at the end had it not been for a great block from Mackail-Smith’s shot by the excellent Davies. It would have been harsh as would a Blues goal near the end to give us an undeserved victory.

The Bad: The game in general. Brighton kept the ball better but only marginally so. Blues gave the ball away repeatedly and the combination of Spector and Fahey whilst giving Blues stability does not make for inventive innovative passing. The final delivery was atrocious all afternoon.

The Ugly: What is it about lime green and black? I thought Leeds United kit of the same colours was garish but Brighton’s has even more lime fluorescent green in it. It’s horrible and attritional on the eyes. It was a good job it was a dull overcast day! 😀

Birmingham City: Boaz Myhill 6, Stephen Carr 7, Steven Caldwell 6, Curtis Davies 8 Liam Ridgewell 6, Chris Burke 6, Jonathan Spector 6, Keith Fahey 6, Jean Beausejour 6, Marlon King 6, (Adam Rooney, 67, 6).Chris Wood 6 (Nikola Zigic 6)

Subs not used: Colin Doyle, David Murphy, Guirane N’Daw

Bookings: Beausejour

Brighton & Hove Albion: (4-3-3) Steve Harper 6; Gonzalo Jara Reyes 6 (Mauricio Taricco 80, N/A), Inigo Calderon 6, Gordon Greer 6, Marcos Painter 7; Liam Bridcutt 8, Matthew Sparrow 6 (Billy Paynter 67, 6), Romain Vincelot 7; Craig Noone 7, Craig Mackail-Smith 6, Ashley Barnes 6. Subs not used: Casper Ankergren (GK), Kazenga LuaLua.

Referee: Scott Mathieson 8: I thought the referee had a good game and for once his linesmen did their jobs properly. The man in the middle is to be commended for not putting up with players trying to buy free kicks and for keeping a firm but fair lid on things as the match got a bit feisty towards the end as the players frustrations came to the fore. I think they realised that it was a rubbish game too!

Attendance: 20,095 (2,067 Brighton & Hove Albion).

KRO SOTV