View from the South – Birmingham City vs Leeds United

Here is Bazza’s take on Wednesday’s game as the Blues go marching on!

The games have been coming thick and fast just recently and I find myself writing yet another report, this time for the visit of Leeds to St Andrews. They are clearly a different proposition to the side that came to us the season they dropped into League 1; when they were a sorry shadow of the team that they were in their glory days. Better times have come about for them and they arrived at our hallowed ground on the back of seven matches unbeaten in the league with a chance to go second with West Ham should they prevail against us.

First things first however, there was the little matter of getting to St Andrews. Despite leaving just after half past three from Guildford in the company of my mate Will, we did encounter slow progress at times, especially as we approached the M42 which the radio broadcasts advised to avoid. We carried on to the next turn off on the M40 and came in via Kings Heath. Luckily for me, Will has an encyclopedic knowledge of Birmingham’s back streets which begs a question why, but we’ll move swiftly on! 😀 Under his direction we twisted and turned down streets that I didn’t even realise existed and parked up just in time to get in as kick off was occurring.

There were two changes from the team that beat Bristol City on Sunday with Spector coming in for the injured Gomis in midfield and King lining up alongside Zigic for Rooney who reverted to the bench. This was a lively game with good passing and movement from both sides. It was clear that Leeds weren’t going to sit back and invite Blues onto them. Nevertheless Birmingham forced the pace in the first few minutes and the signs were encouraging with a number of corners conceded by Leeds in the first ten minutes.

Leeds were playing some nice football as the half wore on and created arguably the better chances. After 11 minutes a sweeping move involving Darren O’Dea, Andy Keogh, Danny Pugh and McCormack saw the ball find Robert Snodgrass who really should have done better than side foot the final effort across Myhill, but wide of the far post. Blues were lucky to survive this early scare and had Myhill to thank for a stunning one-handed save to stop Adam Clayton’s dipping volley flying into the net ten minutes later. Leeds were presented with another chance just 60 seconds after this when Ross McCormack was allowed to charge in on goal by the dopey linesman on the Kop Corner side. The Leeds player was at least two yards offside and to compound things the official gave a corner when McCormack fluffed his shot wide; put off by the close attention of Steven Caldwell. The Blues defender was as bemused as the rest of us.

Leeds were on top but they didn’t make their superiority at this stage count and were punished on 35 minutes as Blues recovered their composure and regained control of the game. Keogh and Snodgrass made a mess of things in midfield and saw possession gifted to Spector who quickly moved the ball to the right, to Steven Carr, who rapidly got to the by-line and drove a low cross that Paul Rachubka in the Leeds goal could only parry into the path of Zigic. The Serbian gleefully slammed a first time shot that flew past the two defenders and into the roof of the net. Blues now regained the initiative and so nearly made it two on the stroke of half time. Zigic was presented with another opportunity but this time his shot from an acute angle was well saved by Rachubka, knocked around the post.

In the second period Leeds did all they could to break down a stubborn Blues rear guard but the swagger of the first half was gone. Blues had learned their lessons from the early let offs and were content to catch the visitors on the break while carefully watching Leeds play back and forth across the pitch in front of them. Towards the end as Leeds became more frenetic in search of their equaliser, Birmingham actually nearly caught them out with chances for King and Zigic that were well saved by the Leeds keeper and a stinging shot from Wood was brilliantly palmed over by Rachubka in the dying seconds. Had the young Kiwi managed to get a better purchase onto a pass that ended a lovely flowing break by Blues, Burke would have been clean through. Ross McCormack hit a rasping drive that required Myhill’s services with four minutes left and that was that as far as the visitors were concerned as Blues finished the stronger in the final five minutes of time added on. Zigic and King formed a troublesome partnership for the Leeds defence and were unfortunate not to have increased the lead at stages in proceedings.

This was an excellent win against a good Leeds side. It was a watchable game with high quality football from both sides. For Blues, Myhill had an excellent game and is improving from his shaky start with us. Caldwell and Davies were unyielding in defence well supported by the full backs. Fahey and Spector took a while to get to grips with Keogh and Howson but once they did Leeds never really did enough in the second half to gain a point despite the protestations of some of their fans on the radio after the game. Some were more measured however and whilst I for one would accept that if Leeds had gone away with a point we could not have complained, the comment from one Leeds fan that we were a very ordinary side that Leeds United should be beating had the distant pop of a very sour grape about it. As I said in my last report Blues have no superstars in the team and on that basis we may be described as ordinary but sometimes teams are greater than the sum of their respective parts and I believe Chris Hughton has fashioned just such a team who believe they can beat anybody. If they continue to show this sort of resilience and keep clean sheets who is to say they are wrong?

Birmingham City: Myhill 8; Carr 7, Caldwell 8, Ridgewell 7, Spector 6; Davies 8, Burke 9, Beausejour 7, Fahey 6; King 8 (Wood 70, 7), Zigic 8. Unused substitutes: Doyle, Murphy, N’Daw, Rooney.

Leeds United: Rachubka 7; Connolly 7, Lees 7, O’Dea 7, White 7; Snodgrass 8, Howson 8, Clayton 7 (Vayrynen 77, 6), Pugh 7 (Sam 73, 7); Keogh 8 (Becchio 63, 6), McCormack 8. Unused substitutes: Cairns, Kisnorbo.

Attendance: 21,426 (3,102 away fans)

The Good: The match itself which was a good spectacle with fast skillful play on both sides. Leeds will be in the mix at the end of the season I suspect. Great support from their following as usual.

The Bad: Dreadful Assistant Referee on the Kop side of the pitch; useless.

The Ugly: the rather garish Leeds away kit.

Referee: Chris Foy (Merseyside) 6: The referee himself was OK for the most part but he was badly let down by his linesman on the Kop side who had a shocker. He missed a clear offside against McCormack then gave a corner instead of a goal kick and gave a throw in to Leeds when Burke had clearly kept the ball in play near the end. Beausejour’s frustration with this inept official earned him a booking.

If you haven’t read it yet, read yesterday’s blog about Russ and his lad’s mascot experience at this game.