Will and I managed to get away from Guildford at about half past three and therefore avoided the rush hour traffic on the M25 which for those of you that know, if you get caught in it, can screw up any hope of arriving at St Andrews in time for kick off. On the way the weather was wet to say the least but with a bright sun in the west there was a wonderful rainbow to the east, a perfect arch with vivid colours against a leaden sky. Will, being the Philistine he is, proceeded to make facetious, numbskull remarks about the wondrous gift that nature occasionally bestows upon us all; a sight that still I find uplifting from when I was a kid but which is clearly lost on the cerebrally challenged, such as my companion Will. 😉
Will’s brother Chris is a far more discerning character altogether and we called in at The Oak, Chris’s pub in Baginton to meet up with Little Jack, his Mum, Emma, Rob and his girlfriend Heather. Chris wasn’t going on this occasion, I discovered, because he had to chair the Parish Council Meeting in his role as the Mayor of Baginton! Incredulous when I heard this, I enquired deeper and obtained the knowledge that Chris had a chain of office and the full nine yards! Well I’ve heard of some spurious reasons for missing one of the greatest nights in Blues’ history but poncing about in a gold chain wasn’t one I expected to hear. Don’t take my word for it readers; feast your eyes on Chris wearing the said chain! 😀
Those of us without such weighty civic duties set off for St Andrews and arrived just before kick-off. It was good to see a decent crowd in the old place and the atmosphere was building. Brugge had brought a good following with them and they were in good voice with interestingly lots of their banter and chants in English. The teams appeared to much fanfare expected of Europa League opponents. Doyle was in goal, Spector, Caldwell, Ibanez, Murphy across the back, Elliott, N’Daw, Fahey and Beausejour formed a four man midfield with Zigic and Rooney up top.
The talk before the game on the radio was clearly upbeat with our great win in Brugge two weeks ago but I was under no illusions that the task of beating them again despite being at home was not going to be a straightforward one. This became clear in the first few minutes. Brugges have a number of quick, clever and highly technical players who are comfortable on the ball and play their way out from their own half with assurance. They looked the better side from the off and Blues’ attempts to play football in a similar way resulted in the ball being relinquished all too often and a team as good as Brugges will take advantage. Akpala had two attempts in the first 15 minutes and although he didn’t really threaten, Blues failed to heed the early warning.
A free kick from Adjidja was wastefully placed over the bar when N’Daw had given a silly free kick away 25 yards out and as the half went on it became clear that the seven changes made to the Blues side was having a greater effect than the changes forced on Brugges because of injuries. Three of their regular back four were missing and the goalkeeper, Vladan Kujovic was making his debut instead of Colin Coosemans, the regular custodian. Blues never really got going and failed to test their opponents in the opening exchanges. However, better should have been made of a good chance that fell to Zigic who chested down a lovely diagonal pass from N’Daw only to blaze over the bar from ten yards; being offside needlessly compounded the embarrassment.
It was good to see all the home fans join with the Brugges contingent in honouring the tradition of applause for a former Brugges player in the 23rd minute. The player concerned was tragically killed and the 23 shirt has been retired in his memory. Immediately after this Blues were awarded a free kick right on the edge of the area for a blatant hand ball. Murphy’s free kick crashed off the cross bar to safety with Kujovic nowhere near to saving it. Another free kick was delivered from the left with a couple of minutes and the keeper looked anything but convincing as he parried it for a corner. From this set piece an excellent delivery from the right this time was planted right on the head of Zigic at the far post. Why he chose to go for goal at that post (near post for him)rather than send the ball back across the goal from whence it came, where there were eager colleagues ready to pounce on the chance, only he will know but this was Blues’ best chance of the half and should have yielded better than a goal kick.
Brugges punished this profligacy from a corner of their own on 38 minutes. Thomas Meunier had time to bring the ball down with his toe up onto his chest and then tee off past Elliot on the line. The more I see of this goal the worse it looks; it was simply awful defending of the type I thought we had got over in recent weeks; shocking marking, no commitment to the ball when the delivery comes in, defender on the wrong side of the player and failure to react after Meunier’s first touch. He had time to make a cuppa, ask for milk and sugar, drink it and then score! Things got worse two minutes from half time when Beausejour lost the ball in midfield dallying instead of keeping possession and a fast break via Vasquez who squared for Akpala to net from six yards. The fact that Akpala was at least a yard offside does not change the fact that Brugges deserved their lead and the margin was probably about right too.
Blues had not got forward quickly enough in the first period, they had given the ball away cheaply too often, when they had had chances they missed them and they got punished for slack marking at a set piece and careless passing and positioning for the second goal. It still shouldn’t have stood mind you; the linesman on the Kop side was awful all evening and this was his moment; he blew it. Where do UEFA, the FA and anywhere else that sends these people get these incompetents from? They all seem to wind up running the line next to the Kop. No point crying over spilt milk; we were 2-0 down and looking down the barrel.
However, Blues have developed a reputation this season for spirit and tenaciousness and they came out with a more direct attitude which suited Zigic better. On 54 minutes Beausejour had Blues back in the game. An excellent right sided cross from Wade Elliott found the big man in the box. Rather than heading it he chested it down and attempted a shot that was well blocked by the two defenders with him. The ball ricocheted to Beausejour whose first time finish lifted St Andrews and restored belief. That work could have been undone immediately a minute or so later but for Doyle’s right hand post that prevented Odjidja registering a third for the visitors. Blues were really pressing now and a free kick from Elliott on the edge of the area was only narrowly over the bar. The St Andrews faithful sensed blood and the game, now an absolute cracker, was providing plenty of excitement. Another free kick by Murphy was wide when the right foot of Elliott may have been the better option from that side.
Three substitutions came on 67 minutes but Akpala nearly scored from a well worked move that saw the indecisive Doyle saved by Caldwell. A series of corners to the visitors were repelled and Blues pressed forward again. A stunning volley from N’Daw from thirty-five yards was finger tipped onto the post by Kujovic and it started to feel as if it wasn’t going to be Blues night. Blues nearly gifted a third to Brugges when Akpala had a free header in the six yard box from another corner. His attempt luckily went straight into Doyle’s midriff.
The equalizer did come however, when Beausejour was tripped by Donk inside the edge of the area following a clever turn. The referee did not hesitate in pointing to the spot, King dispatched the kick to the delight of the St Andrews crowd and it was 2-2. Both sides could have won the game from here but to be honest a draw was a fair result on the balance of the whole game. It was a good game of football with lovely play from Brugges, fierce determination and endeavour from Blues and a cracking atmosphere.
I for one am glad I went. It may mean sadly that we will just fall short of progression in the competition since I think Brugges will beat Maribor and Braga will most likely prevail against us. Whilst I think we can beat Maribor ourselves this will place us, Brugges and Braga on 10 points with the Brugges-Braga tie to consider. If they draw we are out as they will each have 11 points; if Brugges win we are out because Braga will have the better of the head to head against us but if Braga win….. well it’s all conjecture isn’t it? We need at least a point in Portugal and much as I love my team, I’m not optimistic. I’m going to enjoy the trip though. 😀
The Good: Great match with plenty of excitement. Delightful play from Odjidja whom I thought was their best player. Wouldn’t mind Akpala either in our squad (well I can dream can’t I?) The Brugges fans were terrific in backing their team.
The Bad: Dreadful Assistant Referee on the Kop side of the pitch. He was even worse than the bloke who ran the line in the Leeds game!
The Ugly: The weather on the way back down South. Rained so hard on the A3 that you couldn’t see the road markings.
Birmingham City (4-4-2): Doyle 5. Spector 5. Murphy 8. Caldwell 6. Ibanez 6. Elliott 7 (Burke 66, 7). Fahey 6. N’Daw 6. Zigic 6. (King 66, 7). Rooney 5. (Wood 66, 6) Beausejour 8. Not used: Myhill, Ridgewell, Redmond, Davies.
Club Brugge (4-3-3): Kujovic 6, Van Acker 6 (Almeback 85, N/A), Vansteenkiste 7, Van Gijseghem 7, Donk 6, Zimling 6, Odjidja 8, Vazquez 7 (Refaelov 81, N/A), Dirar 6, Akpala 8 (Vleminckx 76, 6), Meunier 7. Not used: Coosemans, Perdichizzi, Deschilder, De Jonghe.
Attendance: 26,849 (3,139 Brugges fans)
Bookings: Zigic (58, foul), N’Daw (73, dissent) – Blues. Akpala (23, foul), Kujovic (63, time-wasting), Donk (64, foul). Vleminckx (90+3, handball)- Brugge.
Referee: Marcin Borski (Poland) 7: I think the referee was better than many felt. Once again it was his assistants that let him down and marred his performance. The game did flow and that made it a good spectacle. He got the penalty decision correct but needed help with the obvious offside goal. The linesman was ball watching and missed it.
Good read & a great match,
Was good to see Beausejour making up for his earlier error that lead to the 2nd Goal,
Hopefully we can hang onto him along with the likes of Zigic come january & push on for playoffs as well as the next round of the Europa League!
KRO!
At times on Thursday, I thought Zigic looked like a basketball player from the planet Zorg, sent out to play his first football match without ever previously even watching the game. He was that impressive! I keep reading that he, Ridgewell and Beausejour are likely to be sold in the next window. It goes without saying that if we can hold on to one of them, it has to Beausejour. Sometimes Ridgewell looks like he has already gone.
Whether we can qualify for the next stage of the Europa adventure may, unfortunately, depend on whether we can get anything from the away game in Braga who are undoubtedly a good team. My suggestion would be that we start that match with our best team rather than giving the opposition a start and then have to stage an epic fightback. I know all about squad rotation but…
If we do go out of the competition, it will be a further test of CH’s skills to avoid a post-Europa collapse in our league form such as happened last season post-Carling Cup.
I managed to catch the first half through an internet feed but lost it for most of the second half. By the time I got it back (after much fiddling, key-punching and cussing in German from my son-in-law) I had missed both goals and it was near the end but it seemed to be a good result considering how much we had been outplayed in the first half. As has been stated, Brugges’ secong goal was clearly offside; not even close but it should not have mattered. While it’s natural for all of us to get all over the officiating at a time like this, I would like to offer a moments pause and persepctive on this kind of thing. As in the major American sports, criticism of the officials is always part of the general whinging that goes on from managers, the media and others who somehow feel slighted by this apparent incompetence when one call (or non-call) goes against them. However looking at it in the cold light of day, I find it fascinating that we (and I include myself) get all over the lowest-paid guys on the park for missing a call when guys, who are being paid more in one week than many make in ten years, miss chances that my grandmother (God rest her soul) could have put in. In those cases we say something like “well he’s having a bad run of form” (but of course, he’s still laughing all the way to the bank). Zigic alone could and should have put Blues in a position to win this game; he wasn’t even close with that first-half header and how do you blaze it over from ten yeards? offside or not, that should have ripped the net. With respect to the officials, well maybe that linesman is having a “bad run of form”. The reality is that until football gets into the 21st century and serioulsy upgrades the way the game is officiated (let’s face it the game has been officated essentially the same way as it has for decades) these frustrations will continue.
An excellent report though and not a bad result but needless to say, a win would have obviously made the outlook much brighter.