I’d told Mrs Bazza that there was another match to go to on Bank Holiday Monday and yes I knew it had only been 48 hours since the last one but the consolation was that Peterborough was not as far to go so I’d be back quicker. When I worked it out it was further than I had perceived from home (116 miles) almost as far as to Birmingham! As usual, it was far more convenient to drive than get the train which involved three changes and took twice as long. Someone ought to tell our politicians that if public transport actually went to where I wanted to go, was efficient and convenient to use and was at an affordable price, more people, including me, would use it! So it was that I hit the M3, M25 and the A1 up to Cambridgeshire.
I parked up and grabbed a bacon roll and a cuppa before getting into the ground which is one of those old fashioned ones from yesteryear with standing terracing behind the goal where most of the away fans were housed. It was my first visit to London Road and the guy next to me said that the last time he’d been to the ground that only the main stand (if you can call it that) to our right was seated. I understand that Peterborough are looking to redevelop the remaining terraces and go to an all-seated stadium; it needs it but it made for an excellent atmosphere nevertheless as our fans out-chanted and out-sang the home crowd all afternoon.
There was a fitting minute’s applause in commemoration of Gary Ablett who was of course not only a great servant of both Liverpool and Everton winning the FA Cup with both but also our own Birmingham City. His death from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma was sad news to begin the New Year with and was properly respected on all sides of the ground as chants of ‘there’s only one Gary Ablett’ rang out continuously among the thunderous applause; Rest In Peace Gary!
Blues, playing in the Europa League yellow (I possess the dark striped second strip that I don’t recall us wearing so far this term) set up very much as you were from the Blackpool game with King and Zigic up front, Burke, N’Daw, Fahey and Beausejour across the middle and Spector, still at right back in place of the injured Steven Carr, Davies, Caldwell and Murphy at the back with Boaz Myhill in goal.
The game could not have started any worse for Blues as they were still checking they were all present on the pitch as Posh scored after only 29 seconds. A through ball by former Blues trainee, Joe Newell caught the whole of our rearguard sleeping and Emile Sinclair had the simplest jobs in finishing past the isolated Myhill from 12 yards with the Birmingham defenders waving their arms about at the assistant referee for an offside decision that never came. According to the replay it appears that our lads had a case but you have to play to the whistle and this was a dreadful goal to concede as a result.
Sinclair had another half chance not long after to double Posh’s lead following another slack piece of defending but Caidwell’s timely intervention prevented further damage. After that Blues settled and the match became one of the most one-sided encounters I’ve seen all season. Blues left the pitch at half time following ten attempts on goal to Peterborough’s two which included their goal which gives some indication of Blues dominance.
Nikola Zigic fired a great chance into the side-netting when well-placed following King’s excellent play to get to the by-line. A shot across the keeper would surely have levelled the score. This was a dreadful miss and it was only Blues’ profligate finishing that was keeping the home team in the game. King was guilty of not attacking a flicked on header from Zigic from Murphy’s long throw with the net gaping. Blues could have been 3-1 up after only ten minutes but they continued to squander good positions and opportunities throughout a frustrating first period. Curtis Davies wasted another chance from a corner as he sent a header narrowly over after 15 minutes. Long-range efforts dominated for a period until Posh keeper Joe Lewis produced a great stop low down at his near post with his legs to keep out Zigic’s effort from Burke’s cross with the Blues faithful behind the goal all heads in hands in disbelief.
Peterborough nearly repeated their dream start when they went close to a second after only three minutes. Paul Taylor’s rasping shot was tipped over by Myhill and the keeper was called upon again to save from George Boyd’s powerful drive from 30 yards when Caldwell dithered and lost the ball in midfield which allowed the Posh strikers a momentary sight of goal. Fortunately the shot was straight at Myhill and he saved comfortably enough. The second half resumed the pattern of the first after that with Peterborough pinned in their own half for long periods as Blues applied pressure. Zigic, again, fired a wayward finish goalwards before Davies missed a sitter placing his header from a set piece over the crossbar from Burke’s corner when it was probably easier to score. When Blues did work Lewis in the home goal, the keeper was up to the task with an excellent save to tip Keith Fahey’s shot around a post.
Chris Hughton replaced Zigic and Beausejour with Chris Wood and Nathan Redmond in a positive search of an equaliser but the frustrations continued as Blues battered the home defence which has leaked more goals than anyone in the division but on this occasion they refused to yield. Posh looked destined for victory until salvation arrived when the excellent Zakuani was penalised for handball in added time.
Ninety-three minutes on the clock and fingers crossed as we all pinned our hopes on King to level matters from the spot. The wags in the crowd started singing ‘Oh Nikola Zigic’ no doubt a reference to the Braga episode but King made no mistake as he buried the ball into Lewis’ bottom left hand corner for a goal that Blues richly deserved at the very least. There was time for yet one more chance as Lewis saved Wood’s low volley at the near post. Had it gone in it would have been the correct result if a little harsh on Peterborough who are to be congratulated for the incredible work rate that they put into this game which I for one did not think they would sustain for the whole match. They had to chase after the Blues players for long periods in the game but withstood the pressure well.
Nevertheless, Birmingham could and should have won this game at a canter. We have to be pleased with a point given the circumstances but let’s not delude ourselves; this was still a poor result against a team that were there for the taking. Two draws against the likes of this spirited but limited Peterborough team who are performing way above expectations is simply not good enough. I view the games against this opposition as four points lost. How valuable they would be now and how important they will turn out to be remains to be seen but if Blues are to make the play-offs we have to beat teams like this home and away and our overall away form has to improve over the second half of the season.
The Good: Fantastic support from the travelling noses. The game was an entertaining one and the team kept going to the last and gave us something to cheer about at the end.
The Bad: As has been the case so often this season; our finishing but some of the service to the forwards can be blamed for this. Scoring from set piece play still needs to be worked on.
The Ugly: The small minority that spoiled the fantastic support from others who jeered Zigic when he was substituted; this was totally unfair. The big man cannot win every header however tall he his. He did win a fair share and the lack of anticipation from others with King the greatest culprit may explain our failure to capitalise. Likewise, the booing of Ridgewell when he came on was disgraceful whatever the feelings are about the player. He was wearing the shirt of Birmingham City. From what I’ve heard his personal reasons for his transfer request are wholly understandable and a little empathy from some quarters would not go amiss. The time to give players stick is when they return to St Andrews wearing different colours and even then it’s probably questionable behaviour against players who have served us well.
Peterborough United: Joe Lewis 8, Craig Alcock 7, Ryan Bennett 7, Gabriel Zakuani 9, Tommy Rowe 7, Joe Newell 7 (Daniel Kearns 75, 6) Scott Wootton 7, Ryan Tunnicliffe 7, George Boyd 7, Paul Taylor 6, Emile Sinclair 7 (Mark Little 81, N/A).
Subs (unused) Dan Lawler, Josh Thompson, Paul Jones.
Goal: Sinclair 1
Bookings: Rowe 64
Birmingham City: Boaz Myhill 7, Jonathan Spector 7 (Liam Ridgewell 86, N/A), Stephen Caldwell 7, Curtis Davies 8, David Murphy 7, Chris Burke 7, Guillane N’Daw 8, Keith Fahey 7, Jean Beausejour 6 (Nathan Redmond 70, 7) Nikola Zigic 7 (Chris Wood 70, 6) Marlon King 7.
Subs (unused) Colin Doyle, Morgaro Gomis.
Goal: King 90 + 3 (pen)
Bookings: Spector 65
Attendance: 11,167
Referee: Jonathan Moss 5: Difficult performance to score when I got to think about it after the game. There were a lot of moans and groans around me and one or two from me for allowing obvious free kicks go unpunished. It is easy to get after the officials especially when things seem to be going against your side but I felt that there was recurrent lack of decision making which on the positive side made for a free flowing entertaining spectacle.
My main gripe was that I felt he gave the Blues forwards nothing all afternoon especially King who was being systematically manhandled continually but the free kicks kept going the way of the Posh defenders for ‘backing in.’ The problem was that the Peterborough centre-halves sensed they were on a winner and exploited the situation to their advantage. Consequently they got away with more than perhaps they were due.
For those that jeered Zigic it should be noted; it is difficult to jump for a ball when you have two players around you; one in front and one behind when one of them has a fistful of your shirt and the other is blocking the referee’s view; oldest trick in the book and one that I was familiar with when I played.
Bazza
KRO SOTV
its not just zigic’s heading though, hes passing was dreadful, hes touch was disgraceful and his finishing abysmal. He missed the shot from 4 yards out in the first half that didnt even get on target and then in the second half that “chip” shot was an embarrassment. I dont boo but i can no longer try and defend a bloke that earns £50k a week yet cannot control a ball or get shots on target from 6 yards out.
I havent seen a replay but did Myhill handle out side the area in the first half? Looked very close to me in what would have resulted in a red card. There fans certainly felt it was.
Caldwell made one good tackle but got caught a few times, it was his weakest performance by us so far, Davies and N’Daw resuced him a few times. Caldwell King and Zigic were 5/10s top, King didnt win a ball all night, although it was a very good penalty under pressure. Too many times balls were put into dangerous areas and neithr of the forwards were there.
Thanks Whopper. I respect your assessment but I think you are being a bit harsh on Zigic. I didn’t think he was that bad. As I said I felt the referee gave the two boys up front for us absolutely nothing and it is very difficult to compete in those circumstances. Some of the service into the area left much to be desired so it isn’t fair to lay the blame soley at the door of the forwards. As for Myhill, I don’t know I’m afraid. He is allowed to parry the ball out on the ground with his hands and as long as his hands are not in contact with the ball when he slides out of the box, the challenge is legal and this may have been the interpretation of the referee. The nearest assistant is on the wrong side of the pitch and the referee is partially unsighted from his position so the officials have to give Myhill the benefit of the doubt. As for the scores I gave the players; they are subjective but I stand by mine and you no doubt by yours.
What an absolute joke your review is. I take it you weren’t actually at the game? How was it one sided? You offer no evidence to support your claim. Possession was 49% to your 51%. Shots on target from us 4 to your 6. Sounds pretty even to me. Your keeper clearly deliberately handled the ball outside his area. Should have been a straight red card. Your strikers are absolute jokes. Our keeper had 2 comfortable shots to stop all game. The most one-sided ref I have seen all season. No way was it a penalty. It wasn’t hand to ball, neither did we gain advantage from it. The ref was itching to give you something though. We could have still been playing now and you wouldn’t have scored against us. We were completely robbed of a deserved 3 points by a clown of a referee. We were the best side on the day. Birmingham are at best a mid-table side.
Matt, your tirade is what I would expect from the partizan supporter. I attended both matches; the one yesterday and the one at St Andrews. You were fortunate to get anything from either game. Your team has a number of positive features but you were outplayed in both games against us and I’m sorry if you don’t agree. As for possession stats; it depends on where you have the ball doesn’t it? We had 20 attempts on goal to your 5 with 9 on target for us and 2 for you yesterday. It was one sided but you got a point which was deserved because of the effort your boys put in alone. However, it was a point gained (and nearly a win) because of Birmingham’s shortcomings rather than the merits of your lads although I felt they defended brilliantly. I said at the start of the season that I thought we would be mid-table and so far there have been too many games like this one for us to gain promotion. Birmingham have the potential to make the play-offs but in order to do so they have to take their chances especially away from home and definitely have to beat teams like Peterborough and that is not meant to be disrespectful. I stand by every word of my report; I tell it the way I see it.
Matt, clearly you are a Peterborough fan so I appreciate you’ll have a different point of view to ours. Firstly I should say I wasn’t at the game and had to listen to the commentary on club player.
Baz has reported on most of our games for a few seasons now, and I’m yet to disagree with much of his opinion on the games I’ve also seen. Also he regularly gives the opposition sides credit, sometimes to the irritation of our own fans.
The radio commentary indicated that certainly in the 2nd half, it was virtually all Blues. Yes they were the usual Blues commentators, but there are regularly critical of poor performances and also give credit where it’s due to the opposition.
The BBC stats partly agree with your opinion, (I chose them so you couldn’t accuse bias), in that over the 90 the possession was pretty even, however I would hazard a guess it was mainly us. However the BBC indicate that we had the better of shots both on and off target and the number of corners, when you put them all together, indicate that we had more of the attacking opportunities.
I can’t say if it was a penalty yet as I haven’t seen it, however it doesn’t matter if it was accidental or not, if the ball hits the defender’s hand and is then prevented from travelling to an attacker – then that is a penalty regardless if it was ball to hand. I’m guessing, but that’s what I assume it was for. When I see it, if I think you were hard done by – I’m happy to come back and say so.
Fair play to Peterborough though you clearly competed for the whole game.
Kev
You had 6 shots on target not 20. How can I have a rational discussion with someone who makes up the facts? Consult the official match statistics and you will see. Most of your shots were way off target. I see you don’t mention the red card offence by your keeper. It was right in front of where I stand. Our tactics where to hit you early then defend in depth with our midfield sitting deep. It allowed you possession and plenty of long range off target shots. You only got the point due to a poor refereeing decision. I fully expect Posh to be above Birmigham at the end of the season. Oh and by the way many of our first choice players were out injured. You confuse your conjecture with my statistically proven facts. Now that IS proof you are grasping at straws to justify your support of a team not as good as you clearly think it is.
Sorry I meant to add the BBC stats:
Possession 54% you 46% us
Shots on target 4 you 9 to us
Shots off target 1 you 11 us
Corners 3 you 5 us
That is pretty significant in my book.
Matt, i dont know where your getting your stats from? On the BBC, SKY SPORTS, ESPN (i couldnt be bothered to go and check on any more sites) all had borough on 4 shots and brum on 9 shots on target with 1 off target for borough and at least 11 off target for brum.
Possession was 46% 54% in YOUR favour to make you feel a little better 🙂
I do agree with you on our strike force, Zigic needs to go he is like watching Bambi on ice! (Sorry Bazza but its true), it seems to be a growing theme at the moment, how many shots does it take to score a goal…
Matt about the Penalty, handball is handball….. ive seen the replay after the game and its a clear handball, now you may disagree but if the roles were reversed and Peterborough were given the penalty would you be singing the same song, i didnt think so.
You are wrong about Birmingham being a mid-table side, they are at best and worst playoff candidates, and winning our two games in hand (yes i know we havnt won them yet) will put us 5th and ive seen most home and a few away games this season, stop being so bitter, sometimes you get the decisions and sometimes you dont.
For the record Matt you forget we have played 2 games less than yourselves having played in a European competition.
Like Baz said, fair play to you for the support of your club but your comments don’t match the comments I’ve heard from unbiased press.
I haven’t seen the Myhill incident, but it was talked about on the forum that it was possibly something the ref missed. We haven’t had a great deal go our way this season from the officials so if that one went our way – I guess we have to be grateful and commiserate.
I believe Baz’s 20 refers to the combined on and off target stats.
I have read stats fot games which are ludicrous, particularly the possession one.
I remember on one game ( I can’t remember which) Sky Sports reporte that we had 45% position and the BBC, for the same game, had us at 60%, which was bizarre.
Shots should be much easier to count though – a bloke with a notepad could do that.
Matt, I resent being accused of making up facts. I got my information from the following link:
http://www.birmingham.vitalfootball.co.uk/stats.asp?a=267691
I have already commented on the incident regarding our keeper. We were too far away in the away end to comment and I’ll stand corrected if the replay when I see it proves your point. However, if the officials don’t get a clear view of the incident they cannot give it unless you want them to make it up of course!
The referee gave the penalty for hand ball, on that we are all agreed. The fact that you don’t agree with the decision makes not one jot of difference. The man in the middle has to decide on whether it constitutes illegal play, whether it confers an advantage to that player’s side that should not accrue and whether it prevents the other team from legally playing the ball. As Kev rightly says, the fact that it may be an accidental infringement makes no difference at all and this is made clear in the Laws of Association Football as a current Premier League Referee stated on this blog a little while back.
Whether Posh finish above Birmingham or not is not something that is worth debating but needless to say I don’t share your confidence that Peterborough will be higher in the league after 46 matches on the evidence of what I’ve seen from both teams this season. The main reason why I don’t think you will is that you concede too many goals and better teams than us in this league will make hay.
Well I was only a few yards away from the goalkeeper incident, he clearly intentionally handballed it outside of the area, then totally took out our attacker sinclair. The ref didn’t even give a foul! This ref gave us a penalty in the play-off semis against MK Dons. Our player tripped over his own feet and wasn’t even in the penalty area when he awarded us the penalty. He is a shocking ref. I stand by my comment. Peterborough are a better side than you and we will finish higher in the league than you. All Posh fans are so angry at the result, if we were so poor how do you explain that?
I’d be angry if we conceded a penalty in the last minute too, especially if you feel it’s debatable. However I can’t agree that your side are better than ours from what I’ve seen. Sorry mate.
I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree.
Yeah fair enough. It’s almost like footy fans are biased towards their own club or something!
http://posh.footballblog.co.uk/gasp-penalty-ruins-year-joy-peterborough-united-11-birmingham-city.html? This is from Peterboroughs blog. and sums it up, this aint biased Keep Right on,