View from the South – Birmingham City vs Huddersfield Town

On the way up the M40, I commented to Will that it was great to be going to football again and thinking about it, it is the build up to a game that I enjoy the most; the anticipation on a Saturday morning, the banter on the journey up to Birmingham, meeting up with mates and going for a pint before the game. The game itself can be a bit of an anticlimax and this was certainly an example of that! We linked up with Chris and Little Jack at Baginton on the way through before the final journey down the A45 to St Andrews. We all wanted to get to the shop to get some new shirts and unsurprisingly there was a queue but the galling thing was that we all had to not only join the lengthy queue to pay but then join another if you wanted badges, names and numbers etc. There is a till next to the place where this process takes place but of course this is BCFC and it wasn’t manned; it begs the question why? There were people who couldn’t be bothered to wait or couldn’t with time running short and some of those may in the end not bother after all as life tends to get in the way of such things. The result of all this? – A lost sale and lost revenue to the club. It is the same with the catering; why at half time are there not pints of lager and beer poured and ready to hand out to serve people quickly? Doing so would bring in more revenue and some would grab a second rather than just one. There are so many areas from the point of view of business that could be improved to make the overall experience of coming to football a pleasurable one and it is in the club’s interests to deal with these things. The poor service throughout at St Andrews from ticketing to merchandising reflects the lackadaisical attitude permeating right through the club at present and as for the football well this report will be brief!

This was another dreadful performance from Blues and whilst it was nowhere near on a par with the Barnsley debacle there was nothing to recommend it. Blues were lucky not to be behind after 30 seconds when Davies got turned by Beckford who fed Vaughan in the box. The latter turned and clipped the ball just wide; so lucky! This set the tone for the rest of the half. Blues set up 4-5-1 with Lita the lone striker. You would think that Blues would want to play through midfield therefore and boss proceedings getting Redmond and Burke forward wide to feed Lita. Not a bit of it; Fahey sitting in front of our shaky looking back four passed it square or back to the defenders who then proceeded to hoof it downfield to the vertically challenged, Lita with two opposing centre halves towering over him or expansive diagonal passes in the air trying to find our wingers. These sorts of passes are too easy to cut out and their central three in total contrast played neat short balls that found a team mate; they kept the ball! Our ball retention was shocking and it was no surprise when Huddersfield took a deserved lead on 25 minutes. From a throw in Adam Clayton found the unmarked Vaughan down the right who in turn had all the time in the world to deliver a low cross to Beckford with Caldwell trailing in his wake. Jermaine Beckford will not have an easier chance to score all season and he didn’t disappoint the visiting supporters who made 95% of the noise there was to be made all afternoon.

On a positive note, the odd time that Blues did move the ball with speed and precision they nearly scored; once from a shot from debutant James Hurst who was unlucky when his cross shot took a wicked deflection and looped up over Alex Smithies but wide for a corner. On another day, it goes in and all is well with the world and secondly a lovely curling right footed effort from 20 yards from Redmond crashed off the far post and away instead of in. Smithies made three outstanding saves in the second period including a point blank one from Wade Elliot’s header in injury time that proved to be Blues last chance to rescue a point that frankly they didn’t deserve. Blues reverted to 4-4-2 as demanded by the Tilton with Nikola Zigic coming on in place of Fahey at half-time. The big Serb was correctly dismissed from the field of play by referee Andy D’Urso for a shocking challenge on Callum Woods and remarkably Blues did actually play better with ten than the full complement.

In summary our passing was atrocious, our ball retention poor, inventiveness, non-existent and tempo too slow. We are so bad at the moment that very average teams such as Watford, Sheffield Wednesday, Charlton, Barnsley, Coventry and no disrespect Huddersfield Town completely outplay us. We appear to be better away from home than at St Andrews but if you are going to base a campaign on results gained on the road, a relegation struggle will inevitably follow. Interestingly, one statistic I heard on the way home in the car from Tom Ross is that of the last 36 home games of all teams in the Championship only 5 have resulted in wins! Wise men say that you get an idea of where you stand after about 10-12 games; well we are fourth from bottom! Let’s face it we are nowhere near the heights reached last season and we have to get to the end of this one, our present status and as much dignity as possible intact with hopefully new ambitious owners and management staff and rebuild from there. History has a habit of repeating itself and I remember the 1968 side under Stan Cullis that scored 83 goals and came fourth and didn’t get promoted therefore (just like this team) who the following season avoided relegation by the skin of their teeth coming fourth from bottom of the old second division. Things did get better; Trevor Francis, Bob Latchford, promotion in 1972 under Freddie Goodwin and all that so chin up fellow noses.

The Good: Huddersfield’s performance; they were excellent as were their fans who got right behind their team.

The Bad: See above; where do you start?

The Ugly: The realisation that we are simply not good enough. Most teams will come to St Andrews now not just believing they can win but knowing they can.

Birmingham City: Jack Butland 7, James Hurst 5 (Hayden Mullins, 64, 4), Steven Caldwell 4, Curtis Davies 4, (Mitch Hancox, 80, N/A), Paul Robinson 5, Chris Burke 5, Keith Fahey 4 (Nikola Zigic h/t, 4), Jonathan Spector 5, Wade Elliott 5, Nathan Redmond 6, Leroy Lita 5.

Subs not used: Colin Doyle, Peter Lovenkrands, Darren Ambrose, Marlon King.

Bookings: Paul Robinson (90+6).

Sending off: Zigic (74)

Goals: None

Huddersfield Town: Alex Smithies 7, Callum Woods 6 (Paul Dixon 90+4 N/A), Oliver Norwood 6, Peter Clarke 6, Anthony Gerrard 6, Adam Clayton 7, Danny Ward 7 (Lee Novak, 85, N/A), James Vaughan 7 (Adam Hammill, 68, 6), Jermaine Beckford 8, Keith Southern 7, Jack Hunt 7.

Subs not used: Ian Bennett, Sean Scannell, Murray Wallace, Anton Robinson.

Bookings: Jack Hunt (90+2).

Goals: Beckford (25).

Referee: Andy D’Urso 5: Average performance although he got the call of the straight red card for Zigic correct in my view. Made some bizarre decisions in the second half but nothing that affected the outcome. I can see why he hasn’t officiated at Premiership level since 2005.

Attendance: 18, 437 (1,901away fans).

Bazza