It was a cold crisp morning on the walk down to Blackwater station to catch the train to Reading. All seemed contrary with the world. England’s finest had failed again with the bat in the second Ashes test meaning any hope of salvaging the match was literally ashes. The national football team were drawn in a tough World Cup group that on paper looks unlikely they will get out of; at least with there being virtually no hope it is easier to bear, after all it is the hope that kills! A single Magpie crossed my path on the way; a bad omen to my superstitious mind and having got to the station the train was running late due to poor track conditions whatever that meant. However, the one positive was that it was the train before the one I was catching and it came in, got me to Reading earlier than I would have done normally and I managed to catch the 09.40 connection to New Street. I was laden with Christmas presents for my elderly aunt and spinster cousin in Four Oaks so I went to drop those things off and pay them a visit first before returning to town for the walk down to the ground.
One thing and another there seemed little to be optimistic about. I just hoped and prayed that the game would be better than the match against Charlton which was dross. The draw against Donny in midweek had done little to lift the spirits. The atmosphere at home these days is so subdued that we get hopelessly out-sung by a few hundred intrepid away fans and frankly as a body of fans we don’t appear to care. It seems that nothing but a change of ownership will change that but it is something I do not wish to get into. There has been enough highly speculative rubbish talked about that from people who don’t know any more than the rest of us about what is actually going on but still put their twopenn’th in nevertheless so it’s hardly surprising that St Andrews is a dead space at the moment. Never mind, it is what it is and so on with the game:
Blues started on the front foot with some neat flowing football and there was a particularly nice move involving Reilly, Lingard and Mitch Hancox who got in well down the left flank but there was no one to apply the final touch and the ball whisked across the six yard box to safety. Dudka making his debut could have marked the occasion with a goal in the 13th minute when the ball dropped to him on the edge of the area from a corner. He didn’t quite catch the ball sweetly and drove it into the ground to see it loop up over Given but just wide. It was similar to the early stages against Doncaster in the week except Blues didn’t score on this occasion but the opposition did. Against the run of play Middlesborough were allowed to get the ball out to Emnes far too easily on the right and instead of shepherding him away he was allowed to twist and turn and get a cross in where in the middle of our box, Carayol accompanied by at least two other Boro players was given too much room to turn and fire home from ten yards or so. It was rank bad defending and a sloppy goal to concede but symptomatic of what has happened all season; solid for the most part but giving away stupid goals because of a lack of concentration. The goal came on 22 minutes and signalled for Blues to totally fall to pieces. They lost their composure, their shape and their confidence to pass the ball as they had been doing. Middlesborough packed the midfield, sat back, made life difficult and looked to counter with the pace of Adomah and Emnes. We resorted to hitting it long and high and essentially played into the hands of our opponents. The howls of derision at half time were perfectly understandable and it was to be thankful that we weren’t further behind as we allowed Middlesbrough time and room to play.
Chris Burke came on at half time for the ineffective and increasingly frustrated McLean. The tempo was raised, Blues went back to passing the ball more, started pressing higher up the pitch and consequently began to look threatening. After 56 minutes, a cross by Hancox was glanced by Middlesborough and former England man, Jonathan Woodgate only for the ball to rebound back off the post. Zigic was being flagged offside but the goal would undoubtedly have stood had the ball alighted in the net since Zigic was not interfering with play. Blues had their tails up at this stage and after a lovely move and cross ultimately from Caddis, Novak fluffed his lines and put the chance from about eight yards wide. Two minutes later, Chris Burke on one of his mazy runs was unnecessarily upended by Ben Gibson right on the corner of the box for a clear penalty which Mr Bond had no hesitation in awarding. So on 58 minutes Paul Caddis stepped up to slam the ball into the bottom left hand corner for a deserved equaliser. Middlesborough responded with a period of pressure and series of corners and as the pressure began to mount you could sense that if something was not done the frequent aerial bombardment into our box would result in another goal. Sure enough a left wing corner was punched out of the box by Randolph when he could have caught it as he had numerous times throughout the game. The ball was loaded straight back into the area, headed down and Ayala was on hand to restore Middlesbrough’s lead.
That appeared to be that and all Blues’ hard work was to be undone with yet another home defeat. Blues piled forward and nearly paid the price right at the end as Middlesbrough nearly scored a third with a fantastic header from substitute Lukas Jutkiewicz which was brilliantly saved at the foot of the post by Randolph. Bartley came on for the injured Mitch Hancox on 87 minutes and this was to prove crucial. The away side were trying every trick in the book to waste time and run down the clock but Mr Bond was having none of it as he added six additional minutes to play. The kitchen sink was going in at this stage and from a right wing corner taken by Burke in the fourth of those minutes Bartley powered home an unstoppable header past the helpless Given for a share of the spoils. Perversely, Reilly (or Olly Lee?) nearly scored a winner from thirty yards right at the death when the ball was laid back to him by Novak but it was just wide. It would have been daylight robbery.
The Good: The fact that Blues kept going right to the end and were rewarded with their equalising goal in time added on. They deserved a draw for a spirited second half performance.
The Bad: The first half performance was about as bad as it gets. Middlesbrough were the better side from the moment they scored and just after we equalised with the penalty but this is not to say that Blues didn’t deserve the draw; they did; just!
The Ugly: Blues’ tactics after they went behind in the first half; hoofing it up to Zigic or down the channels but then not doing it well.
Birmingham City: Darren Randolph 7, Paul Caddis 7, Dan Burn 7, Mitch Hancox 6 (Kyle Bartley 87, 6), Paul Robinson 7, Dariusz Dudka 6 (Olly Lee 53, 6) Callum Reilly 6, Jesse Lingard 7, Lee Novak 6, Aaron McLean 5 (Chris Burke, 45, 7), Nikola Zigic 7.
Subs not used: Colin Doyle, Reece Brown, Andrew Shinnie, Demarai Gray.
Goals: Caddis 59 (pen) Bartley 90 + 4. Booked: Robinson
Middlesborough: Shay Given 6, Rhys Williams 6, Grant Leadbitter 7, Marvin Emnes 7 (Jacob Butterfield 71, 6), Dean Whitehead 7, Mustapha Carayol 7, (Lukas Jutkiewicz 62, 6), Ben Gibson 6, Daniel Ayala 7, Albert Adomah 7, Kei Kamara 6 (Emmanuel Ledesma 90, N/A), Jonathan Woodgate 6.
Goals: Carayol 22 Ayala 80. Booked: Leadbitter
Subs not used: Frazer Richardson, Seb Hines, Richard Smallwood, Dimitrios Konstantopoulis.
Referee: Darren Bond 7: The officials overall had a decent game but the official on the Kop side kept flagging for offside when players clearly weren’t. He seemed to be not making the judgement from when the ball was kicked but just after and that can make a significant difference, especially in the professional game. I was particularly pleased to see that the referee punished Boro’s blatant time wasting tactics in the dying embers of the game by allowing an extra six minutes at the end. This may have given the players and crowd the lift which resulted in our second equaliser.
Bazza KRO SOTV
The main problem is,we do not possess a good midfielder and Zigic and Novak have no pace up front. Also, Specsavers could make a fortune out of Blues players,who obviously cannot see their team mates,or maybe they are colour blind and as a result,continually pass the ball to the opposition. Overall,it was a very low standard football match,which bored the life out of the majority of us. I realise,that we have a team, made up of other teams cast offs and young kids,but surely,as professionals, they should be able to string two or three passes together. It is a fact though,that the owners are totally responsible,for the malaise at the club. Whether Mr.Yeung has made mistakes in his financial life,i do not know, but i do know, he and his fellow directors,know nothing about the workings of an English Football Club ! (just a footnote ‘Boro,s first goal, was made with a cross from the left, not the right.)
Hi John. I meant our right not theirs but Ishould have made that clear. It was Caddis who got twisted about by Emnes before he delivered the cross hence my description. I agree with your other sentiments entirely.
Well summarised as ever Bazza except the 30 yarder in the dying moments was from Ollie Lee not Reilly.