View from the South – Birmingham City v Coventry City 2021/22

I will say right now that it has taken all of my rapidly ebbing powers of motivation to write this report. I got back last evening after yet another chastening, dispiriting, demoralising and abject defeat and thought sod it, I’ll watch Netflix, drink beer and talk to Mrs Bazza instead. Before setting off from home early on Good Friday I discovered that I’d forgotten to charge my iPad which only had 3% battery power so I couldn’t take it with me so it was going to be a reflective piece after the fact. I accepted a lift from Will to the game. He picked me up from near home and was driving a large van into which he’d loaded two sofas that he was gifting to his niece, Emma and her husband. The journey was painless with no horrible Easter traffic to hold us up. Will, little Will and yours truly had a convivial chat and caught up on each other’s news which passed the time nicely. We arrived at Emma’s house which is just a couple of hundred yards from the Oak in Baginton and delivered the sofas which went into the small cottage surprisingly easily. Time for a pint before borrowing a more suitable vehicle for the journey down the A45. Jack and little Seb had joined us but Chris was too busy at the pub so had to forego the latest pilgrimage.

Will needed to get a ticket for one of the kids so Jack and I went off in direction of the George. Jack was anxious to buy me a pint now that he’s earning which was a nice gesture. Unfortunately, he couldn’t use his card at the George as it was cash only and so I thanked him for the sentiment which was greatly appreciated and said; “No problem son, another time eh?” Suitably refreshed we joined Will and the two little ones in the ground but not before grabbing a cheeseburger made with proper beef outside from one of the kiosks that have recently been installed. We got to our seats just in time for kick off.

The neutral would have enjoyed this match; six goals, wide open game, bright sunshine and a lovely warm spring day. Things couldn’t have started better for Blues with an early goal from Pedersen who scored with a free header from a corner and then Gardner from another header from one of Marc Roberts’ throw-ins! You would’ve thought that at 2-0 up against a side that had hardly threatened that it was a case of switching on, concentrating on the task, consolidating and getting through to half time with a healthy lead. This is Birmingham City we are talking about and of course we give a soft free kick away 35 yards out which was delivered into the box headed back across the six yard box by Michael Rose completely unmarked for an easy tap in from two yards by Ben Sheaf with our lot with thumbs in bums and brains in neutral. Shocking defending, in keeping with theirs for our two. There was five minutes added on to the half for a prolonged injury to one of the Coventry players mid period which allowed just enough time for the Sky Blues to equalise from another free header, again by Sheaf from a corner and cancel out our encouraging start. Having managed to quieten the raucous away support they were back up roaring their team on. The momentum was with them and I suppose what happened in the second half was inevitable really.

In the second half Blues huffed and puffed to try and restore the lead which by rights Hogan on two occasions and goal scorers Pedersen and Gardner with headers from corners should have done. It was left to the visitors to score their chances when they inevitably came. Another corner easily headed in by Michael Rose completed the turnaround and to put the icing on the cake in the dying embers of the game Coventry scored a fourth following a good intricate move which put Martyn Waghorn through. Zack Jeacock saved the first attempt, Colin blocked the second before O’Hare followed up to gleefully side foot in the rebound for a crushing defeat. The thing that irked me about this goal was the fact that apart from Deacock and the Maxime Colin, the rest of them just stood and watched! The defending was pretty awful from both sides but Coventry took their chances and frankly looked more dangerous when they attacked. Apart from the first half an hour, they were better than us.

Unfortunately, that can be said of any number of teams that have visited St Andrews not only this season but for some time. Teams turn up and not only think they can win, they know they can. I am heartily sick and tired of turning up week after week and seeing pretty ordinary sides beat us because we are incapable of doing the basics properly thus allowing visiting supporters to take the piss and have a great day out. It’s depressing, humiliating and saddening to see our great, famous old club going down the gurgler like this. Let us be under no illusions, were it not for the 21 points docked from Derby and the 6 points lopped off a woeful Reading sides tally, we would be in the bottom three this Easter. We are abysmal despite the early season promise. We simply aren’t good enough and there has been little improvement in results the last twelve months despite better looking performances. We are woefully deficient defensively, we lack depth when inevitable injuries and suspensions start to bite and I cannot see it getting any better any time soon.

The problems clearly stem from the owners who strike me as a bunch of shady, secretive charlatans with little interest in the club other than as a vehicle for providing an asset for a shell company to maintain a Hong Kong stock exchange listing which in turn allows for arguably dubious financial practices. You only have to look at the state of the ground, the fact that we haven’t been able to open half the stands all year because of neglectful maintenance over many years and the lack of commitment and investment at the right times and in the right places. There is no atmosphere in the place as a result and frankly no heart. I get the impression that many of the faithful feel as I do; sad, desolate and resigned to more of the same. What money has gone in has been squandered on frankly mediocre, rubbish players that have no business wearing the royal blue shirt of our once proud club. The league position of both the men’s and women’s teams is heartbreaking. It is inevitable that eventually Blues will be relegated to League 1 as things stand since next season we will probably not have points deductions for other clubs to save us. The squad needs a radical overhaul but I cannot see where the money is going to come from or the will to do it. The clowns that own our club simply don’t care.

The Good: A beautiful day, the company of Will, Jack and the little lads.

The Bad: Awful defending from both sides. If you don’t defend free kicks and corners properly you are going to let in a lot of goals. Ultimately however, they were better than us.

The Ugly: The prospect of another season like this starting in August. If Blues do eventually go down which is highly likely if things don’t change, I don’t think we will get back up; the only way will be further down.

Birmingham City: Zack Jeacock 5, Nico Gordon 6 (Taylor Richards 76, 5) Marc Roberts 5, Krystian Pedersen 5, Maxime Colin 5, Gary Gardner 5, Ryan Woods 3, One, Hernandez 6, Juninho Bacuna 6 (Troy Deeney 75, 5) Lyle Taylor 5, Scott Hogan 4 (Lukas Jutkiewicz 87, N/A)

Subs not used: Connal Trueman, Jordan Graham, Ivan Sunjic, Jeremie Bela.

Goals: Pedersen 12, Gardner 39.

Yellow cards: Roberts 40, Richards 90 + 3.

Coventry City: Simon Moore 6, Michael Rose 7, Dominic Hyam 6, Jake Bidwell 6, Fankaty Dabo 6 (Todd Kane 62, 6) Jamie Allen 6, Ben Sheaf 8, Gustavo Hamer (Kyle McFadzean 82, N/A) Ian Maatsen 6 (Martyn Waghorn 87, N/A) Callum O’Hare 7, Viktor Gyokeres 6.

Subs not used: Ben Wilson, Liam Kelly, Jodi Jones, Fabio Tavares.

Goals: Sheaf 40, 45 + 5, Rose 71, O’Hare 90.

Yellow cards: None

Referee: Oliver Langford 6: Apart from not booking at least two of the visitors players who committed offences similar to the ones meted out to our players, Mr Langford had a reasonable game. It was not his fault we were poor defensively.

Attendance: 17,634

Bazza KRO