It seems an age since I last went to a game. For one reason or another it just seems circumstances have conspired to make sure that I’ve been unable to attend. It’s probably just as well because quite frankly our form in recent times has been nothing short of abysmal although I am sure there are many other English superlatives of a negative persuasion to describe it better.
Saturday morning dawned with a cold but clear day and I set about, having got up early, some basic chores which included going to get the Saturday newspapers, renew the lottery tickets and finally order my train tickets for the journey north. It was just as well that I checked my Senior Railcard since I discovered to my horror that it had expired nine days ago! This put me into a bit of a panic given that I had already ordered my tickets online which were dependent on the Railcard being current. Although I do not have the computer skills of the average 11-year-old in these times, I’m not stupid and have enough savvy to order things online and I looked up how to renew my Railcard. To my surprise not only was it straightforward but I was able to digitally download a new card which was active immediately so panic over.
Little Jack had contacted me the night before to ask if I was going to bother coming up for the game. Although I think it was assumed that I would, given our present predicament, it gets increasingly hard to motivate oneself for the journey. Nevertheless, I answered that I would be coming and he said that having passed his driving test earlier in the day that he would pick me up from Coventry because his Grandad, Chris was working at the Sports Centre near where Coventry City train where apparently there was a boxing tournament on. He was running the catering and would not be able to come to the game.
This was the second home game running that Chris had found himself unable to attend because of work commitments and although it would be a great shame that he would not be with us it was very good that now the little boy of five years of age that went to his first match with me and his Grandad and his Uncle Will all those years ago was now able to ferry us old codgers around! My father told me many years ago that time waits for no man and this is unquestionably true. Reflecting on the fact that little Jack, all six feet four inches of him is now able to take me to the game, I can only add that Old Father Time walks faster as we age!
Mrs Bazza gave me a lift to Blackwater station just before the train arrived to take me to Reading and the rest of the journey I’m glad to say was pretty uneventful. I arrived in Coventry at the appointed hour 12:25 to be picked up by little Jack proudly driving his little car. By way of reciprocation for the lift, I offered to buy lunch. I was hoping to stop at an Indian restaurant we frequent on the Coventry road but they didn’t open until 4 pm. There was no food kiosk outside the Kop entrance so we had to contend with a pie and a pint. We had popped into the George for a pint on arrival and grabbed another in the ground. Jack sensibly stuck to soft drinks as designated driver.
Away from matters Birmingham City for a moment, the news appears to be dominated by Gary Lineker and his tweet about government policy regarding illegal immigrants. He is like all of us entitled to his opinions and is free to express them providing that he doesn’t breech contractual agreements. Whether you agree with Gary Lineker’s views or not there is a principle at stake here and that is as I understand it that if you are drawing a salary of £1.35 million from the BBC that has a strict policy of political impartiality and then you wade into a political quagmire on social media having previously been warned about such behaviour, you are inviting suspension or dismissal for bringing your employer into disrepute. I also fully understand the views of Alan Shearer and Ian Wright in refusing to appear on MOTD this evening by way of solidarity for their friend. I like all three characters involved and have always enjoyed their punditry but I fear that you have to choose the hill that you die on and I would suggest that this is not the one. Much as I like all three men, all of whom represented their country with distinction, I’m afraid that in the final analysis none will be missed as others will step in to fill the void. The beautiful game will go on; none of us is indispensable.
It was good to see Krystian Bielik back from injury as he replaced the suspended Bacuna and the much vaunted George Hall got a start as did Reda Khadra in a 4-2-3-1 system that saw Lukas Jutkiewicz play up top supported by Tahith Chong, Bielik and Hall and I was delighted to see Alfie Chang retain his place having put in some creditable performances recently. Blues got off to a dream start on a bitterly cold breezy afternoon when a beautiful sweeping pass from the right flank towards Jutkiewicz was swept on to the pacy Khadra who one on one with his immediate opponent drove into the box, turned inside and smashed a venomous curling shot past the helpless Johansson in the Rotherham goal with only five minutes on the clock. This was a thing of beauty and summed up the reasons why we all go to watch football in the first place. A fantastic strike which would have lifted the roof off a St Andrew’s stadium that had it full complement of stands open; that day cannot come soon enough!
Blues really should have had a second against their rattled opponents soon after when a cross from the left alighted at the feet of Chong in space ten yards out on the right of the box. Lack of composure saw the young Dutchman snatch at the chance which flew over the crossbar. Rotherham settled into the game and carved out a chance of their own midway through the half when Midfielder Odoffin headed wide of the target when well placed. Not long after the same player was lucky to only receive a yellow card for a reckless high boot that whacked into the face of Krystian Bielick flooring the Blues man for several minutes. The Blues midfielder was clearly dazed and for his safety was correctly substituted by Jordan James giving an even more youthful energy to the midfield.
Despite the setback of Bielick’s injury, events were to improve for Blues as a corner (which clearly should not have been given since no Rotherham player touched the ball) was converted for a 2-0 lead in the 34th minute. The corner kick from the left was helped on off the chest of Alfie Chang. Kevin Long was there to pounce upon the chance which came at him quickly but the central defender adeptly powered the ball into the roof of the net giving the Rotherham keeper no chance from four yards or so. Whilst we were lucky to get the corner in the first place and Rotherham can feel justifiably aggrieved, defenders still have to defend the set piece properly and frankly they didn’t so in the end their coach will have little sympathy when they analyse this game next week.
Rotherham came out all guns blazing in the second half and for the first 15 minutes Blues were under the cosh. Rotherham forced ten corners in the second half, at least nine of which were during this period. A combination of excellent defending by Harlee Dean, Kevin Long, Maxime Colin and Auston Trusty and petty fouls committed by the away side as the ball was delivered on a few occasions meant that Blues clean sheet was preserved. Blues remarkably carved out the best chance despite being under huge pressure. From one corner Blues broke quickly through Khadra who left his defender for dead running sixty yards before slipping in Hall whose angled shot was well saved by Johannson to prevent Blues going 3-0 up.
Rotherham continued to press and could have halved the deficit when Conor Washington tested John Ruddy who saved his half-volley destined for the top corner well. John Eustace decided to freshen up Blues with the introduction of Hogan, Mjebri and Roberts for Hall, Chong and Khadra respectively. This achieved the desired effect as Blues nearly notched a third when Hannibal’s well weighted pass through to Hogan resulted in a good save once again from Johansson although I felt the Irish striker could have done a bit better. Towards the end the Millers keeper was called upon again to keep out Jutkiewicz’s header bound for the top corner in the final few minutes. In the end, despite a better performance by the visitors in the second half, Birmingham wrested back control after a torrid 15-20 minutes spell and ultimately deserved the three points. The away fans applauded their teams’ efforts at the end as there is no doubt they showed great spirit but Blues deserved the win at the finish.
On the way back I hooked up with my old friend Tim who had emailed me the night before to say which train he would be on. Tim has recently turned 80 so many happy returns old friend! Tim is the personification of the long suffering fan that keeps the heart of Birmingham City beating even if it is faintly. Through wind, rain and shine he has suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that seems to have followed us more often than not. Moreover, he has been suffering even longer than me! When I told him I would meet up with him on the return journey he expressed delight and signed off with KRO KBO which made me smile. I loved the Churchillian version of our club’s mantra!
The Good: Little Jack passing his driving test on Friday, the company of Jack and little Seb. The most convivial conversation over a drink on the train back with Tim.
The Bad: The absence of Chris who had to work.
The Ugly: The high boot into the face of Krystian Bielik by Hakeem Odoffin. Whilst I fully understand that the Rotherham player did not set out to hurt the Blues man, it was reckless, dangerous and violent and should in my opinion have been sanctioned with a red, rather than, a yellow card.
Birmingham City: John Ruddy 7, Maxime Colin 7, Harlee Dean 8, Kevin Long 8, Auston Trusty 7, Krystian Bielik 6 (Jordan James 34, 7) Reda Khadra 8 (Marc Roberts 79, 6) Alfie Chang 7, George Hall 7 (Scott Hogan 79, 6) Tahith Chong 7 (Hannibal Mjebri 79, 7) Lukas Jutkiewicz 7.
Subs not used: Neil Etheridge, Emmanuel Longelo, Jordan Graham.
Yellow cards: Trusty 80.
Goals: Khadra 5, Long 34.
Rotherham United: Viktor Johansson 8, Wes Harding 6, Lee Peltier 6 (Tyler Blacklett 64, 6) Cameron Humphreys 7, Leo Hjelde 6 (Conor Wahington 46, 7) Conor Coventry 7 (Georgie Kelly 63, 7) Hakeem Odoffin 6 (Jamie Lindsay 46, 7) Tarique Fosu 7, Chiedozie Ogbene 7, Jordan Hugill 6, Shane Ferguson 6 (Cohen Bramhall 64, 6)
Subs not used: Josh Vickers, Peter Kioso.
Yellow cards: Odoffin 29, Hjelde 45+2, Fosu-Henry 87.
Goals: None.
Referee: Geoff Eltringham 5: Mr Eltringham had a bit of a fifty-fifty performance in my view. There were some negatives which cannot be denied. Little Jack commented that the referee was at least consistently crap for both teams. This rather harsh assessment is not entirely without merit but in the interest of balance I would like to mention the positive aspects of the man in the middle’s performance. He put up with none of the shenanigans seen at corners in every game it seems. He warned the players and the decisively gave free kicks thus Rotherham particularly wasted so many of their ten corners that they fashioned in the second half, Jordan Hugill, an especial offender which must have frustrated their fanbase behind the goal. He kept the game flowing, resisted stop-start free kicks, stopped time wasting tactics with a timely yellow card (Auston Trusty who was taking forever over a throw in) and generally controlled the game well but he gave Blues the corner that resulted in our second goal when it was clearly a goal kick, he failed to stop the normal manhandling of Lukas Jutkiewicz; Rotherham got away with murder there and finally Hannibal was felled in the box with a couple of minutes to go which looked a penalty all day long. Tim told me that he agreed but that Hannibal made more of the challenge than perhaps he should and as Tim was closer to the incident than I was I’m happy to give Mr Eltringham the benefit of the doubt given that we were gifted the corner that wasn’t.
Attendance: 15,932
KRO Bazza
Leave a Reply