The day began a little earlier than I would have liked. My Cockerpoo puppy, Nellie woke up at 05.05 wanting to be let out and so it was I opened the back door so she could relieve herself before coming back in and waiting to play. The dawn was breaking on a clear chilly but beautiful day and the promise of Spring prior to the clocks going forward tonight. I managed another hour in bed before heading for the bathroom for shave, shower and dressing. I made Mrs Bazza a cup of coffee, had a light breakfast before Mrs Bazza and I took Nellie for her morning walk which was a pleasant interlude through the woods.
It was soon time to get down to the station for the train where I met up with neighbour and fellow bluenose, Des. The train from Blackwater to Reading was on time as was the Manchester connection but the latter train was rammed and I mean rammed. We barely squeezed on and managed to get into the alcove near one of the doors for our sardine impression. The service has been similar for months and Cross Country either can’t or won’t do anything about it. Fortunately, much of the madding throng got off at Oxford and I managed to get a seat the rest of the way.
We alighted at New Street and headed for the shuttle bus down to the ground. I was going to meet up with Chris at the ground. Normally he would have picked me up at Coventry but he had called me to say he had a function to go to in the evening and needed to peel off early from the match making me getting back logistically difficult. Will wasn’t going to be able to attend the game because little Will had an important game he was playing in on Saturday morning and they wouldn’t be able to make it. Little Jack was going to be another absentee so it was left to the two old blokes to fly the flag and heckle from the stands like Waldorf and Slater! Well we’re all muppets for supporting our lot in the first place! ?
I had quite an eventful journey in one respect. Just as we were pulling into New Street there was an announcement over the Tannoy asking if there was a doctor on board and if so could they go urgently to the front coach. These are situations I have rarely had to deal with but they are a nightmare because the expectations on you as a qualified clinician are high and yet there is rarely any facility for you to be of much help. Nevertheless, I didn’t feel I could ignore the call so got up and made my way through the packed train towards the front. I only encountered one old bloke who got a bit arsy with me trying to squeeze past but fortunately a couple of other passengers told to to wind his neck in and get out of my way. There was a young man, white as a sheet, cold and clammy and not looking well. It turned out he’d been to the gym, hadn’t drunk much in the way of fluids, had nothing to eat and had then proceeded to have to stand up all the way from Oxford. It was a simple fainting episode as far as I could see and having handed him over to the medical team at New Street, I continued on my way to catch the shuttle bus to the ground. I waited with a pint outside the Globe and Ball and met new acquaintances, Tom and Joe with whom I passed the time of day before Chris and Seb arrived. It was also good to see Jeanette with husband Les and brother Jude from Sussex Blues OSC. The other eventful thing that happened was that I shook hands with Tom Wagner who came by and thanked me and many others for coming. I replied on behalf of all of us “No Tom, Thank you!”
Chris and Seb arrived at the fan park about 2 pm and fortified by a couple of beers and some food we went up to our seats to see the now customary fireworks and razzmatazz. Shrewsbury, it seems have another manager, Michael Appleton, now that Gareth Ainsworth has exited stage left and it remained to be seen if they were going to get a new manager bounce like when we played them up at their place. We got beat of course, 3-2 and had a seriously bad day at the office. A combination of new manager, complacency, having beaten them twice in a friendly and Vertu Cup, fatigue from a busy schedule and on the day appalling weather formed a perfect storm. There would be no such excuses today. Shrewsbury find themselves bottom of the pile and well adrift of safety and new manager effect or not, Blues had to be strong favourites.
This was a cracking game which Blues dominated from start to finish. In the first half Blues created gilt-edged chances for Jay Stansfield and Kieran Dowell who will both feel they should have done better. The first chance fell to Keshi Anderson who controlled an exquisite long ball from Ryan Allsop. The winger lobbed his drive over the head of Jamal Blackman in goal for the Shrews but his effort just cleared the bar. Then came the Stansfield chance. He was put through by a lovely ball from Marc Leonard but Blackman saved well and the chance was gone. A combination of Leonard, Iwata and Willumsson carved out the best chance of the half to find Kieran Dowell free six yards out. He blazed his effort over the bar when in reality it was probably easier to score. This uncharacteristic miss left the home faithful frustrated. Willumsson was the next to see a clear sight of goal from the edge of the box but his effort cleared the crossbar. I was beginning to worry that this profligacy of clear chances would come back and bite us but finally the breakthrough came when a free kick from the left by Kieran Dowell was dispatched on the half volley first time by Ben Davies to relieve the tension. Further chances were created with Ethan Laird going close with a shot just past the post and Leonard was also wide of the mark after good work by Willumsson. At the break it was a slender single goal lead when it could and should have been four.
Blues continued applying pressure on their hapless visitors who were fortunate not to find themselves two down when Alex Cochrane’s low effort from a defensive half clearance went narrowly wide. On 58 minutes a corner taken short to Marc Leonard was clipped into the box where Ethan Laird met it perfectly to head into the far corner. At this point he and Keshi Anderson were substituted, Emil Hanson and Alfons Sampsted replacing them. A beautiful ball out to Hansson on the left wing allowed the wide man to beat his marker and provide the perfect cross for Alfie May who had just come on for Jay Stansfield. The striker made no mistake from close range. Alfie May was to get on the scoresheet again not long after when Luke Harris played a lovely ball through the tiring Shrewsbury back line. May showed cool composure rounding the imposing Blackman to slide the ball into the empty net from a tight angle with four minutes remaining. That should have been that but a momentary lapse of concentration allowed Vadaine Oliver to head home from close range from a very fine cross by Jordan Shipley from the left. It was the only time the visitors had threatened and their only attempt on target.
The Good: There were any number of things I could mention here but I’m going to give a shout out to the Shrewsbury fans. For a team at the bottom of the league and miles adrift of safety they never stopped barracking for their team. They came to St Andrew’s in numbers, were loud and proud, even when they were getting battered. They are proper fans and deserve better.
The Bad: I’d have to say our finishing. We should have been out of sight at half time.
The Ugly: There were one or two unsavoury incidents between rival fans outside at the end of the game. There is no call for this behaviour and I would say to any of our fans who got involved, please stop it! Don’t spoil a fantastic season with mindless, moronic actions like this.
Birmingham City: Ryan Allsop 7 Ethan Laird 8 (Alfons Sampsted 63, 7) Willum Willumsson 7 (Luke Harris 73, 7) Ben Davies 8, Christoph Klarer 8 (Grant Hanley 87, N/A) Alex Cochrane 7, Tomoki Iwata 8, Marc Leonard , Kieran Dowell 8, Keshi Anderson 8 (Emil Hansson 63, 7) Jay Stansfield 7 (Alfie May 73, 8)
Subs not used: Bailey Peacock-Farrell, Lukas Jutkiewicz.
Goals: Davies 27, Laird 61, May 77, 86.
Yellow cards: None
Shrewsbury Town: Jamal Blackman 6, Luca Hoole 5 (David Wheeler 45, 6) Mal Benning 6, Josh Feeney 6, George Lloyd 6, Taylor Perry 6 (Vadaine Oliver 76, 6) Dominic Gape 6 ( Jordan Shipley 76, 6) Aaron Pierre 5, Alex Gilliead 6, George Nurse 6 (Morgan Feeney 81, N/A) John Marquis 6
Subs not used: Joe Young, Ricardo Dinanga, Callum Stewart.
Goals: Oliver 87.
Yellow cards: Wheeler 48
Referee: Tom Reeves: 7; Mr Reeves had a good game. He kept control throughout, stood no nonsense from players trying to buy cheap free kicks early on so it didn’t persist. The game flowed as a result and made for a great spectacle. The fact is, I didn’t notice him all that much which is a great sign and moreover, I barely heard any moans and groans from fellow fans around me about the man in the middle. He was well supported by his assistants so all in all, a job well done.
Attendance: 26,254
Bazza KRO
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