It was a chilly overcast start to Saturday when at the insistence of nature’s call I got up, showered and dressed and applied Nellie’s lead for her morning walk. Cockerpoo’s care not how cold it is outside and will relentlessly chase a ball all the time you are prepared to throw it. Mrs Bazza was taking part in a flower arranging event (she does that at a pretty decent level) and was in a rush to pack flowers, secateurs, greenery and other regalia into the back of the car before setting off. I fed Nellie and settled her down before it was time to set off myself to meet up with Will and little Will at The Meadows, a local shopping mall where Will could stop and pick me up. We were soon speeding north up the M40 to Kenilworth to pick up Seb and Jack. From there we headed for the Selly Park Tavern for some food. We were joined by Chris so the usual gang was complete. We were fortified by an excellent brunch menu. I personally enjoyed a breakfast bap with bacon, sausage and egg which washed down with a couple of pints of ale meant that I was ready for anything, even watching Blues at home! We ordered up an Uber from the pub up to the ground and we entered the ground and made for our seats. On the walk up Coventry Road towards the Kop stand little Will spotted none other than Alfie May who had decided to come and watch our game. Needless to say he was greeted warmly by a number of fans close by. I shook his hand and thanked him for his efforts for us last season. Like many, I was very sorry to see him go. Will, little Will and Seb managed to get a picture with him.
Another packed crowd with a sold out away support, many dressed in their gold and black stripes were present. The usual razzmatazz, flame throwers, fireworks and loud rendering of Keep Right On accompaniment to Sir Harry Lauder occurred and the match started. Blues began on the front foot and it wasn’t until ten minutes had elapsed that Hull had their first foray up the pitch. Sadly, having been dominated to that point they scored. The ball was played inside to Oli McBurnie just outside the box. He slid a lovely ball through to Regan Slater who was clean through on James Beadle. He looked close to being offside and had there been VAR in the Championship, it would have been interesting to see if it were the case. No matter, the midfielder’s shot squeezed under the keeper but unfortunately it rebounded off Jack Robinson and into the empty net for 0-1.
Blues went back on the front foot and put the visitors under pressure. Once again Blues showed dominance in possession and were at least creating chances. There was a coming together between Hull centre half, Charlie Hughes and Birmingham’s Keshi Anderson. The latter appeared to be pushed in the back when running through to a through ball in the box. There was a loud shout for a penalty which referee Mr Ricardo waved away. It was one of a number of decisions made by the man in the middle which did nothing to endear him to the home faithful. Chris sitting next to me thought it was a questionable call and probably not a penalty. I felt it was one of those that some referees would have given so who knows?
Blues continued to press and Patrick Roberts who had a fine game turned inside from the right wing, slipped a neat pass to Paik Seung-ho who wasted no time in unleashing a shot from just inside the box which Ivor Pandur, in goal could only parry. His excellent save was nevertheless punished by Johnny-on-the-spot, Jay Stansfield who tapped home from close range to restore parity. Blues remained on top buoyed by the goal but as the half drew to a close, in time added on, a rare visitors’ foray down the right wing found Lewie Coyle who in my view got to our byline far too easily. His cross was beautifully precise and you have to say the header from Slater from 10 yards was superb as he buried the cross across Beadle from whence it came into the top corner. Yes, it was against the run of play, yes, Hull had only mustered three meaningful attacks all half but they had scored from two of them! What efficiency! Blues, in contrast, had dominated possession, created a number of chances but a combination of good defending, excellent goalkeeping and profligate finishing had meant a solitary strike for us. In the end the game is about scoring goals and we are failing in that department at present.
Blues went straight at their opponents after the break and should have been level within a couple of minutes of the restart. Keshi Anderson having carved out a wonderful position for himself only 12 yards out contrived to shoot straight at Pandur. Cochrane then brought a superb save out of Pandur with a 25 yarder that was destined for the postage stamp in the top corner only for the custodian to fingertip away and over for a corner. I can see why Hull fans are raving about their goalie! It seemed only a matter of time before Blues got back into the match only for the needle of fate to swing decisively against them. With 59 minutes gone an argument about a corner that Blues should rightly have been awarded yet wasn’t, resulted in Jack Robinson getting his marching orders for dissent. Rapid 1-2 yellow cards equalled a red and for the second time in three games, Robinson was off.
Despite the daunting nature of the task, Blues rolled up their sleeves and pushed on. Chris Davies rolled the dice and introduced fresh energy in the form of Tommy Doyle and Kyogo Furuhashi from the bench at the expense of some of our defensive resources. This led to an open, end to end game with the jeopardy of conceding a third in pursuit of an equaliser. Demarai Gray brought another fine save out of Pandur while the best chance fell to Kyogo whose superb piece of skill to nutmeg one defender and beat another led to a clear opening a handful of yards out. The Japanese forward the fluffed his lines by placing his left footed effort wide of the post having done all the hard work to create the opportunity. It was a miss Blues would rue. Just after Lewis Koumas had slammed a brilliant volley an inch the wrong side of the near post and James Beadle of all people had headed over from six yards from a corner, Hull broke away and profit from a two on one to allow Gelhardt to settle the matter with a smart low finish. He and Liam Millar had gone close before this so it was a matter of luck finally running out I’m afraid.
The show wasn’t quite over. A long ball from Beadle found Dykes ahead of his marker. He was clearly pushed in the back and this time Mr Ricardo pointed to the spot. The incident was very similar to the one involving Anderson in the first half but there you go. Jay Stansfield (who else?) slotted the ball past Pandur and although Blues valiantly tried to salvage a draw, the defensive frailties, the poor finishing and the needless sending off told in the end. Hull are a decent side and gifting them a lead and then compounding matter by reducing your own numbers will only produce one outcome. The 29 game unbeaten home run in the league has gone.
The Good: in many ways the performance. Blues did not play badly and kept going courageously in adversity. There is much to be positive about but we simply have to have our best players out on the pitch at the start. (Neumann!)
The Bad: Our defending for both first half goals though their second was well worked. We were static and caught ball watching. Finishing! The sending off; just what is Jack Robinson thinking? He is becoming a liability I’m afraid. Two yellow cards in seconds for dissent is wholly unacceptable.
The Ugly: Leaving the ground at the end of the game there was a punch up going on between a couple of our fans and police on the Coventry Road. There is no call for it. Equally, whatever went on between the two coaches. Chris Davies needs to avoid such controversy. I would suggest he has enough problems as it is given that we have now only gathered 5 points out of the last 21 in the league.
Birmingham City: James Beadle 7, Marc Leonard 6 (Tommy Doyle 63, 7) Christoph Klarer 7, Jack Robinson 3, Alex Cochrane 6 (Lewis Koumas 83, N/A) Tomoki Iwata 7, Paik Seung-ho 6 (Lyndon Dykes 84, N/A) Demarai Gray 7 Keshi Anderson 6 (Kyogo Furuhashi 63, 6) Patrick Roberts 9, Jay Stansfield 8.
Subs not used: Ryan Allsop, Phil Neumann, Alfons Sampsted, Bright Osayi-Samuel, Kanya Fujimoto.
Goals: Stansfield 27, 90+6 (pen)
Yellow cards: Stansfield 45, Beadle 54, Robinson 59, 59 = RED
Hull City: Ivor Pandur 9, Lewie Coyle 7 (Cody Drameh 49, 7) John Egan 7, Charlie Hughes 7, Ryan Giles 6, Amir Hadziahmetovic 6 (Darko Gyabi 70, 6) Regan Slater 8, Joe Gelhardt 7, David Akintola 5 (Matt Crooks HT, 7) Oli McBurnie 7 (Liam Millar 70, 7) Kyle Joseph 7 (Enis Destan 80, N/A)
Subs not used: Dillon Phillips, Semi Ajayi, Joel Ndala, Akin Farnewo.
Goals: Robinson (og) 11, Slater 45+4,
Yellow cards: Coyle 16, Akintola 20, Gelhardt 45, Crooks 68, Pandur 76, Egan 82, Destan 90+8.
Referee: Ruebyn Ricardo 5: There were a number of questionable decisions. He gave two rapid yellow cards to Robinson for dissent and I have no problem with that per se but the incident which led to Robinson’s protest was about a corner which Blues should have had. Everybody in the ground saw it why didn’t the referee? It does not excuse Robinson however, no doubt swearing at the official? (I have no proof of this incidentally). The push on Keshi could easily have been called a penalty and yet he gives the one for the assault on Dykes which was similar. He gave 7 yellow cards to Hull players and 4 to Blues players (5 if you include the two for Robinson) to my mind that many cautions suggests a lack of control of the game and it did boil over badly at one point when the coaches started squaring off. (I believe they may have been cautioned too)
Attendance: 27,815
Bazza KRO
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