I woke just after six needing to void my bladder. By the time I had I was wide awake and decided to just get into the day. Besides, Nellie was agitating for her walk and the early bright sunshine beckoned. It was chilly out first thing with a tinge of ground frost which bespangled the grassy tips as it gently thawed in the spring sunlight. The mass of bluebells painted the quiet scene in the woods and I am not alone in thinking how much pleasure these perennial visitors are giving us this time of the year. Nellie likes nothing more than to chase and worry a ball which she does with immense energy relentlessly. We met fellow bluenose, Des on our walk. Like me he was going up by train later to the game. He had been on Wednesday for our win against Preston and we didn’t dwell too long on Beadle’s limp effort to deal with the corner which resulted in their goal. If anyone had any doubts about whether to re-engage the Brighton loanee next term; surely it was dispelled. We got back and I fed Nellie and took a bite of breakfast myself and pottered about doing one or two routine jobs before starting out for the train. I intended to meet up with Chris and Seb at Leamington Spa where we hoped to grab a couple of pints before getting the train to Bordesley. Things ran according to plan although the Manchester train was 25 minutes late getting into Reading meaning I did not reach Leamington until well after 12.30. I proceeded to The Old Library (the pub not the place where they stack books) and was soon in possession of my first pint of the day. We watched some of the Fulham v Vile game and witnessed the only goal of that game for the Cottagers which made my second pint go down even better.
We arrived just before kick off at St Andrew’s and the atmosphere was good considering it was the last home game of a season that had petered out a little. Bristol had brought a few more with them than Preston managed in the week but not all their allocation had been taken up. The visitors got off to a fast start and a dangerous volley from Scott Twine on five minutes was dipping down towards the crossbar at the Gil Merrick end and Beadle did well to save at the expense of a corner. However, it was Blues who took the lead barely three minutes later when a free kick from the right flank by Demarai Gray was volleyed in by Neumann who found himself unmarked ten yards out and needed no further invitation pending a clean connection to open the scoring. Blues took full control at this stage with the visitors offering little or no threat. Just before the half hour, Birmingham doubled their lead when the Bristol rearguard attempting to play out from the back got themselves in a tangle. Sam Morsey’s attempted pass into midfield was blocked and looped up into the air into the path of Jhon Solis on the edge of the area. With quick thinking from the Colombian, his first time shot goalwards was adjudged to have crossed the goal line despite Radek Vitek’s valiant effort to keep it out. A quick glance at the watch by Robert Jones, the referee was followed by an emphatic point towards the centre circle and the award of a goal. A roar of approval from the home contingent followed and it was 2-0.
Blues really should have added to this tally in the second half. Carlos Vicente had a fierce volley tipped over by Vitek and a glorious chance by Priske when played through by Jay Stansfield, was chipped over the keeper only to hit the post. Auguste Priske nearly scored a minute later when a left footed volley from Kai Wagner’s cross went narrowly wide. (He’s having no luck, that lad!) Stansfield also tested Vitek’s fingertips with another goalbound volley but it just wouldn’t go in. Blues looked to be cruising to a comfortable win nevertheless when nine minutes from time, a clumsy challenge by Jay Stansfield on Tomi Horvat led to the award of a penalty which the sinned-against player dispatched sending Beadle the wrong way. We now had jeopardy that was wholly unnecessary considering how dominant Blues had been but apart from a scare when a far post header went wide in the last seconds of the six minutes added on, Blues held on for their third home win on the bounce. Sixty-three points and in the top ten. Win at Portsmouth next week and that can be confirmed. It was the sort of position I thought we would achieve at the start of the season. Yes, it is easy to point to at least ten points that Birmingham left out there that may have forced a play-off place but are we really ready for the Premier League? An emphatic no in my opinion. More reflections on that in a future article.
The Good: A decent performance and two well taken goals.
The Bad: The chances that got away. This should have been five or six.
The Ugly: It was starting to kick off down the Coventry Road but West Midlands finest seemed to have things under control. In fairness, there appeared to be more Coppers present than belligerents.
Birmingham City: James Beadle 6, Bright Osayi-Samuel 7 (Ethan Laird 70, 7) Robert Neumann 9, Kai Wagner 7, Paik Seung-Ho 7, Jhon Solis 8 (Tomoki Iwata 59, 7) Carlos Vincente 8 Jay Stansfield 6 (Alex Cochrane 84, N/A) Demarai Gray 7 (Tommy Doyle 70, 7 )Auguste Priske 7.
Subs not used: Kanya Fujimoto, Jack Robinson, Ryan Allsop, Marvin Ducksch.
Goals: Neumann 7, Solis 29,
Yellow cards: Solis 14, Stansfield 81, Klarer 90+4.
Bristol City: Radek Vitek 8, Ross McCrorie 6, Noah Eile 7, Neto Borges 7, Cameron Pring 6 (Rob Dickie HT, 7) Jason Knight 7, Sam Morsy 6 (Adam Randall 63, 7) Sam Bell 6 (Emil Riis 63, 7) Tomi Horvat 7, Scott Twine 7, Delano Burgzorg 7 (Sinclair Armstrong 76, 6)
Subs not used: Lewis Thomas, Mark Sykes, Seb Naylor, George Earthy George Tanner
Goals: Horvat (Pen) 81
Yellow cards: Burgzorg 75.
Referee: Robert Jones 7: I thought the referee had a decent game. He got the major decisions right including the penalty.
Attendance: 27,210.
KRO Bazza
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