View from the South – Bristol City v Birmingham City

Early on, I took out a little Cairn Terrier called Bentley who belongs to a neighbour of mine who sadly is not very well at the moment and unable to do it herself. I caught the train from Blackwater to Reading where I had arranged to meet up with my youngest son, Ben who was already in the Three Guinneas with a pint at the ready having just arrived from Oxford. On the way to Reading, I met Steve, a Royals supporter with whom I had a pleasant and interesting chat. He was off to see the FA Cup 4th Round tie between Reading and Walsall and we both felt it would be a tough game and the Sadlers would be no pushovers (what do we know? 4-0 in the end! 😀 ) I said goodbye and joined Ben in the pub. We enjoyed our drinks while we waited for Chris and little Jack to join us from Coventry. They duly did and there was just enough time for another scoop before getting the 12.11 to Bristol. We changed again at Bristol Parkway to our final destination, Parson Street. A few yards from the station and we could see the ground from the top of the hill and we called in at a nearby pub, the Plough and Mill for another pint while Jonny my eldest son and an inhabitant of Bristol joined us from his home nearby.

It was now time to walk down to Ashton Gate but I decided to use the facilities and rather wished I’d waited! I haven’t smelled anything that bad since Fratton Park about seven years back; really whiffy! Anyway, I held my breath, finished what I had to do and made for the clear cold air outside. As many will be aware, the away allocation of tickets had sold out some time ago and I had therefore been forced to get hold of tickets in the home end. The ground was full to capacity with presumed expectation from both sets of supporters. Bristol had recently and most creditably beaten table toppers, Middlesbrough to give themselves a real chance of climbing away from the relegation places but they first had the little matter of beating Blues who had run into a spell of excellent form. A cracking match was expected but sadly not delivered; it was a curate’s egg of a game in truth.

It wasn’t so much that the football was bad, not at all, it was just attritional which resulted in a sterile encounter. Bristol City were the better side in the first half without really threatening. There was one moment of contention when debutant Lee Tomlin went down in the box following a challenge by Paul Caddis. The referee immediately signalled a free kick for Blues and a yellow card for Tomlin who could have stayed on his feet in my view and I had a good one since we were up that end. Professionals try to drag their trailing foot to induce contact and sometimes they con the man in the middle but not this time. It is interesting that Tomlin stated in an interview that he could only smile when he saw we were the first opponents for his new club and talked about the penalty he scored in the Cup for Bournemouth at St Andrews and hoped he would be allowed to take them for Bristol; perchance that the Bristol manager John Pemberton had said yes? I certainly felt he was looking for an unfair advantage and I reckon the referee was correct. There were speculative shots well wide by the home side, half chances from one or two crosses that failed to stir the blood and the teams went in 0-0 with Bristol having had the better of it.

The second period was better from the Birmingham perspective with more attacking intent and Blues produced easily the best chance of the game when Jacques Maghoma cut inside across the edge of the area to get his shot off. The keeper saved well but in truth it was not wide enough of him to cause the home custodian undue concern. That was about it as far as any meaningful excitement was concerned and a 0-0 draw was about right. It would have been good to win and with a bit more composure and a tendency for too many touches in and around their penalty area it could easily have happened; a single goal would have settled this encounter but in the end a point was all it was worth. Bristol for their part were set up not to lose and who can blame them. The positive from their perspective is that they have stopped conceding goals and any team that is doing that will inevitably pick up points; after all if you nick one like they did against a really good Middlesbrough team and it’s three points. From our viewpoint we have to be happy with a point away from home against a well organised team scrapping for survival. I reckon Bristol City will achieve this aim.

The Good: Spending the day in the company of my two lads, Chris and little Jack. It was also good to meet Steve the Reading fan; I see that the Sadlers failed to trouble his team in the way we both thought they might.

The Bad: The odour in the heads at the Plough and Mill; phewy!!!!!!

The Ugly: A horrible tackle on Jon Toral by Nathan Baker in the first half which caused the young Spanish loanee to leave the field with a swollen knee. Baker was booked when he perhaps should have walked.

Bristol City: Richard O’Donnell 7, Mark Little 6, Aden Flint 6, Nathan Baker 6, Scott Goldbourne 6, Marlon Pack 6, Korey Smith 6, Luke Freeman 6, Bobby Reid 6 (Kieran Agard 80, N/A) Lee Tomlin 7 (Wes Burns 66, 6) Jonathan Kodjia 6 (Aaron Wilbraham 78, 6)

Subs not used: Ben Galdwin, Alex Pearce, Scott Wagstaff, Max O’Leary.

Goals: None.

Yellow cards: Baker, Reid, Tomlin.

Birmingham City: Tomas Kuczcak 6, Paul Caddis 6, Michael Morrison 6, Paul Robinson 7, Jonathan Grounds 6, David Davis 5 (Diego Fabbrini 62, 6) Maikel Kieftenbeld 6, Jon Toral 6 (Jacques Maghoma 34, 7) Will Buckley 6 (James Vaughan 80, N/A) Stephen Gleeson 5, Clayton Donaldson 6.

Subs not used: Adam Lezgdins, Jonathan Spector, Viv Soloman-Otabor, Ryan Shotton.

Goals: None.

Yellow cards: Gleeson.

Referee: Rob Lewis: 6; Despite frequent howls of protestation from the home fans from time to time, I felt the referee had a reasonable game. If anything, I think the Bristol supporters can be thankful that Nathan Baker wasn’t shown a straight red card for his challenge on Jon Toral in the first half. This incident apart, I think he got most calls right including Bristol’s penalty appeal.

Attendance: 15,728

Bazza KRO