View from the South – Birmingham City v Queens Park Rangers

This year has been particularly special one way or another. I missed the home game against Bristol City for instance because I was attending a 50 years reunion at my old medical school, Guy’s Hospital. It was a special, black tie do and as you can imagine it was amazing to see many of my old contemporaries after half a century! Yes readers, 50 years since yours truly attended the said alma mater as a young callow youth of eighteen. There was no such thing as ‘gap years’ in 1972. If I’d told my Mum and Dad I was taking a gap year they would have looked at me as if I’d had three heads! I listened to the game in my hotel room in London and was delighted with the outcome, a comprehensive 3-0 win.

For the same reason that 50 years have passed since starting University, it is also 50 years since I left school, Central Grammar in Tile Cross. Well, you’ve guessed it; my old muckers are getting together this weekend to drink beer, shoot the shit and reminisce about old times and no doubt embellish a few old stories. We are meeting up in Stetchford having paid a visit to the old school in the afternoon. Now since Blues were scheduled to play on a Friday night, I decided to kill not two but three birds with one stone. Being in Birmingham for the reunion was a good excuse to come up to the game the night before and stay over at Chris’s. Little Seb was due to walk out onto the hallowed turf as one of the mascots which was as good a reason as any for making the effort and it also gave me an opportunity to go and visit my disabled cousin, Janet who is presently in a care home in Sutton Coldfield.

I set off Friday lunchtime to be in plenty of time so we could all go for a pre-match curry at The Jilabi curry house on the Coventry Road. It was just as well I did because the car park that is the M25 was up to its old tricks in being totally clarted up for no other reason than sheer weight of traffic. I thought that at 1 pm it wouldn’t be too bad but how wrong I was. Lost about an hour crawling along at a snail’s pace from the M3 to the M40 past Heathrow. Eventually, I got through and it was a clear run from there to Baginton. After suitable refreshment, we set off for the restaurant and enjoyed an excellent curry before getting to the ground in time for a pint before taking our seats to see Seb walk out escorted by Emmanuel Longelo.  Here’s the excerpt from his programme entry.  15 minutes of fame before your 10th birthday, eh?

Despite the fact that the ground repairs still aren’t fixed, there is something special about St Andrew’s under the lights.

Here’s said view:

The atmosphere was enhanced after only three minutes with an early goal. There was a comical quality to it; a corner from the left resulted in a punch from Seny Dieng in goal for Rangers out to Krystian Bielik who scuffed his shot into the ground and the ball looped up towards Auston Trusty. An audacious flick with the side of his left foot back into the six yard box resulted in the ball sailing over the stranded keeper and in for 1-0. I have no idea what the Rangers’ keeper was doing other than ball watching but he found himself way out of position and helpless to stop Trusty’s speculative touch into the unguarded net to delirious celebrations from the home support. Whether the American meant it or not is immaterial; it was a welcome bit of fortune and a dream start, enjoyed by us in the stands:

The raucous away contingent were stunned. QPR have been in good form recently. They have won five of the last six and found themselves top of the league, full of confidence and cock-sure. I got the impression that their supporters thought they were going to turn up at St Andrew’s and celebrate an easy win as a lot of teams in recent seasons have found. Those days appear to be over and this game served notice to the rest of the teams in this division that Blues are no pushover any more. Blues controlled the game throughout despite surprisingly only having 31% possession (it didn’t seem that way) and when Longelo added a second just after the half hour with a sweet low shot into the far corner having turned inside onto his right foot on the edge of the area, bamboozling the defender Ethan Laird in the process, the die was cast. QPR were better in the second period but were confined to long range efforts by a stubborn Blues rearguard. They did have a rare chance to get back into the game when they were awarded a penalty for a foul on Ethan Laird by Longelo. The Blues player tried to clear the ball but a combination of a high foot and the stooping Laird attempting to head the ball resulted in boot to bonce and the referee with no choice. A clear penalty taken by Lyndon Dykes, saved by John Ruddy to his right for a corner. Had QPR scored at that stage, I suspect the last ten minutes plus six added on may well have been testing. As it was, the score remained 2-0 and Blues ran out deserved winners.

The Good: The overall performance; solid defending, quick on the break, balanced in midfield and controlled when we did get the ball. Well done Blues!

The Bad: I think we have QPR’s goalkeeper to thank for arguably both goals although Longelo’s strike was right in the corner to be fair. He was miles out of position for the first. Also – to be fair to QPR – they endured a number of strategic injuries during the game forcing substitutions that I’m sure their manager may have used differently. The ball did run in Blues’ favour for once.

The Ugly: Very little this week to be fair. One or two tackles toward the end got a bit naughty but I guess it shows commitment.

Birmingham City: John Ruddy 8, Dion Sanderson 7, Harlee Dean 7, Auston Trusty 9, Maxime Colin 7, Krystian Bielik 7, Tahith Chong 7 (George Hall 81, N/A), Hannibal Mejbri 8 (Juninho Bacuna 54, 7), Emmanuel Longelo 8, Troy Deeney 7 (Lukas Jutkiewicz 81, N/A), Scott Hogan 7 (Jordan James 88, N/A).

Subs not used: Neil Etheridge, Jordan Graham, Jobe Bellingham.

Yellow cards: Mjebri 7, Trusty 35, Bielik 55, Longelo 79.

Queens Park Rangers: Seny Dieng 5, Ethan Laird 6, Leon Balogun 7, Jake Clarke-Salter 6 (Rob Dickie 21, 7), Kenneth Paal 7, Stefan Johansen 7 (Luke Amos 46, 7), Sam Field 7 (Taylor Richards 81, N/A), Tyler Roberts 6 (Sinclair Armstrong 27, 7), Tim Iroegbunam 6, Ilias Chair 7, Lyndon Dykes 6.

Subs not used: Jordan Archer, Osman Kakay, Andre Dozell.

Yellow cards: Dickie 53, Balogun 60, Iroegbunam 70.

Referee: Tim Robinson 7: I thought Mr Robinson had a good game. He got the major decisions right kept the game flowing and I’m especially relieved he didn’t immediately blow the whistle when the ball caught his foot when Hannibal turned in midfield before the Blues player sprayed the ball out to Longelo who then went on to score. Blues had kept possession so there was no need to stop the game. He also issued yellow cards at the right time to keep a lid on a game that could easily have boiled over. For those that were in any doubt, the penalty decision was correct.

Attendance: 19,007 (2,238 away fans).

KRO! Bazza.