Apologies for the delay in posting Bazza’s report. I have had connectivity issues. Happy New Year to everyone. Kev
I hope very much that bluenoses everywhere have had a wonderful Christmas. I went to the Crawley game with my eldest son, Jonny on the 23rd. It had been my intention to write my normal report but I got back late and the following day was of course, Christmas Eve and like many I suspect, the calls on my time were too great and something had to give. It also occurred to me that very few were likely to read anything I did write so it was just as well. Most will have followed the match on the telly and will know that it was, for the most part, dreadful but fortunately for us, Keshi Anderson and Jay Stansfield supplied the one true moment of quality to best a Crawley team that had set out to make things as difficult as possible. They have to take credit from the fact that they nearly succeeded in scrambling a point.
I watched the Burton game from the comfort of my living room with my two lads, all with beer in hand and we were delighted to witness a decent performance, another clean sheet, two goals and three points. Top of the league at Christmas; what is there not to love?
I was up early as usual. It was a chilly, misty morning with murk and moisture in the air. Nellie, my new little Cockerpoo puppy was pestering for a walk and as soon as dawn broke we were out in the woods pushing through the leaf litter and listening to the early birdsong. We met one or two others that had had the same thought and after a brisk half an hour we were back indoors for Nellie’s breakfast which she devoured with relish. After a hot cup of coffe it was soon time to head for the station. To my utter amazement, they were running on time and there were no tedious delays for engineering works and the like. On the Manchester Piccadilly train from Reading, I actually managed to get a seat! The service from Cross Country Rail has been absolutely awful recently so this was a pleasant change. I arrived at Coventry at 12.31 where Jack was waiting to pick me up.
We briefly drove back to Baginton to await the arrival of Will and little Will before they, Chris, Jack, Seb and me all piled into Will’s car for the trip up to St Andrew’s. We got to the ground in time to pick up something to eat but sadly the queues for a beer were too long and we gave it a miss. The game got off to a slow start and Blackpool fashioned the first chance of the game with a neat through ball to Kyle Joseph with barely three minutes on the clock which Allsop and Buchanan did well to block at the expense of a corner. Blues were lucky to escape but as well as the corner kick conceded, Buchanan lay screaming in a heap, clearly badly injured. After a delay of six minutes he was stretchered off and replaced by Ethan Laird.
Blues best chance came about midway through the half when Emil Hansson received a pass from Paik and slalomed across the edge of the area before unleashing a right foot shot which was bound for Harry Tryer’s bottom left hand corner but the keeper dived full length to save superbly. It was the visitors however, who to my mind created the greatest threat in the first half when shortly after Hansson’s effort, Blackpool’s Ashley Fletcher found himself in space with a free shot right in front of goal. His fierce effort was tipped over by Ryan Allsop.
Blues were finding it difficult to find any rhythm aided and abetted by Blackpool’s tendency to press, harass, draw and commit petty fouls and if in doubt clear the ball to the safety of the touch line. They played the percentages and played to their strengths which was to use their physical attributes, knock it into the channels, win second balls and frustrate Blues’ ball players and carriers as much as possible. It was working well and I have to say that Steve Bruce’s game plan was carried out to the letter by his players. We are going to see a lot more of this going forward, so buckle up Blues fans especially those that were going on about p******g this league; it is not going to be easy. Yes, on paper we have by far the most superior squad in League 1 but teams are not going to roll over and get beaten. Steve Bruce’s Blackpool did a number on us in this game and with a little more fortune could easily have snatched a win.
The evidence for this came in the second half when the dangerous Kyle Joseph found himself the recipient of a difficult chance about three yards from the goal line at the edge of the six-yard box. His left-footed attempt rolled tantalisingly across the goal only to smack against the foot of the far post and back across goal into the relieved and grateful arms of Allsop. This prompted a flurry of substitutions from Chris Davies. All five had now been used with the two forced by injury to Buchanan and Hansson, the half time change of Stansfield for Dykes who failed to impact again. Ben Davies and Marc Leonard joined the fray for a jaded looking Klarer and ineffective May respectively.
In the final third of the match, Blues did look better and more balanced but given what had gone before, it wasn’t difficult. It wasn’t until the final 15 minutes that Blues really started to threaten the Blackpool rearguard who understandably were beginning to tire but they remained resolute and survived defeat when a Stansfield deflected shot was cleared off the line and Willum Willumsson fluffed a great chance at the far post at the death when his tame header failed to hit the target and was too weak to trouble Tryer’s goal anyway. The referee put us out of our misery by calling time after 7 minutes of the allotted 5 had been played (players going down lame lengthening a match that had already lasted too long especially after an extra 10 in the first half!)
In summary this wasn’t a great game. Importantly, we didn’t lose as we could have done so easily. The truth is neither team deserved the win but Blackpool could have edged this with the more clear cut opportunities. Credit must be given to a determined, resolute, well organised Blackpool side who deserved their point but could have left with nothing had Willumsson not fluffed his lines at the death. Blues remain top of the league going into the New Year with games in hand. We need a solid January.
The Good: The result. I was happy in the end to take a draw after such a jaded performance. It was also a fair result but it could so easily have gone against us.
The Bad: The game. Steve Bruce set Blackpool up to spoil, disrupt any momentum or rhythm from Blues and not allow flow of any kind from the hosts. Also part of the plan was to feed on scraps and take any opportunity if it presented itself. The three opportunities in the first half were squandered and Blues were very lucky with the shot that hit the inside of the post and rebounded back into the grateful arms of Allsop. Steve Bruce’s game plan nearly worked to perfection.
The Ugly: The injury to Buchanan. I’ve seen a still picture of the poor lad’s knee at the precise moment of injury. I’m a trained surgeon but you don’t have to be one to know that the boy has sustained a very serious long term injury that will keep him out for months. We just have to hope it is not career ending.
Birmingham City: Ryan Allsop 7, Krystian Bielik 6, Taylor Gardner-Hickman 6, Christoph Klarer 6 (Ben Davies 58, 6) Lee Buchanan. N/A (Ethan Laird 9, 6) Paik Seung-ho 6, Tomoki Iwata 6, Emil Hansson 6 (Luke Harris 45, 6) Willum Willumsson 6, Lyndon Dykes 5 (Jay Stansfield 45, 6) Alfie May 5 (Marc Leonard 58, 6)
Subs not used: Bailey Peacock-Farrell, Ayumu Yokoyama.
Goals: None
Yellow cards: Bielik 20.
Blackpool: Harry Tyrer 7, Odeluga Offiah 7, Matt Pennington 7, Oliver Casey 6, James Husband 6, Hayden Coulson 6 (Carey 70, 7) Albie Morgan, Lee Evans, Rob Apter 6 (Lawrence-Gabriel 85, N/A) Ashley Fletcher 6 (Jordan Rhodes 79, 5) Kyle Joseph (Ballard 80, N/A)
Subs not used: O’Donnell, Norburn, Ashworth.
Goals: None
Yellow cards: Pennington 71.
Referee: Lewis Smith 5: Blew for every free kick and failed to grip the obvious disrupting tactics by the visitors. There were strings of petty fouls which after a while were worthy of yellow cards if only for accumulation. A stronger line early on would in my view have allowed for a better flow to the game.
Attendance: 27,340
Bazza KRO
Everyone has probably seen the awful photo of Lee Buchanan’s dreadful injury. I’ve spoken to a Consultant Orthopaedic colleague of mine and he has indicated looking at the photo, that Lee has at least torn the lateral knee ligament and the posterior cruciate ligament which are serious injuries in their own right. The real problem is that there is an important nerve called the lateral popliteal nerve that gets stretched in these injuries and if badly damaged is career ending. I hate to sound pessimistic but we have to be realistic. Let’s hope that it is not as serious as it appears. The best wishes of all the bluenoses go to Lee and his family. (Kev decided not to post the photo).
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