This game was to be the curtain raiser for on the eve of the start of our season. The football season officially started yesterday as I watched a truly awful game between Luton Town and Wimbledon. There was one goal in it which came right at the death and it was a fluke in all honesty given that Wimbledon who are favourites to get relegated from the League One, actually gave a very good account of themselves and I thought were extremely unlucky to lose to an unfortunate own goal of a type that would happen 1:100 times? The centre half tried to head the ball following a hopeful kick forward from the centre of midfield and it flicked off his head, looped over his own goalkeeper, hit the underside of the bar and went in. All I can say is that if Luton Town are destined to be favourites for promotion from League One, the standard is going to be very low. In all fairness, at this time of the year, despite all the best intentions, teams may be a little bit undercooked and this is possibly the case with Luton Town but after back-to-back relegations I am not necessarily in the camp that feels that they will automatically bounce back up. I think they may have a struggle.
Well that is enough about League One which we have now left behind and onto my far more important matters; all things Birmingham City. The match today was last year played against Glasgow Rangers and it was an amazing occasion given that it was after all a friendly game. St Andrew’s was absolutely packed and the noise levels were at a level that I don’t think I’m going to forget in a hurry. We won that game of course, 2-1 with an excellent performance. It promised a very exciting season going forward given how well Blues had played on the night which proved to be the case. With all due respect to Glasgow Rangers, Nottingham Forest were likely to be a far different prospect. Riding high in last year’s Premier League and destined to do very well again this season, a tough game was on the cards despite Blues heavy investment over the summer to strengthen the squad for the forthcoming Championship campaign.
Overall Blues have enjoyed a good preseason friendly campaign. Apart from the reverse at Burton Albion which followed on from a superb performance in Portugal in beating Primera Liga side, Sevilla 3-1, I am sure that Chris Davies and his team will be quietly pleased with the progress of the squad. It was good to see us getting the bulk of our transfer business done early in the window to give plenty of time for the players to bed in, gel and get used to the style of play rather than being behind the 8 ball, panic shopping at the end of August and bringing in bodies in hope rather than expectation. It is clear that the aim has been to build on last year and improve the quality of not only the first team but the squad as a whole. More acquisitions are expected so we will have to watch with anticipation.
Will had spoken to me in the week and suggested that he was going to go up by car and offered me a lift. We arranged to meet at a local point near my home so that we could then travel up the M40 towards Birmingham. We made a plan to try and change things this season. Parking around the ground has become increasingly difficult and it is almost a year to the day that Will lost his Linux which is the most common car stolen in the UK, near the ground. Vandalism for parts, very often writing vehicles off in the process has become commonplace and we decided therefore to try parking up at a train station in or outside Birmingham and catching the train in. We have several options now and on this occasion we changed our original plan and went to Yardley Wood to get the train to Bordesley. From there it’s a 10 minutes walk to the ground. Our group, comprising Will, little Will, little Will’s mate, Joel and yours truly took in a curry and chips at the fan park. The lads enjoyed a Pepsi and Will and I, a couple of pints in the Ball and Globe which refreshed the inner man and fortified the soul.
The unveiling of the new Trevor Francis statue took place and is proudly displayed outside the Kop stand. No doubt it will be relocated to a suitable place at the new ground when it is built.
Over 18,000 attended this match which started brightly for Blues. In the early stages Blues were giving Forest problems with the energetic press, winning the ball high up and therefore creating opportunities. For the first twenty minutes Blues were undoubtedly on top and were playing some slick flowing stuff. A rapid move from our own half saw the ball fed down the right flank to Keshi Anderson whose cut back was fired narrowly over by Jay Stansfield. Paik Seung-ho was the next to try his luck. His shot cannoned off a defender and fell into the path of Stansfield who from a tight angle fired wide of the far post. Mid way through the half however, Blues were rewarded for their endeavours when Jay Stansfield turned in a tight space to place a low snapshot past Matz Sels in goal before the keeper could get properly set.
The second half was more in Forest’s favour as they began to assert their Premier League class. Morgan Gibbs-Wright stood out for me and you can see why he is so highly rated. He should perhaps have done better on 56 minutes when having created an opening for himself he put his shot from the edge of the box straight at Allsop. Just after another effort from the England man sailed just over the bar. Forest did have another couple of decent chances to score when Awoniyi was well saved by Ryan Allsop from close range after a flowing move. Their best chance however fell to ex-Blue, Chris Wood who shot tamely at Allsop from ten yards when he really should have registered the equaliser. Blues nevertheless defended resolutely and ran out deserved winners in the end.
I’m not going to score the players performances as there were a flurry of substitutions on both sides and I feel it would be a meaningless exercise. Suffice to say that I thought it was a good game of football which wasn’t disturbed too much by the substitutions and the preseason campaign can be rated a success. The team look well prepared and ready for our opener against Ipswich Town. The first eight weeks will be crucial as we play all three of the relegated teams from the Premier League in that period. We should have a clear idea about where we are by then.
The Good: The pre-season campaign.
The Bad: The referee; he wasn’t great.
The Ugly: The announcer’s voice over the tannoy! The sort of voice that would crack windows! Apparently, the usual guy is on holiday and will be back for the start of the season. Phew!
Birmingham City: Ryan Allsop, Bright Osayi-Samuel (Ethan Laird 65) Christoph Klarer (Krystian Bielik 77) Phil Neumann (Eiran Cashin 57) Alex Cochrane (Alfons Sampstead 77) Tomoki Iwata (George Hall 77) Paik Seung-ho (Marc Leonard 57) Keshi Anderson (Taylor Gardner-Hickman 65) Jay Stansfield (Kyogo Furuhashi 57)
Nottingham Forest: Matz Sels, Morato (Taiwo Awoniyi 70) Murillo (Eric Moreira 70) Ibrahim Sangare, Callum Hudson-Odoi (Jota Silva 70) Eliot Anderson (Ryan Yates 70) Dan Ndoye (Willy Boly 70) Igor Jesus (Chris Wood HT) Jair Cunha (David Carmo 70) Nikola Milenkovic (Zach Abbott 70)
Attendance: 18,269
KRO Bazza
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