Birmingham City 0 v Aston Villa 0 - EFL Championship

Sunday 29th October 2017

SkyBet EFLChampionship

at St. Andrew's Stadium

Birmingham City (0) 0
Aston Villa (0) 0

Attendance 24,408

Birmingham City:
Kuszczak; Colin, Morrison, Roberts, Grounds; Kieftenbeld, Davis; Jota (Maghoma 82), Ndoye, Adams (Jutkiewicz 90); Vassell (Gallagher 45)
Unused subs - Gardner, Dean, Maghoma, Boga, Trueman
Aston Villa:
Johnstone, Elmohamady, Chester, Terry (c), Hutton, Snodgrass (Jedinak 60), Whelan, Hourihane (Davis 74), Adomah, Onomah, Kodjia (Hogan 81)
Unused subs - De Laet, Samba, Bjarnason, Steer

Blues go down, Blues go down, Blues go down together.
Come back up, win the cup, kick f*ck out the Villa!
So go the words to one of the more polite songs that the lively group of Blues fans I was walking towards St. Andrew's up the Coventry Road behind were singing; while I was pondering to myself if every single police officer in Birmingham itself, possibly the whole of the West Midlands, or maybe even the entire northern hemisphere, was out in force today, putting on a show of strength. With those from south of the equator probably tucked away in reserve not far away, ready to mobilise at a moments notice.
There is so much fluorescent lime green police issue clothing on display, that you could probably actually see this corner of Small Heath from the moon with the aid of a cheap pair of binoculars.

Ever since I can remember, both of these sides have more than a good few handy lads attached to them, who would be a match for any other clubs hooligan element in the country on their day.
But the one 'firm' that you definitely wouldn't want to be caught facing up to on your own down a dark alley, or even a brightly lit one, any day (or night) of the week, would be the West Midlands Police Force.
These are the guys who the words 'zero tolerance' were invented for.
Oh well... eyes straight ahead, keep walking at a brisk pace and ignore them, it's feeding time and this lot don't appear to have had any breakfast yet.

As the game got underway, it wasn't long before the perimeter of the pitch became a carpet of blue, as a rather silly club initiative of leaving folded up 'clappers' on every home seat, became an invitation to attend a mass game of 'lets chuck these effing stupid things at the Villa players'.
Mind you, the first half leaned towards giving the crowd a good reason to look for some alternative entertainment and 'constructive' way to wile away forty five minutes.
It was a scrappy and tense affair, with the form book taking a backseat, as is often the case in local derby games. Blues finished the afternoon one place and two points above the drop zone, while the visitors, dressed in all black with claret trim, moved back into the play off positions, eleven points ahead of their city rivals. It would be fair to say that Villa have made a better start to the season than their hosts... as the reality of why Harry Redknapp was relieved of his managerial duties finally starts to sink in with some people.

Spanish midfielder Jota, Blues record signing at £6 million from Brentford (whovisit St. Andrew's on Wednesday night), squandered the home side's best chance early in the second half, when he rushed to get his shot away, instead of pausing for a moment to get his bearings and he put the ball into the Tilton End. Ironically Sam Gallagher repeated Jota's technique, with the same result shortly afterwards, when the Spaniard was probably better placed to score.
John Terry should have done better he directed a header narrowly wide, when he was well placed.
Villa finished the game strongly and Blues were stretched twice as Keinan Davis and Jonathan Kodjia both hit the cross bar.
But neither side could find a way to break the deadlock and the game finished goalless.

With local bragging rights and so much more at stake, the game was a frantic affair and though I'm sure that both sides would've settled for a draw beforehand, this was a hard slog between two teams who could've done with three points to bolster their respective league positions for completely different reasons.

In conclusion, given the way that Villa finished the game on the front foot, Blues fans would probably have been happier with a point than their visitors, but the organisation and battling qualities that City showed, bode well for the imminent struggle ahead, where they really need to claw themselves away from the relegation places.

Blues are back at St. Andrews on Wednesday night with Brentford providing the opposition, while Villa travel to Preston North end on the same night.

FT: Birmingham City 0 v AstonVilla 0

I have recycled photos that I have used previously on this blog, to break up my boring match coverage for you, because this wasn't the sort of game that you'd take a camera or a notebook along to... that would be nearly as daft as bringing a folded up blue cardboard 'clapper' with me.
Normal blogging service will resume in midweek.