Birmingham City 2 v Reading 1 - EFL Championship

Tuesday 23rd October 2018
SkyBet EFL Championship
at St. Andrew's Stadium
Birmingham City (0) 2
Gary Gardner 49
Lukas Jutkiewicz 70
Reading (0) 1
Yauou Meite 90
Admission £10. Programme £3
Attendance - 22,126 (inc. 503 away)

There is no alternative or substitute, none whatsoever, that gets even anywhere near the experience of attending a football match in person; i-player nor the Sky sports  red button option will ever replace or replicate the real match day deal. And with the host club only charging a bargain £10 a ticket, for all areas of the ground tonight... well, get off of your arses and out of the house, the fresh air will do you all a world of good.

It is quite remarkable to reflect on the fact, that only a month ago, 'relegation threatened' Blues shocked the football world by pulling off what was considered to be a shock win, at 'champions elect' Leeds United, but after

tonight's workmanlike win over Reading, Garry Monk's team are currently only three points behind the Elland Road side in the Championship, as they soared up the table past the likes of Bristol City, Nottingham Forest (who play tomorrow night) and Sheffield Wednesday on the rails... the latter of who are visiting St. Andrew's at the weekend and will be looking to put a dent in the hosts current run of twelve games unbeaten on their home turf, a formidable record that runs in tandem with another impressive statistic, namely: tonight's third consecutive win, is part of a Championship unbeaten run (home and away) that now extends to ten games. 

They also overtook the 'also rans' Aston Villa tonight, as some of you might have already noticed.
Both teams had several chances to break the deadlock in a goalless, but still eventful first half, that featured a heartfelt round of applause and a lusty rendition of "Keep Right On" in the twenty second minute, by way of a tribute to Chloe Kerr, a popular twenty two year old Blues supporter, who sadly died in road traffic accident earlier this month.
Yauou Meite weaved his way into the Birmingham area and forced Lee Camp into having to make a timely block to turn away a left footed strike from ten yards.
But the Blues keeper didn't look quite so assured when he let Liam Kelly's shot slip from his grasp and was a touch fortunate to see the ball go wide off the frame of his goal.

But just after the half time break Tiago Ilori, the Royals defender, reciprocated Camp's lapse at the other end of the pitch, from the same player Kelly, when he failed to keep a long distance back pass in play. Unfortunately for Annsi Jaakkola in the Reading net, Blues are adept at punishing defensive mistakes and from the resulting corner, Jota picked out Michael Morrison with a delivery from the left, that the Birmingham captain headed down towards Gary Gardner, who spanked the ball into the visitors net.

Paul Clement's side had looked half decent and probably shaded the first half percentages wise, but Blues grabbed the game by the scruff of it's neck, and took over after the interval, doubling their advantage in the seventieth minute when Che Adams brushed aside the attentions of Ilori before hooking the ball towards Lukas Jutkiewicz arriving in the right hand side of the area, who headed the ball back across the face of the goal and into the top corner, despite Jaakkola's efforts to reach the ball at full stretch.

Reading pulled a goal back in stoppage time, when Yakou Meite dinked a hanging ball over Camp, but the result was never really in doubt now, despite Blues penchant for drawing the most unlikely of games.
FT: Birmingham City 2 v Reading 1