Birmingham City 3 v Rotherham United 1 - EFL Championship

Saturday 6th October 2018
SkyBet EFL Championship
at St. Andrew's Stadium
Birmingham City (2) 3
Lukas Jutkiewicz 20, 23, 68
Rotherham United (0) 1
Jon Taylor 77
Attendance: 19,795 (inc. 759 away fans)

Both sides went into today's game off the back of drawn games in midweek; with the Millers (apparently) playing well (or so I am reliably informed), but having to settle for a goalless draw at home, against Bristol City on Wednesday; while a ten man Blues side, picked up a very credible result, taking a point from a 1-1 draw at promotion chasing Brentford, after going in front courtesy of a Michael Morrison goal in the twenty sixth minute, to mark the occasion of his 150th appearance for the club.

The red card that Maikel Kieftenbeld received against the Bees, was overturned on appeal yesterday afternoon. However, Garry Monk's one game touchline ban, in lieu of his vociferous protest towards the fourth official, in response to Kieftenbeld's wrongful sending off on Tuesday night, wasn't similarly rescinded, and subsequently, he was watching from a seat in the stand this afternoon.
While, of course, Neal Maupay, the Brentford player whose play acting led to Kieftenbeld's dismissal, when he fell to the floor clutching his face, pretending to have been assaulted, remains unpunished, even retrospectively.

To demonstrate their level of support of and faith in Garry Monk, Blues supporters have been contributing to a 'Go Fund Me' online fundraising page, that has been set up by Tilton Road season ticket holder Andrew Purcell, to chip in towards the £2,000 fine that their manager also received, for remonstrating against the aforementioned red card.
Mr Purcell says on the page:
G.M has been fined £2,000 for his protest on a red card decision which was made by officials ‘managing’ the match between Brentford and Birmingham City on 2/10/18.

I would like to raise that £2,000 to give back to Monk on behalf of the fans at Birmingham City Football Club. We are a club that holds just over 30,000 so we should have no trouble in hitting that target! Even if you could donate just £5 we should hit the target before the game on Saturday! Let’s show him how amazing this club really is! 
He wouldn't [shouldn’t] have had to pay the fine if the officials took off their blindfolds and done their jobs correctly.

Lets lead footballing by example and show our support and gratitude to our manager! We are not a team that will be broken easily,  we are not a team that will crumble at the sight of a loss and we are certainty not a team that throw cabbages at our manager despite him sticking around amid administration rumours. 

We are a proud team who keeps the faith, keeps hope even through all the struggles and hard times. We are the 12th man behind the ball and most of all we always Keep right on till the end of the road! Blues go down, Blues go down, Blues go down together!
Click the link HERE to view how fundraising is progressing and/or to donate.

759 Rotherham fans

The result at Griffin Park, saw Birmingham increase their run of consecutive unbeaten games to seven, and was their eighth draw so far out of eleven league starts this season; while they had also lost two and won one, prior to today's first home win of the campaign.
Rotherham arrived at St. Andrew's, level on points with Blues, but a place behind them on goal difference.

Which possibly sounds more glamorous than cutting to the chase and saying: eighteenth placed Blues hosted nineteenth placed Rotherham this afternoon, with both teams starting the day just four points above the drop zone. Although I could just as easily offset that by saying; this was steady if unspectacular performance by Birmingham, who haven't lost at home since March 6th (01 v Middlesbrough); but the result was never in any doubt, once Luka Jutkiewicz's hat trick and display of clinical and ruthless finishes, put Blues convincingly ahead, as they carved an eighth notch onto their current unbeaten run, that saw them climb to within just four points of the play-offs. Although the likelihood of such a scenario unfolding is more of a possibility than a probability at the current time.

Spin and statistics have been used to fill up a few more column inches, ever since quills and ink were invented. And while we're still on the subject... what a topsy turvy afternoon it was elsewhere in the Championship today, where only four points separate the teams in sixth and eighteenth place, AKA West London rivals: Brentford and QPR, while Sheffield United and West Bromwich Albion now occupy the top two places, after Middlesbrough lost at home against Nottingham Forest (who shot up six places to fifth) while Leeds United were held to a draw at Elland Road by Brentford. Even Ipswich picked up their first win of the season, beating Swansea 2-3 at the Liberty Stadium.

As for Rotherham, hmm,well they proved to be a model of consistency yet again, and have now lost all six of their away games in the Championship this season, but at least they scored today, which doesn't happen very often when they're on their travels.
Once more, this league is proving to be a most intriguing contest, where everything is seemingly in a constant state of flux and virtually any given club can pull off a surprise result at any time. Whisper it quietly, but as things stand, if Blues win their next game (Stoke City away, Saturday 20th October), once fixtures resume after next weekend's international break, mathematically, they could sneak up on the rails into the top half of the table.

Che Adams fashioned the first chances of the game for himself, muscling his way forward into the visitors area, where his initial shot was blocked by Will Vaulks, while he dragged his second effort wide of the right hand upright, when he latched onto the rebound.
The lively Adams picked up the ball some thirty yards out from goal, but was fouled by Semi Ajayi before he could progress any further forward. Gary Gardner took responsibility for the resulting free kick and found the target with a dipping and curling shot... if he was actually aiming for seat 132 on row 11 of the Gil Merrick Stand.

In the twentieth minute, Ajayi got caught in two minds while trying make a clearance by the dead ball line... and clumsily let it go out at the expense of a corner for Blues. His mistake was punished, when Jota's delivery beyond the back post, was met by Lukas Jutkiewicz, who powered a header into the top left hand corner of the goal, despite Marek Rodak getting his fingertips to it. And three minutes later, Jutkiewicz struck again, when he was on hand to pounce on Rodak's parry from Gardner's half volley, after some gewat movement and passing in the build up, from Kristian Pedersen (what a shift he put in today, by the way), Jota and Adams.

Gardner and Maikel Kieftenbeld, were proving to be a formidable pairing in the middle of the park, breaking up most of Rotherham's attacks before they even got started, but they did manage to fashion themselves three chances, of sorts, when Ryan Williams shot straight at the former Millers goalkeeper Lee Camp from fifteen yards, before Ryan Manning miscued a long range shot so badly, that the ball limped apologetically out of play for a throw in.
With the first half clock running down, the visitors managed a decent attempt on goal when Maxime Colin headed Joe Newell's long free kick away and the loose ball fell to Matt Palmer, whose dipping shot was tipped over the bar by Camp.
HT: Blues 2 v Millers 0

At the outset of the second half, Jota showed a clean pair of heels to Joe Mattock on the halfway line, but before he could dart forward on the right, the visitors number three sliced him down. But as Jota sprung up and brushed himself down following the heavy challenge, Mattock had hurt himself and he stayed down requiring treatment... and when he finally got up, the referee, Keith Stroud, was waiting to brandish a yellow card at him.
Jota sprinted forward from his own half and threaded a pass forward to Jacques Maghoma, who put his shot on the turn over the bar. The same player was unlucky not to score moments later too, when Vaulks cleared his low angled shot virtually off of the goal line.

Blues pushed forward again and Jutkiewicz was fouled in the D on the edge of the area. Jota rolled the free kick to Maghoma who set up a shooting opportunity for Jutkiewicz and he fizzed an unstoppable shot through a crowd of bodies to register his first ever hat-trick.
Michael Morrison got a knock in the face and had to leave the pitch with a broken nose, but Marc Roberts didn't let anybody down when he came on in place of his captain.
Kyle Vassell, on as a second half substitute to beef up the visitors attack had a chance to reduce his sides arrears, but only provided Camp with a relatively easy catch to make.

However, Vassell did create Rotherham's consolation goal, when he surged forward on the left and crossed to Jon Taylor, who stabbed the ball past Lamp.
Connor Mahoney was introduced into the fray late on, to do his 'impact sub' thing again and he almost got his name on the score-sheet, but was denied by Rodak who pulled off a brave save at close quarters.
FT: Birmingham City 3 v Rotherham United 1

The visitors manager Paul Warne (who!!??), said that he thought the game had been fairly even, but also conceded that his side had been out-muscled, as Blues squad once again adapted to a slightly different system to claim the result.
A Rotherham fan on New Street Station, after the game, said that his side had deserved something out of the game this afternoon.

Yes pal! I agree... a smacked arse and sending to bed without any tea.
It was a fair and just result.
The Championship is now on hold for two weeks because of the international break, but when play resumes, Rotherham will entertain Bolton Wanderers at home, while Blues travel to Stoke City. I'll be at one of those games.