SkyBet EFLChampionship
at St. Andrew's Stadium
Birmingham City (0) 0
Bristol City (0) 1
Famara Diedhiou 63
Attendance: 20,961 ((inc. 1,298 away fans)
Lee Camp, Kristian Pedersen, Maxime Colin, Maikel Kieftenbeld (Wes Harding 79), Connor Mahoney, Che Adams, Lukas Jutkiewicz, Harlee Dean, Jacques Maghoma, Gary Gardner, Michael Morrison (Marc Roberts 67).
Unused subs - Connal Trueman, Craig Gardner, Omar Bogle, Josh Dacres-Cogley, Charlie Lakin.
Bristol City:
Niki Maenpaa, Eros Pisano, Adam Webster, Josh Brownhill, Famara Diedhiou, Andreas Weimann (Marley Watkins, 80), Lloyd Kelly, Niclas Eliasson (Callum O’Dowda 58), Jamie Paterson, Marlon Pack, Tomas Kalas.
Unused subs - Max O’Leary, Nathan Baker, Joe Morrell, Jack Hunt, Mohammed Eisa.
After a recent dip in form saw Garry Monk's side pick up just one point and concede a total of ten goals over a sequence of three consecutive fixtures, against: Derby County away, Hull City at home, and Aston Villa away, they've kept a clean sheet in their two most recent games, where they've picked up six points from games at Millwall ten days ago and against Preston North End at St. Andrew's, last Saturday.
In the meantime, today's visitors arrived in Birmingham off the back of a mixed bag of results, where they ended a run of four straight defeats, with a 3-2 away win at struggling Ipswich Town (on the same night that Blues won at the Den), followed by a 1-1 draw against Millwall at Ashton Gate on Sunday.
The Robins, for their part, were bob, bob, bobbing along in fourteenth, four points adrift of Blues as the teams entered the fray, while Birmingham started the afternoon
in ninth place, among the pack of teams who are just outside of the play off places, and more importantly; given that the EFL might yet clobber them with sanctions and a weighty points deduction, they had twelve points more than Reading, Millwall and Bolton Wanderers who are in a relegation scrap towards the foot of the Championship, and nineteen more than the bottom club: Ipswich Town; who I actually saw in action last Saturday and whose Championship days are beginning to look numbered... not that you can predict anything with any degree of certainty in this free for all of a division.
Due to results elsewhere panning out the way they did, Blues remained in ninth place and the Robins nudged up to thirteenth, by virtue of their single goal win today. It was their first victory at St. Andrew's since 1993.
It was a frustrating afternoon for the hosts and their unusually subdued supporters, but the irony won't have been lost on many of them that Lee Johnson's visitors, won by implementing a game-plan, that was an almost the identical blueprint of several away performances, that Blues have executed to good effect on their own travels this season. Leeds United away in September and possibly even Millwall at the Den more recently, spring to mind.
Containment, closing down space, blocking off supply lines, 'man marking' key players to the point of 'suffocating' out of the game and getting bodies 'in the way'... so to speak, were the tools that Bristol City employed today, to fashion this win, in a game where there was very little to chose between either side... and the Robins squeezed past the finishing line by the narrowest of margins.
Horses for courses rules apply in the real world of the results based industry that is professional football. And though it often makes for a rather ugly spectacle, it is completely understandable.
It says something for the progress that Birmingham have made since Garry Monk's arrival at the club, that the overwhelming majority of people inside the ground were of the expectant mindset that Blues were favourites to win this game, rather than merely hoping that they wouldn't get beaten.
But, the target for this term, is to improve on the last few miserable campaigns and avoid getting dragged into yet another relegation battle... and it would take a collapse of seismic proportions over the next few months for that scenario to unfold, and so to that end, Blues won't win every week with this 'make do and mend' squad, but how would you realistically measure what constitutes success for Birmingham City this season?
Is a play off berth, or even promotion a requisite? Or should people be satisfied with the fact that massive strides are being taken in the right direction... and that the underpinning foundations for future seasons are clearly being put in place. That said, if recent results have raised the bar along with optimism levels, then you can't blame anybody for getting carried away and wanting more of the same.
On the subject of blame... John Brooks, the match referee, copped for a whole lot of it this afternoon and not without good cause on a number of occasions. I now it's pantomime season and all that, but it should be against the laws of the game for match officials to smoke crack rocks and inhale laughing gas before taking charge of a game of Association Football.
Blues went agonisingly close to snatching a point late in the day, when Mahoney picked out Jutkiewicz with a free kick from out on the left, but his powerful glancing header across the goal, bounced back into play off of the inside of the upright.
If only they still used square goalposts!
As stoppage time passed by with indecent haste, Blues had one last chance inside the final added minute, as a the ball found it's way into the path of Kristian Pederson, who crashed it fiercely past the Robins defensive wall, keeping his effort low and on target, but Mäenpää got down well and held onto the goal bound and the three points, that would now definitely be heading to Bristol.
FT: Birmingham City 0 v Bristol City 1
It was a frustrating afternoon for the hosts and their unusually subdued supporters, but the irony won't have been lost on many of them that Lee Johnson's visitors, won by implementing a game-plan, that was an almost the identical blueprint of several away performances, that Blues have executed to good effect on their own travels this season. Leeds United away in September and possibly even Millwall at the Den more recently, spring to mind.
Horses for courses rules apply in the real world of the results based industry that is professional football. And though it often makes for a rather ugly spectacle, it is completely understandable.
But, the target for this term, is to improve on the last few miserable campaigns and avoid getting dragged into yet another relegation battle... and it would take a collapse of seismic proportions over the next few months for that scenario to unfold, and so to that end, Blues won't win every week with this 'make do and mend' squad, but how would you realistically measure what constitutes success for Birmingham City this season?
On the subject of blame... John Brooks, the match referee, copped for a whole lot of it this afternoon and not without good cause on a number of occasions. I now it's pantomime season and all that, but it should be against the laws of the game for match officials to smoke crack rocks and inhale laughing gas before taking charge of a game of Association Football.
No doubt enthused by his fellow whistle-blower Darren England's laughable performance in the West Midlands last night, when he allowed Jay Rodriguez's stoppage time handball goal (and equaliser) to stand, in West Bromwich Albion's 2-2 home draw against Aston Villa, Mr Brooks did his level best to upstage his fellow 'highly trained and well paid professional'... and in the eyes of most Blues fans, he probably succeeded.
Moments after Tomas Kalas had fired narrowly wide for the visitors, Jacques Maghoma broke forward and ran all of forty yards deep into the Robins area, but as he shot he was pushed in the back by one Bristol defender and kneed in the thigh by another who was getting across his run, but as he was toppled over, the referee waved play on.
Play switched to the other end and as Maxime Colin chased the ball down alongside Lloyd Kelly, who shoved him crashing into the advertising boards at the Tilton End causing the Blues defender to require treatment off of the pitch. Kelly was lectured by the referee but only received a booking for his transgression.
For his encore, late in the second half, Brooks booked Che Adams for taking a tumble in the area as he was tripped en route to goal and had a clear shooting opportunity, from a position that would've been far more advantageous than any resultant penalty kick.
Now, I'm not saying that if any of the above had gone Birmingham's way, that the outcome of the match would've been any different, but none of it did them any favours either.
Some days you get the rub of the green with decisions... and others, you need broad shoulders and a strong chin.
Clear cut chances were few and far between throughout this virtual stalemate; during the first half Adams had picked out Lukas Jutkiewicz, whose full blooded strike was turned away for a corner by Niki Mäenpää, who also tipped Harlee Dean's header over the bar from Conor Mahoney's flag kick.
Famara Diedhiou, shot high and wide as the visitors almost forced the issue on half time.
Diédhiou had been singled out as 'ONE2WATCH' in today's matchday programme... if only the home defence had read it beforehand, eh!? In the sixty third minute he scored the only goal of the game, forcing a close range header into Blues net from Callum O’Dowda's right wing corner. As impact substitutions go, O'Dowda set up Diédhiou strike less than five minutes after coming on from the bench.
If only they still used square goalposts!
As stoppage time passed by with indecent haste, Blues had one last chance inside the final added minute, as a the ball found it's way into the path of Kristian Pederson, who crashed it fiercely past the Robins defensive wall, keeping his effort low and on target, but Mäenpää got down well and held onto the goal bound and the three points, that would now definitely be heading to Bristol.
FT: Birmingham City 0 v Bristol City 1
Neither side looked anything special this afternoon, as they effectively cancelled each other out for the majority of the game, or passed the ball around in areas of the pitch that were never going to lead to anything too cavalier. But Lee Johnson's side took the spoils, with a victory built more on graft than guile... that brought Blues unbeaten run of fifteen Championship games unbeaten on home turf, an impressive run that began back in March.
Blues have Jota coming back from injury as they go into the hectic rota of Festive fixtures, he was certainly missed today and might even have made a difference if had've been available.
But ifs, buts and maybes don't win games of the football, and the fact of the matter is, that by matching Blues tenacity, graft and work rate, Bristol City did.
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| Was that Paul Mayfield I saw in the Blues club shop earlier today? |
Garry Monk's side head to Blackburn Rovers next Saturday, while the Robin's entertain league leaders Norwich City at Ashton Gate, later the same afternoon.
