Tuesday 12th January 2019
SkyBet EFL Championship
at St. Andrew's Stadium
Birmingham City (0) 0
Bolton Wanderers (0) 1
Callum Connolly 71
Callum Connolly 71
Admission £10. Programme £3
Attendance: 21,682 (398 away fans)
Blues had three efforts on target all night, Lukas Jutkiewicz struck the first one straight at the Trotters goalkeeper Remi Matthews inside the first fifteen minutes, but didn't manage another one, until after the hour mark, when Matthews pushed Jota's angled shot against the bar... and by the time that Che Adams had the third one, in stoppage time, that the Bolton custodian turned around the post at full stretch, the visitors had scored the only goal of the night, when Callum Connelly headed past Lee Camp from Luke Murphy's right-wing free kick. It could have been worse for Birmingham but Camp did well to keep out Craig Noone's twenty yard strike towards the end of the first half.
Without any shadow of a doubt, there have been occasions this season, when Blues have 'won ugly' and let the opposition have the ball for long spells during games, while snuffing out any threat they might ave posed, with a horses for courses steadfast determination to close down even the slightest volume of space that could've been exploited to overcome them.
Well... that is exactly the approach that Bolton implemented tonight. And it worked too.
Wanderers would obviously have been happy with the draw, but will have been delighted to snatch and grab all three, given their current predicament in the Championship table, inasmuch as they're currently twenty third in a twenty four team league... and prior to tonight, they'd only won one game out of their previous twenty one.
Attendance: 21,682 (398 away fans)
Well... that is exactly the approach that Bolton implemented tonight. And it worked too.
Wanderers would obviously have been happy with the draw, but will have been delighted to snatch and grab all three, given their current predicament in the Championship table, inasmuch as they're currently twenty third in a twenty four team league... and prior to tonight, they'd only won one game out of their previous twenty one.
As a spectacle, this game was... (and please excuse my profanity at this juncture, but I'm trying to really emphasise a point) fucking awful!
But, that said, I completely understand why Phil Parkinson organised his visiting side the way he did.
Football is an entertainment industry, Saturday afternoon's QPR 3 v Blues 4 thriller being a case in point, but it is also a results based business, where balancing the books by playing at the highest level possible, is the requisite acceptable standard that some club's have to adhere to and upon which, in some cases, their very survival depends. I'm not condoning it and I certainly didn't enjoy tonight's encounter in the slightest... but from time to time, you just have to accept that the dirge that you are watching falls under the heading of 'needs must'.
But, that said, I completely understand why Phil Parkinson organised his visiting side the way he did.
Football is an entertainment industry, Saturday afternoon's QPR 3 v Blues 4 thriller being a case in point, but it is also a results based business, where balancing the books by playing at the highest level possible, is the requisite acceptable standard that some club's have to adhere to and upon which, in some cases, their very survival depends. I'm not condoning it and I certainly didn't enjoy tonight's encounter in the slightest... but from time to time, you just have to accept that the dirge that you are watching falls under the heading of 'needs must'.
On the plus side for Birmingham, Isaac Vassell got another fifteen minutes game time under his belt and even David Davis was on the pitch for the final ten minutes of the game (for the first time this season), as they both look to rebuild their fitness after long term injuries. Though in truth, they both still appear to still have quite some way to go to that end; but at least the pair of them will provide Garry Monk with options when he needs to rest players; an option he hasn't had for quite a while now, with such an overstretched squad. There have been times, particularly since the turn of the new, when several members of his team, have seemingly pushed themselves through a tiring schedule, fuelled by adrenalin alone.
Blues now have a week off, before resuming league action with a home game against Blackburn Rovers on the February 23rd... and some time out might be just what this side needs to recharge their batteries and prepare themselves for the continuing battle that lies ahead.
Of course, in the meantime, the EFL might be clobbering Blues with a points deduction... twelve seems to be the most common figure that is being bandied about (twice the amount of points that Bolton have already taken off of them this term)... before that next Championship fixture at St. Andrew's, but it would be wrong to speculate until all of the genuine facts are known and out in the open, and any actual sanctions have been imposed and/or any subsequent appeal lodged against any still as of yet hypothetical punishment.
It must be squeaky bum time for numerous clubs as they wait to see if a potential precedent is about to be set imminently.
FT: Birmingham City 0 v Bolton Wanderers 1
Football is often referred to as the 'beautiful game', tonight it was as ugly as sin... completely hideous in fact!
But in a roundabout way, tonight's events also illustrated just how unpredictable, open and intriguing this Championship competition actually is (once again) this season.
