Birmingham City 2 Nottingham Forest 0 - Post analysis

Feb 16 2009 By Andy Walker

Birmingham City 2 Nottingham Forest 0

The fickleness of the football industry was clear for all to see at St Andrew’s on St Valentine’s Day.

Disdain rather than romance has been lingering in the air of B9 in recent weeks and, given the choice, many Birmingham supporters would have filed their divorce papers.

So how sweet it was to see that flame rekindled on Saturday afternoon as realistic dreams of automatic promotion returned to the minds of even the most pessimistic of Birmingham fans.

Brushing aside the fact that this was only the club’s third win in their last 11 games and it came against a youthful and experienced Nottingham Forest side sitting near the relegation zone, the current Championship table makes heart-warming reading for Birmingham.

In second place, three points behind leaders Wolverhampton Wanderers and with a game in hand, all is not as bad as it initially seemed for the Blues.

And their manager Alex McLeish’s post-match words summed up the situation aptly.

“Results make a difference and if we don’t get the result I’m a dud and if we do get the result then you’re a great manager, you know the fickleness of the game.

“And that’s why we have to keep our sanity about the whole thing,” said the Scotsman.

McLeish needed a performance from his squad after a series of below-par displays and that’s exactly what he got, most notably from striker Marcus Bent, midfielder Keith Fahey and left-back David Murphy – all three were serious contenders for man of the match.

A bright start from the visitors and the sight of Kevin Phillips, Birmingham’s saviour in recent weeks, limping off with a hamstring injury in the 31st minute threatened to continue the promotion-chasers’ misery.

However the blue majority of the 17,631 crowd weren’t to worry as two deserved second-half goals from Bent and Fahey helped Birmingham reclaim their place in the Championship’s top two, at the expense of Reading who weren’t in action over the weekend.

The opening goal may only have been Bent’s third in 48 games but it was well deserved for the target man who has led a nomadic existence in football.

With 16 second-half minutes passed, the impressive Murphy’s delivery from the left-hand side initially evaded the well-marked Bent but the striker held his nerve to swivel and force the ball home from five yards, despite the presence of Forest centre-half Wes Morgan on the goal-line.

The second may have been as a result of magic or luck but either way it was easy on the eye for all those in St Andrew’s. Fahey, playing in left-midfield rather than his