Coventry City 1, Birmingham City 0: Blues give rivals a helping hand

Feb 23 2009 by Andy Walker, Birmingham Post

At least ten Championship teams appear to be in contention for promotion at this stage of the season and it seems that Birmingham City are stretching out a helping hand to those clubs.

Yet again Birmingham had an opportunity to really bare their teeth in this promotion race and yet again it was wasted.

The chance to build on the previous weekend’s victory over Nottingham Forest was ruined in seconds, 59 to be exact, and from then on Birmingham were always going to struggle against a resurgent Coventry City.

When the Birmingham bandwagon rolls into town, teams up their game and that is a factor that the Blues are struggling to get used to.

Not for the first time this season, Birmingham found themselves out fought and out thought by a team that had been lifted by the chance to impress against the so-called big boys of the Championship. Coventry also had extra motivation with the fact that local bragging rights were on offer and this result completed a 1-0 double over their neighbours from down the A45.

Fortunately for Birmingham, who remain in second place, Reading and Wolverhampton Wanderers are just as inconsistent in this wide open Championship campaign. Just ten points separate Birmingham in second from Ipswich Town down in tenth and with the likes of the in-form Swansea City, Bristol City and Cardiff City in between, this promotion race is far from over.

Birmingham are shooting themselves in the foot. From the moment the Coventry captain Scott Dann skipped past his marker Liam Ridgewell to poke home Danny Fox’s corner and reel away in celebration with just 59 seconds on the clock, Birmingham had a mountain to climb at the Ricoh Arena.

To make matters worse Birmingham had received a warning shot just 36 seconds earlier when their defence failed to deal with a long, bouncing ball from the back which allowed Clinton Morrison to roam into the box and drive a low shot off the legs of Maik Taylor.

Coventry had fallen victim to last minute goals in recent weeks but they weren’t prepared to let that happen again, even if they were put through a disallowed goal and a nervous five minutes of injury time. The Sky Blues proved to be a tough nut to crack, just as they were at St Andrew’s in November, and as much as they tried, Birmingham just couldn’t break down their fellow West Midlanders.