Birmingham City 1 Bristol City 0 - Match report
Mar 5 2009 by Andy Walker, Birmingham Post
BIRMINGHAM CITY 1 BRISTOL CITY 0
Birmingham City proved that they are capable of delivering when it matters most after sinking in-form Bristol City with a late winner last night.
Franck Queudrue’s powerful 87th minute header sparked jubilation at St Andrew’s on night that looked to be heading towards further frustration.
With Wolverhampton Wanderers and Reading winning on Tuesday, Birmingham knew that three points were paramount and although it took a frantic and nervy finale, that is exactly what they delivered.
The victory saw Blues leapfrog Reading and move back into the automatic promotion places.
Apart from the result, and maybe more importantly, Birmingham played with a hunger and desire that they have been lacking since the turn of the year.
The Blues’ faithful will now be praying that this desperately-needed victory will spark a run of form that will wrap up Premier League promotion.
Alex McLeish made four changes to that side that started the disappointing display at Bramall Lane on Sunday.
Sebastian Larsson and Lee Bowyer, both back from a one-match ban, returned to the midfield while Cameron Jerome was up front in place of Carlos Costly.
Meanwhile, at the back, Birmingham fielded a defensive unit with a combined age of 161 after thigh injuries ruled Liam Ridgewell and David Murphy out. That left the hosts with a back-line of Maik Taylor (37-years-old) in goal and in front of him Stephen Carr (32), Radhi Jaidi (33), Martin Taylor (29) and Queudrue (30).
A defensive dinosaur it may have harshly been judged but, besides letting former Birmingham striker Dele Adebola through after just two minutes only for the Liverpudlian to waste the glorious opportunity, all five stood up to their task well.
Whether it was the change of entrance music from the usual Tamperer’s ‘Can You Feel It’ to Coldplay’s ‘Viva La Vida’ or just their manager’s rousing pre-match speech, Birmingham took the game to their opponents in a highly-energetic manner.
There was much more hunger and a greater sense of urgency to Birmingham’s approach, no surprise as the home side knew that this was the time to deliver.
Besides Adebola’s gilt-edged chance, first-half proceedings were dominated by Birmingham.
Adriano Basso produced a terrific save to deny Bowyer from close range in the sixth minute before the Bristol City goalkeeper had to deal with a tricky, swerving Queudrue shot from distance.
The Robins were struggling to deal with the giant presence of Jaidi at attacking set-pieces and the big Tunisian, who was regularly man-handled in the Bristol area, rattled a header off the upright in the 18th minute from a Larsson corner. Judging by their reaction, the high-action approach was pleasing to the majority of the St Andrew’s crowd and was the perfect tonic following the club’s largely negative AGM earlier in the evening.
Carr was called into action to halt City’s Gavin Williams yards out with a last-ditch tackle in the 28th minute but Birmingham soon relaunched a wave of attacks.
Marcus Bent calmly brought down Lee Carlsey’s long punt forward but the presence Louis Carey and Jamie McAllister proved to be enough of a wall to block.
Basso dived to tip wide a sweetly-struck Larsson free-kick from 25-yards and Cole Skuse was alert enough to block another one of Bowyer’s probing charges into the box shortly before the interval.
Bristol City had become wise to Birmingham’s approach by the time the second half arrived but they were given a scare in the 51st minute. Carsley’s delivery found Martin Taylor at the far post, the centre-half’s clever, yet uncharacteristic lob, caused panic but struck the top of the cross bar before being hooked clear. With the game still goalless, the fact that Birmingham’s ageing defence was rapidly beginning to tire was becoming a concern.
Carlos Costly was introduced with ten minutes left and the Honduran almost made an instant impression. Fahey’s desperate charge into the box lacked control but the ball found Costly five-yards out only for the striker to poke wide.
Birmingham finally got the breakthrough that they had desperately craved. With three minutes on the clock, a Larsson corner from the right found Queudrue charging into the mix and the Frenchman buried his header well beyond Basso.
A nail-biting finale ensued but Birmingham, boosted by the late introduction of Scott Sinclair, managed to keep possession away from Maik Taylor’s goal to cling on to victory.
