Pressure for remaining automatic slot increases for Birmingham
Apr 28 2009 by Andy Walker, Birmingham Post
The pressure surrounding Birmingham City’s make-or-break trip to Berkshire on Sunday went up an extra notch last night. In the same way Birmingham fans found themselves temporarily cheering on Burnley a week earlier, it was Norwich City who attracted the support of the blue half of the Second City last night.
However, unlike it had done in Lancashire last week, the fixture in Norfolk failed to fall in favour of Alex McLeish’s men.
A brace of headed goals from Reading’s Irish striker Shane Long in the second half at Carrow Road not only pushed Norwich closer to League One, it kept the Royals’ hopes for automatic promotion to the Premier League alive. Should Reading beat Birmingham at the Madejski Stadium on Sunday and should Sheffield United fail to win at Crystal Palace, then it will be Steve Coppell’s side who will seal the final slot of the Championship’s all-important top two.
Although Birmingham’s destiny is still in their own hands, Reading’s 2-0 victory at Norwich would have come as a bitter blow.
Had Reading failed to see off the relegation-haunted Canaries then, with their automatic promotion hopes over, the likelihood is that Coppell would have fielded a weakened side against Birmingham in preparation for the lottery that is the Championship’s play-offs.
