Blues count cost of missed chances

Oct 1 2007 By Ged Scott

Birmingham City 0 Manchester United 1

Any compliment uttered by someone of Sir Alex Ferguson's standing has surely got to be worth accepting.

Pained though he must have been by a defeat that his Birmingham City side did not deserve, Blues manager Steve Bruce will, in the cold light of day, happily receive this one from his old boss.

The Manchester United manager's admission - "that's the hardest game we've had so far this season" - were no empty words. Barring Wednesday night's reserve-team outing in the Carling Cup against Coventry City, United have played ten times this season and scored only nine times.

They have been beaten by Manchester City and failed to beat both Reading and Portsmouth. Although they have won their last five league matches plus a Champions League outing, five of them have been by only 1-0. Never have they been so lucky to get away with it as on Saturday night.

One cruel bounce, when Rio Ferdinand's early second-half long ball checked with surprising abruptness inside the Blues box and fell kindly for the alert Cristiano Ronaldo, rather than bumbling Blues defender Franck Queudrue, settled the outcome. And all the earlier wasted Blues' chances suddenly became even more expensive.

Admittedly, Ronaldo took the second of the three chances he had brilliantly, dribbling round a mesmerised Liam Ridgewell as if he wasn't there before drawing Maik Taylor and slamming the ball past him. While that was down to Queudrue, Bruce was honest enough to admit that even if the chance hadn't gone in maybe Blues had merely been delaying the inevitable.

"I suppose he was always going to find a way through us, even if there hadn't been a mis-take," Bruce said. "He's a special player, you'd pay 45 quid just to watch him.

"He's quick, he's 6ft 2in, he's an athlete. You always know it's going to be difficult to play against him. And that is what makes it so sad that we lost, when we looked like we'd kept him relatively quiet."

By contrast, fired-up Blues were far from quiet, as the players rested at Ewood Park in midweek wasted no time showing that they had clearly benefited from having had a full seven days without a match.

Admittedly, the only United player who had also started in their own unwelcome Carling Cup distraction was Wes Brown, meaning only 21 team changes to sift through. But United's night off did not appear to have done them anywhere as much good.

In only the first two minutes, Blues had managed as many efforts on target as they'd had in their previous two games.

Olivier Kapo bullied Paul Scholes into an uncharacteristic error which allowed Cameron Jerome to power free and unleash a left-foot shot. But Edwin van der Sar pulled off a spectacular save.

Then, from the resulting Sebastian Larsson corner, Van der Sar smothered again when the

unmarked Queudrue headed straight at him.

That opening flurry set the benchmark for a first half in which, despite United's slick football on the break, and hints from Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez that some team soon is going to suffer, Blues' hustle and bustle gave them the edge.

Ridgewell so nearly got in at the near post from Larsson's next corner, only to head wide.

And, although it needed Maik Taylor's full height to keep out Rooney's attempted lob, while a great tackle by Ridgewell denied Tevez after he had left two for dead, Blues went closest to breaking the deadlock.

Larsson robbed Patrice Evra and crossed for the much-improved McSheffrey, only for the Blues winger's header to be cleared off the line by Ferdinand.

United skipper Ryan Giggs then shot over, before more effective involvement at the start

of a move which ended with Taylor keeping out Ronaldo's fierce shot.

United had another chance but Taylor was alert enough to come off his line when Rooney tried to slip in Ronaldo. Blues were still the major threat, as they continued to hound the visitors into errors. None more so than when Mehdi Nafti chased down a long punt and panicked Van der Sar into a poor clearance from outside his area. His kick went straight to Jerome who was alert enough to have a shot from fully 45 yards, but it was not a brilliant effort, allowing Brown to intercept.

Larsson then went close with a header after the lively McSheffrey had done well to pull one back from the byline. Then McSheffrey himself had a go, a raking left-foot shot going just over.

There was a nagging half-time feeling around the ground that Blues might be made to regret not cashing in on their first-half

superiority. And that is exactly how it panned out.

After Brown's early second-half cross-shot had almost caught out Taylor, the Blues keeper was beaten only six minutes after the restart when Queudrue failed to cut out Ferdinand's long punt and Ronaldo pounced.

Blues did at least respond in spirited fashion. Tomasz Kuszczak, the half-time replacement for the injured Van der Sar (who went off with a toe injury that will keep him out of United's Champions League match with Roma tomorrow night), had to pull off a superb save.

The Baggies old boy flew to his right to tip away after McSheffrey had cut inside and drilled a decent right-foot shot which had taken a big deflection off a relieved Ferdinand.

Admittedly, Stephen Kelly then had to come to Blues' rescue after a Rooney one-two with Tevez, and Ronaldo cut in to slide a left-footer

just wide. But Blues kept going. And it was substitute Garry O'Connor who almost had the final word when he jinked one way then the other and forced another good save from Kuszczak with a right-foot shot.

Scorer: Ronaldo (51).
BIRMINGHAM CITY (4-4-1-1): Taylor; Kelly, Djourou (Schmitz, 75), Ridgewell, Queudrue; Larsson, Nafti (O'Connor, 83), Muamba (Palacios, 70), McSheffrey; Kapo; Jerome. Subs: Kingson (gk), Danns.
MANCHESTER UNITED (4-4-2): Van der Sar (Kuszczak, h/t); Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra; Ronaldo, Carrick, Scholes, Giggs (Saha, 65); Tevez (O'Shea, 88), Rooney. Subs: Anderson, Pique
Referee: Steve Bennett (Orpington, Kent)
Bookings: Blues - Queudrue, Nafti, Larsson (fouls); United - Evra (handball).
Attendance: 26,526.
Blues man of the match: Gary McSheffrey - much more like his old self.