It was back to league business with a bang and then a crash at St Andrews as
Birmingham emerged 4-1 winners on Saturday.
The point that the season is far
from over was firmly reinforced by the home side, who were clinical in front of
goal, if not dominant in possession. An early strike and two second half goals
in quick succession - topped up by another ten minutes from time that saw Mikael
Forssell claim a hat-trick - put us to the sword. Jermaine Jenas scored a late
consolation, nothing more.Teemu Tainio lined up in an unfamiliar full-back role
behind Jamie O'Hara down the left flank, while Pascal Chimbonda moved inside to
centre-half alongside Younes Kaboul. Tom Huddlestone and Didier Zokora occupied
the central midfield berths, deep of an attacking duo of Darren Bent and Dimitar
Berbatov. Playing in all yellow the team fell behind on seven minutes after a
scruffy opening. A corner from the left was nodded into the danger area by
Liam Ridgewell and James McFadden smashed back across goal to where Forssell was
waiting to direct a header past an unprotected Paul Robinson. O'Hara was only a
foot or so away from perhaps levelling six minutes later after Bent battled to
work him a shooting chance, but a Gary McSheffrey free-kick in the other
direction skimmed the head of Alan Hutton and the home lead came close to being
doubled. Berbatov repossessed the ball on 19 minutes and advanced before
smashing what at first looked a goalbound attempt against the upright. Bent then
sprung the offside trap latching on to Huddlestone, but Maik Taylor was quick
off his line - later foiling an O'Hara drive. Malbranque then carved himself out
a scoring chance that a combination of Ridgewell and the goalkeeper contrived to
squeeze behind, although the midfielder maybe took a touch or two too many and
the angle was working against him. O'Hara was looking most likely to create an
avenue to goal and Taylor did particularly well to deny him seven minutes before
the break with an excellent stop and hold to his right. There were two changes
after half-time, Robbie Keane on for Malbranque and Jermaine Jenas introduced in
place of Tainio. Chimbonda switched to left-back and Zokora centre-half. Before
the new system could really take shape, Robinson kept his team in it with a
magnificent save. McSheffrey crossed from the left and Forssell met the ball
with a downward volley and Robbo reacted superbly to tip over the bar. The
changed formation appeared to involve three at the back, four in midfield and
three up top, with Keane given more licence to roam. The home advantage,
however, was doubled on 54 minutes after Zokora gave away a free-kick on the
edge of the area with a trip on David Murphy. McFadden stepped over the ball and
the right-footed Sebastian Larsson angled his effort around the wall and into
the near post to make it two. It was a home treble four minutes later when a
Larsson cross struck Zokora, Robinson was forced into a fine save, but Forssell
was on hand to slot in from a tight angle and the St Andrews crowd was not about
to contain its delight. Chris Gunter was added to the mix with 17 minutes
remaining, swapping places with Zokora, with Hutton then given the freedom to
push further forward down the right flank. Berbatov then extended Taylor into a
tip-over from a powerful drive, but a recovery was not looking on the cards at
this stage. Huddlestone drilled a shot high and wide before Birmingham increased
their margin with Forssell claiming a hat-trick, profiting from a McFadden
throughball.
Jenas struck late from close range, scant reward on the day for
a high number of efforts on goal for an away side.So it ended as a seasonal
double for Birmingham, but surely PSV will not find us nearly so accommodating
on Thursday.
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