A win at last! Birmingham v Newcastle match report
Posted on February 16th, 2011 | 35 Comments |
We were out of the traps faster than a supersonic sprout and within 90 seconds we were one up. A decent run up the wing from Enrique resulted in his cross being blocked, but it rebounded only as far as Gutierrez who provided the perfect cross for Lovenkrands to half-volley past Ben Foster at the near post.
We continued to dominate for about 10 minutes and could have had a second when Lovenkrands played in Nolan but unfortunately his shot was soft and straight at the goalie.
Birmingham eventually started to come into the game a bit more and some uncharacteristically sloppy defending from Enrique saw him dispossessed in dangerous areas a few times, one of which allowed the towering Nikola Zigic to get a shot at goal, forcing Harper to make the save.
There was a worrying moment as Tiote and Coloccini managed to nut each other as both attempted to clear the ball. Both players were grounded for a few minutes but Coloccini’s superpowered hair – which contains hidden air bags – had cushioned the blow enough to get him back on his feet and Tiote – who’s just hard – followed soon after.
David Bentley made most of the running for Birmingham and looked their most dangerous player, which eventually got on Nolan’s nerves enough for him to upend Bentley and collect a yellow card for his troubles.
Craig Gardener looked to have a decent chance on goal but missed and then it was our turn to attack again. Enrique put in a great cross to the far post that looked set to drop perfectly for Lovenkrands to volley in from a few yards out. Unfortunately Best interjected and headed over the bar. It was a moment of poor communication between the two strikers but, over all, that’s one aspect of their game that is improving.
Just before the end of the half, Harper looked to be in some trouble after falling heavily on his elbow in a challenge with Zigic but he recovered after a minute’s downtime and saw things safely through to the half-time whistle.
The second half started much the same way as the first with us running hard at them from the off and this led to our second goal on 50 minutes. It came from a Gutierrez cross again, this time headed in by Best from a few yards out. 2-0 to us.
Oba Martins still has incredible pace but he struggled to beat our offside trap or make any real impact, so he was substituted for Cameron Jerome after 58 minutes. This nearly proved to be an inspired move as Liam Ridgewell played in Jerome and forced Harper to save.
Lovenkrands and Best nearly created a goal at the other end on the break but somewhere during that Lovenkrands seemed to pick up an injury. He played on for a few minutes but clearly wasn’t right so he was substituted for Nile Ranger on 64 minutes.
David Bentley was once again Birmingham’s biggest threat but – thankfully – he’d often just try to take on one player too many, much to the frustration of his team mates.
Tiote – who had dispensed with the world’s largest snood that he’d been wearing during the first half – took a long shot which was saved by Foster and then Birmingham had what was probably their best chance of the game. Ridgewell set up Zigic for a header he really should have put away but, fortunately for us, he didn’t.
At 75 minutes Alan Pardew started to shut up shop, taking off Best and bringing on Guthrie, leaving Ranger as the only striker. Birmingham for their part brought on Kevin Phillips for Seb Larsson and we had to face some inevitable pressure as Birmingham pushed forward for a goal.
Corners from the left and then the right tested our defence but it stood strong and on 87 minutes Pardew brought on Campbell for Gutierrez, shutting up shop even more with a five man defence, and we managed to play out time.
Over all, it was a solid display from our entire team although Gutierrez probably edged it as man of the match for me.
The win takes us to 35 points, which would have been enough to avoid relegation last season, and leaves Birmingham just 3 clear of the drop zone. I think Birmingham will survive too though.
After the game Alan Pardew said:
“I think it was evident that the players we have can fill the gap after Carroll.
“The pleasing thing is that the two strikers showed effort and commitment despite the pressure that is on them.
“We came into this game with momentum after our draws against Arsenal and Blackburn and it was really about getting the start right.
“We started faster and that made the difference and we also passed the ball well on a tricky surface.”
Whilst Alex McLeish said:
“We’ve had a fantastic month really in terms of results since the game against Manchester United at Old Trafford.
“There have been some inspired performances but tonight we looked a bit flat.
“To lose the first goal so easily as we did and so early goes against what we were like at the weekend when the concentration levels were phenomenal.
“I think there was a bit of fatigue. One or two players looked a bit tired and I am not going to hammer the players after one performance like that.”
So, onwards and upwards for The Toon!
NUFCBlog Author: Hugh de Payen
I'm a baby-boomer of the punk rock persuasion, currently exiled in Somerset for crimes committed in a previous life where locals keep trying to poison me with something called 'scrumpy'. Hates sprouts, coat-hangers, Cilla Black, ornaments, Steven Seagull movies and 50 Cent (he's not worth 10).
Hugh de Payen has written 634 articles on this blog.
Howay the lads! Great win