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Birmingham 1-1 Town
Saturday, 31st Aug 2013 17:03

Christophe Berra scored his first goal in English football as the Blues drew 1-1 at Birmingham. The Scotland international headed home before the break with Town well on top, but Chris Burke’s deflected 76th minute goal grabbed an undeserved point for the home side.

Keeper Dean Gerken made his league debut for Town with Scott Loach, who took the blame for Leeds’ second goal at Portman Road last week, dropping to the bench.

Paul Anderson, Ryan Tunnicliffe and Christophe Berra made their first Championships starts for Town in place of skipper Carlos Edwards, Elliott Hewitt and Jay Tabb, who were also amongst the subs. Frank Nouble replaced Daryl Murphy up front.

Luke Chambers wore the captain’s armband and was at right-back with Berra on the right of Tommy Smith at the heart of the defence. Anderson was on the right of midfield with Tunnicliffe on the left.

Anthony Wordsworth replaced Frederic Veseli on the bench, while Alan Lee, who signed on a non-contract basis earlier in the week, was amongst those to travel with the squad. For Birmingham, there was no place for ex-Blue Darren Ambrose in the 18.

There were few chances in the opening 10 minutes, home keeper Darren Randolph almost dallied on the ball long enough to be closed down by Nouble on the edge of his six-yard box but just managed to clear, then at the other end Luke Hyam blocked a Lee Novak cross from the right.

Birmingham skipper Paul Robinson picked up the game’s first booking for a foul on Paul Anderson in the 16th minute.

On 18 Cresswell sent in a great ball from the left which David McGoldrick headed over, however, with referee Darren Drysdale feeling the Town striker had pushed defender Dan Burn as it came across.

The Blues were getting on top and in the 23rd minute the lively Anderson sent in a dangerous cross from the left which was cleared. Soon after, the summer signing from Bristol City played in Nouble on the right but a defender’s toe just took the ball away from the Blues frontman.

Novak hit a shot on the turn through to Gerken in the 28th minute after good work from Andy Shinnie on the left, then at the other end Cresswell dug out a cross from the left which Anderson headed well over.


Just as the game reached the half hour mark, the Blues went in front. A freekick was taken quickly on the left, the ball eventually reaching Cresswell, who sent in another excellent cross, which Berra, making his first Championship start for Town, nodded home at the far post.

After Birmingham had lost Neal Eardley to injury, Scott Allan taking over, McGoldrick nodded an Anderson corner straight to Randolph with the Blues in charge and the home side looking little threat.

McGoldrick headed another Anderson corner over in the 41st minute with the Blues continuing to have much the better of it.

Birmingham’s best chance of the half came a minute from the scheduled end when Burke crossed from the right and Peter Lovenkrands diverted the ball well wide from eight yards.

A minute later, Town were close to doubling their lead when McGoldrick hit a superb shot on the turn from the edge of the box, but Randolph was equal to it, getting across to his left to tip it on to the post. Anderson was thwarted as he looked to get on to the rebound.

In injury time, Shinnie headed Burke’s cross from the right over for the home side, then McGoldrick had another chance to net Town’s second, chasing a ball over the top into the area. The Blues striker stabbed the ball goalwards but Randolph stopped it with his toe.

The Blues really ought to have had the game won at the break. Once the match had settled down, Mick McCarthy’s much-changed side had been well on top and had had more than enough chances to add to Berra’s goal with Cresswell’s delivery from the left a particular threat.

In the third minute of the second half McGoldrick hit a low shot from a tight angle which Randolph saved comfortably down to his right.

Birmingham went closer with their first chance of the second half, Novak heading Burke’s right-sided corner goalwards and Gerken pushing the ball from under his bar and to safety somewhat desperately.

Hyam forced Randolph to save well down to his right in the 53rd minute after Tunnicliffe’s cross from the left had been cleared to the edge of the box. Two minutes later, Cresswell hit an effort well over from distance with the Blues continuing to look the better side after the break.

Carlos Edwards replaced Anderson, who had done well, in the 63rd minute, the winger appearing to have suffered a knock.

The excellent McGoldrick shot across the face of goal in the 66th minute, prior to Daryl Murphy replacing Nouble up front.

The Blues continued to threaten and in the 70th minute Cresswell almost made it 2-0 with a shot from the edge of the box, which Randolph — whose saves had kept his team in the match — did superbly to push behind. From the corner, Berra’s goal-bound header was blocked.

Tunnicliffe forced Randolph into another save down to his right in the 75th minute, but moments later and completely against the run of play, Birmingham equalised.

Burke twisted and turned inside a crowded penalty area and struck a shot which caught Cole Skuse and looped beyond Gerken and into the net. The goal was harsh on the Blues who had dominated, but once again without taking their chances when they were on top.

The goal gave the home side a boost, Allan hitting a shot just wide, then Berra did well to get across ahead of the substituted as he cut into the area on the left. With 10 minutes to go, Tabb replaced Tunnicliffe.

Bartley bundled the ball behind ahead of Murphy at the near post, then with four minutes of scheduled time remaining Hyam was booked for a foul.

With just over a minute left, McGoldrick was felled on the edge of the box, inside claimed the Town players, but outside according to Mr Drysdale. McGoldrick’s freekick struck the wall, Cresswell’s subsequent effort was blocked and Randolph was subsequently fouled by Smith.

A late corner came to nothing moments before referee Drysdale blew the whistle on a game Town certainly ought to have won.

The second half was much the same as the first until the home side’s goal and even after a short spell of Birmingham pressure, the Blues were on top in the closing stages.

Mick McCarthy will be pleased with a Championship point away from home, but will be rueing his side’s failure to hold on to a lead for the third time in their five league games this season. It might also be worth noting that if you are interested in a free bet from Bookmakers for one of Town's upcoming fixtures that you could check out bookmakers.co.uk.

Town: Gerken, Chambers, Berra, Smith, Cresswell, Anderson (Edwards 63), Skuse, Hyam, Tunnicliffe (Tabb 80), McGoldrick, Nouble (Murphy 67). Unused: Loach, Hewitt, Wordsworth, Taylor.

Birmingham: Randolph, Eardley (Allan 35), Bartley, Burn, Robinson, Burke, Adeyemi, Spector, Shinnie (Ferguson 58), Novak, Lovenkrands (Green 65). Unused: Doyle, Mullins, Reilly, Elliott, Allan, Green. Referee: Darren Drysdale (Lincolnshire). Att: 14,328 (Town: 953)


Photo: Action Images



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ManningtreeBlue99 added 17:06 - Aug 31
Yet again not killing teams off from winning posititions :( Great game from Cresswell and McGoldrick though, few positives from a dissapointing match.
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LankHenners added 17:08 - Aug 31
Why can't we finish teams off?! Oh well, on the face of it an away point is never a bad thing. Although I'm getting pretty sick of reading "Town ought to have won".
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BiggestMick added 17:08 - Aug 31
Not much to say really, a points a point I guess should have been three. say this every week but we still dont take our chances !
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Keaneish added 17:08 - Aug 31
To the loan market we go...
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bluemikey100 added 17:08 - Aug 31
put the youngster marriott in he cant do any worse we said same about bent and he awesome even thou he young and rhodes never got a chance
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Lightningboy added 17:09 - Aug 31
Mick should go out and get Kevin Phillips.
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battyblue added 17:09 - Aug 31
why bring on Edwards poor sub why not Taylor and don't Mick like Woody prefers a cart horse up front should have had three points here no question we are losing touch with the pacesetters already
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Britton1996 added 17:10 - Aug 31
What aload of crap! Once again we take the lead and fail to take home 3 points. Most of the team were awful. Another rubbish season and we will be lucky to stay up!
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afrodids added 17:13 - Aug 31
That's 4 games out of the 5 played this season we have taken the lead and we've only won one says it all really same old same old!
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tcannITFC added 17:13 - Aug 31
If We're going to even think about competing for play-off places we need to start winning games. Sorry for being so negative but 4 points out of a possible 15 isn't good enough for a decent squad with a decent manager!
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runaround added 17:14 - Aug 31
Same old story yet again! Failing to get the second goal when on top and getting done by an unlucky deflection. However it's not just bad luck and we will not get anywhere until we finish these games off. An away is a positive I suppose but it's hard to see if positively when we have thrown 2 points away!
2 weeks off then 2 home games, we really need to improve & win both those matches, I believe we can do it but early optimism is fading fast
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TimmyH added 17:14 - Aug 31
Fairly predictiable result, but how many times do we score more than once away from home? one goal was never going to be enough. Well done to Berra on scoring his first goal on his Championship debut for us. At least a point.
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TractorBoy666 added 17:16 - Aug 31
I'd like to take at least a point away from home from any team this season, but the thing that really concerns me is we cant kill teams off. Should have killed Leeds off last week, and the same today. That brings us to those players who are able to kill teams off, and they are strikers that score goals. McGoldrick had plenty of chances, but didn't take them. I hope Taylor comes back starting games after the break because him and McGoldick I will think will be a tricky pair to handle. At least we didn't lose today, but still disappointed.
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Michael11 added 17:18 - Aug 31
Another wasted good performance. It's not good enough or 'promising' anymore, it's sloppy. We keep dominating teams but not killing them off. What is the point of Taylor even being on the bench if he doesn't get a look in? He'll never get fit if you don't give him minutes on the pitch! We looked so much better with Anderson on than Edwards too. If we can find a killer instinct we'll be a good team.

Looking at the table, we'd be in the top 6 if we'd killed the teams off from winning positions already this season.
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oldelsworthyfan added 17:19 - Aug 31
We thrashed them 1 - 1.

This is a game we should have won easily. We dominated them for most of the match and then again lost the lead to a 'lucky' goal.

I wish Wordsworth had come on.

My Christmas wish will have to be for us to sign a genuine goal scorer - like Sharp!
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kuyski added 17:23 - Aug 31
disappointed!
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runningout added 17:24 - Aug 31
Time running out to get a more clinical goal scorer in. This type of game and result wont be rare if no action taken.. The likes of Wigan have the right idea, if they are adding the likes of Powell to their half decent squad
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smithy91 added 17:26 - Aug 31
Seems like 2 points dropped in terms of performance and chances created. Seems like we need a better poacher if none of the current squad can hit a run of good goalscoring form! Its becoming a regular occurrence of not killing off teams!
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jas0999 added 17:31 - Aug 31
Although an away point is always welcome, this has to go down as a poor result. Yes, we can point to yet another deflected goal - but the reality is we are failing to take our chances and kill teams off. We desperately need a striker who will score goals, and unless we invest in one prior to the close of the transfer window, I fear we will be in for yet another poor / mediocre season.

So very frustrated, because we should have picked up points against Reading and Leeds - plus beaten Birmingham. Instead we have just 4 points and are out of the cup. A poor month overall.

We can't keep making excuses. This is a results driven business and we should have taken all three today.
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BillBlue added 17:31 - Aug 31
I don't think signing anyone will help us. This is all a state of mind. Score a goal then try to hold on which has come from the attitude of not to lose at any cost which, in turn, came from the very severe thrashings we took last year. That 'not to lose' attitude was OK then but this year we should be playing football to win but we wont until the coaching attitude changes. We might well struggle to reach 7 points by the 1st November this year!
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smithy91 added 17:37 - Aug 31
@bluemikey100 agree Marriott being thrown in the squad can do no harm right now, he looked a sharp player in his last appearance v Burnley. Could be more of a fox in the box striker than any of the options we have
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Chicago_Blue added 17:41 - Aug 31
I think the mentality is to avoid defeat rather than go on and win games well. When we go 1-0 up (as happened yet again!) we haven't got the mentality to go on and get more. I think this is something MM and instilled in the team. At 1-0 we don't know whether to go for it or shut up shop.
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Coey118 added 17:43 - Aug 31
I think that we were unlucky to miss out on 3 points today, and Brum's keeper saved them countless times from losing the match.
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TimmyH added 17:43 - Aug 31
Personally I feel to a degree it's becoming psychological we really don't have the belief to go on a score a further goal to make games comfortable (certainly away from home) - whether this is through the mind set Mick installed last season is open to question. Points are being fritted away and certainly should have at least 2/3 points more than what we have.
As Jas099 mentioned it has been a fairly poor start to the season and partly feels like we have taken a step back from the one forward when Mick arrived and shored up the defense of last season.
Time for a break and to access why we are letting 'games go'.
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SanDiego added 17:53 - Aug 31
Mick has two weeks to work out how best to use Taylor, we need somebody up front that worries defenders.
A point away isn't bad but it should've been three.
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