3-1 was a good result in the end but our defending was all too often terrible and we were lucky not to be 3-1 down at half-time. Our passing was also very sloppy on too many occasions.
BEFORE
After the frustration of the Swansea match we’re all hoping to get back to winning ways this afternoon. Birmingham are on a bad run and are without a win in their last four matches so new manager Wayne Rooney will be looking to drastically change that. He’s had a lot of injuries to deal with too. I’m just glad that Chong won’t be taking part today as he was on the scary side last time we played them. The main talking point has been who will replace our two suspended centre-backs and I agree with many that to put two relatively untested players in those slots would be tempting disaster. So, I imagine there’ll be a bit of a reshuffle with maybe Triantis filling one of the slots. It’s also possible that we’ll see Mayenda make his debut and of course we’ll be waiting to see if he can get a goal unlike the other three new strikers so far. I’d also like to see Bennette play a part as well. I’ll be at the game and I think we’re going to win it but concede a goal so my match prediction is 3-1.
I met my mates at the Stokoe statue and a group of passing lads touched his upraised foot for good luck. My mates’ match predictions were:- 2-0 and 3-0. I was in my seat in the East Stand around 12.20 and the crowd looked smaller than usual. Triantis and Seelt were both starting after all as Cirkin had been injured in the warm-up while Rusyn was upfront and Mayenda was on the bench. There was a playing of the Last Post followed by two minutes silence for Remembrance Day and a very nice display of a mega poppy in the Roker End. Then we were off.
THE MATCH
In the second minute Rusyn raced forward and tried a shot that wide of the right post but it was pleasing in itself. There was a stoppage for a few minutes while Burke was down injured and he was able to continue. Birmingham committed a few fouls in the opening stages but at least referee Dean Whitestone was being more generous with the free-kicks than other refs of late. We won a corner in the tenth but we should’ve scored instead. Anyway, the corner resulted in a long-distance Neil shot that wasn’t far wide. A Rusyn shot hit the left post and a goal was very much in the offing. Ekwah was fouled and we won a free-kick in a great spot outside heir box. Ekwah took the kick himself but Ruddy in goal held it comfortably. A Rusyn effort went out for our second corner and went it came over from the left it was flicked on by Rusyn for Jobe to put us ahead against his old club in the seventeenth minute. Laird got the first yellow of the game for bad foul on Clarke. We won a third corner in the twenty-second minute that resulted in a close-range shot bouncing off the left post and into the arms of Ruddy.
During a rare Birmingham attack we were lucky to escape when they carved though our defence down our left and there was a scramble before we broke away. We were certainly having a few dodgy moments at the back and I wasn’t surprised when Birmingham drew level on the half-hour through a Miyoshi goal. We’d had several attempts to get the ball away but had failed to do so. The thousand or so Birmingham fans came alive at last. Three minutes later we somehow escaped when a low ball went right across our goal without anyone tapping it in. The game had turned around and somehow we were looking the team in trouble. In the thirty-eighth we won another corner that resulted in what looked like a nasty foul on Roberts by Bacuna but he didn’t receive a yellow card. To add insult to injury Roberts got the yellow for dissent. When the free-kick came over, we had a penalty shout but referee Whitestone wasn’t having it and he doubly enraged our fans. At the other end we were again lucky to escape and the lad next to me described our defending as Sunday League standard. I was looking forward to half-time as an away goal seemed inevitable. We managed to deal with a corner but then Ekwah, who was looking a liability at times, gave the ball away again to set them up with a chance. We won another corner just after five minutes of added-time were announced but we wasted it. Hume was booked but we survived till the whistle went and there was a lot of booing for the ref as he walked to the tunnel. He’d started off ominously well too. So had we actually but I couldn’t see us even getting a point if we continued to defend so sloppily.
The ref was booed again as he ran on for the second-half. There was a yellow for James in the first minute for a tug on Clarke but we completely wasted the free-kick. Our fans were already in good voice as we won another corner in the fifty-seventh minute and they were even happier when the corner was taken short on the right with the resultant cross being bundled home by Triantis. This of course put a different complexion on things, though Birmingham were clearly not giving up and continued to look threatening. Just after the hour-mark Ba replaced Rusyn, who received a great ovation for another battling effort and his assist of course. Ruddy had to dive low to turn a low shot out for another corner. The corners were coming fast and furious at both ends and I doubted very much that the score would be 2-1 for long.
With just less than twenty minutes to go we made a double switch with Mayenda and Aouchiche coming on for Jobe and Roberts to much applause all round. Aouchiche wasn’t wasting any time as within a few minutes he had the ball in the net from close range to put us 3-1 up after a typical jinky run into the left side of their box by Clarke. It still looked as if it might finish 4-4. Substitute Hogan made a strong run straight through our defence and his powerful shot wasn’t far wide. Ten minutes to go and it still felt like anything could happen. I was pleased to see that The clock was ticking away rapidly and by the time Clarke was subbed by Burstow near the end the points, if not the score, were looking in the bag. I couldn’t hear any applause for Burstow by the way. Mayenda had a great shot on target that Ruddy did well to block and that was a good omen. Six minutes of added-time were announced and most around me seemed happy with that. Patterson made another great save as Birmingham won another corner and we managed to get the ball away. Both sides kept going at it hammer and tongs till the whistle finally went and we we’d won 3-1 to much applause all around me.
