A first half Radhi Jaidi header and then two goals from substitute DJ Campbell earned Blues their victory which saw them move back into an automatic promotion place.
Andy Cole had arrived at Blues during the fortnight's international break with a handful of promises of more goals, freshening things up, lifting everyone at the club for a final promotion push, etc, etc. Well, Cole certainly seemed to bring those things with him in Blues' first game since his arrival - it was just that he wasn't actually involved himself. A hamstring strain ruled the former England man out of the game, which meant that Cameron Jerome partnered Nicklas Bendtner up front, with Rowan Vine switching to the left to cover the suspensions of Gary McSheffrey and Julian Gray. Fabrice Muamba was left out, with Seb Larsson coming in on the right so that Damien Johnson could take Muamba's place in the heart of midfield. With Vine on the left, credit where credit's due, Steve Bruce picked an attacking team against a Coventry side who'd been in fine form since the arrival of Iain Dowie.
Blues started brightly enough, whilst Coventry started by kicking anything that moved in a blue and white shirt. It was obvious very early on that Bendtner was up for it, which generally means that Blues will do well, whilst Vine took to his wide left role like a striker who drifts left a lot anyway takes to a left wing role. He brought something going forward, as you'd expect, but also kept his position fairly well and had a decent game overall.
Blues' lively start brought with it an early goal, which always helps in such games. Larsson took an outswinging corner from the right, and found Jaidi unmarked some fifteen yards out, and the Tunisian in turn found the back of the net with a fine header. It was no more than Blues deserved, and they went on to dominate the first half.
Jerome was his usual energetic self, but unfortunately his finishing let him down once again. Firstly he missed with a much easier chance than Jaidi's from a Larsson corner, before he dragged a poor shot well wide, and then he dillied and dallied when through on goal, and failed to take advantage. Two weeks ago finishing was Damien Johnson's forte as he hammered a left foot volley past Dean Kiely at The Hawthorns, but unfortunately he returned to his form of the previous four years today as he skewed a right foot volley wide when a lot closer and with a lot more time than against Albion. Before the half was out the excellent Bendtner also forced Andy Marshall into a scrambling save as Blues closed the half out as they'd started it - totally on top.
As is Blues' way, winning, losing or drawing, they started the second half slowly and gave their opponents a sniff of getting back into the game. Dele Adebola had barely had a kick in the first half, but Jaidi and Martin Taylor seemed to allow him more time early on after the break, and the dangerous Michael Mifsud from the footballing hot bed of Malta also finally got into the game a little. The visitors forced a few corners which Blues didn't defend too well, but they never really forced Colin Doyle into a save - it was the story of their game, really. Despite their good recent form, it was difficult to see how they'd got such results on this display, as they were pretty poor and lacked any creativity.
The game turned very much in Blues' favour as a result of a substitution. The misfiring Jerome was replaced by Campbell who scores everytime he plays, pretty much, and within a couple of minutes of being on the pitch he'd made it 2-0. Stephen Kelly launched a long clearance forward and just as Jerome had in the first half, Campbell got in behind the slow Coventry defence - led by the dreadful Elliott Ward who declared he'd joined "the biggest club in the Midlands" when signing from West Ham last summer. Unlike Jerome though, Campbell needed just one touch to set himself, before finding the back of the net despite Marshall's best efforts.
Moments later Campbell teed up Vine, who hit the post, before another good Blues move saw Larsson drive just wide. Having gone 2-0 up, Bruce opted to take off Stephen Clemence and bring on the level-headed Mehdi Nafti, just to keep the ball in the midfield. As is so often the case with Nafti, he impressed in his little cameo appearance, and having come close to setting up Campbell moments earlier with a fine through ball, he succeeded in doing so with 12 minutes left. Vine played a neat ball into the inside left channel where Nafti ran on, got towards the byline and drove the ball across the face of the goal where Campbell was on hand to volley the ball into the roof of the net from close range to settle matters. Nafti and Campbell both had big impacts on the game, and whilst I'm the first to slate Steve Bruce when things go wrong, fair play to him for the timing of both substitutions as they worked a treat.
Blues continued to keep the ball, with Muamba coming on for the hugely impressive Bendtner, as Coventry and their fans effectively gave up, and Blues saw out their 3-0 victory with ease. It was a good win for Blues, following Derby and Sunderland claiming their respective sets of three points the day before, but possibly more importantly, it was an excllent performance - the first one for a while. Following the two week break it was important that Blues came back with a victory to set them up for the huge few weeks that lie in wait now.
Before today there were five fixtures lying in wait for Blues prior to a trip to "fortress Molineux" (hmmm... Southampton struggled there, didn't they?) that they should have looked at as very much winnable, and Blues have got the first one out of the way, bagged the three points easily, with an impressive performance to boot, and you can't say fairer than that.
One down, seven to go now. If Blues perform like this is in those final seven, they'll be celebrating come the end of the season.
