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Steve Bruce was aware a fortnight ago that he would be without Aliou Cisse and Darren Purse. However, recent events also led to the absence of the inspirational Kenny Cunningham, as well as in-form Damien Johnson. Along with the continued absence of Martin Grainger, these problems forced Bruce to pick a completely makeshift side with Kenna at right back, Steve Vickers and Olivier Tebily (both returning to the side following lengthy lay-offs and having never played together before) in the heart of the defence with young midfielder Carter to their left in an unusual defensive role. Lazaridis kept his place on the left of midfield, with Powell coming in for Cisse alongside Robbie Savage. Paul Devlin, Stern John and Clinton Morrison provided something of a familiar look on the right and up front.
Blues started slowly, with Albion winning several corners and putting Nico Vaesen in the Blues goal under pressure early on. However, Powell and Savage began to get a hold of the game, and Blues came back into the contest well. Lazaridis was always a threat on the left, but unfortunately a similar threat was not forthcoming on the right due to what must have been instructions for Devlin not to get beyond Neil Clement. Devlin consequently had his poorest game since his return to St Andrews.
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At half time, 0-0 seemed a fair reflection on the game. However, in the second half the home side dominated for long periods, with both the out-of-sorts Lee Hughes and his eventual replacement Scott Dobie wasting glorious chances. The latter was foiled superbly by the excellent Vaesen. Blues themselves had missed a glorious opportunity when Hoult denied both substitute Geoff Horsfield and Morrison in an almighty goalmouth scramble, following John himself being denied by the upright.
However, what appeared to be a turning point in the match occured with just 9 minutes remaining. Tebily and Roberts tangled again, as the two man-mountains had throughout the game. Referee Graham Poll decided that Tebily had been at fault again, and booked the Ivory Coast international for the second time, resulting in his dismissal. Whilst the two bookable offences could well be deemed so by some referees, there were other incidents in the game which were as bad, if not worse, which went unpunished, most notably 60 seconds earlier when Lee Marshall completely took out Lazaridis, yet avoided a yellow card, saving him, as he'd already been booked for an appalling challenge on Savage. Equally so, Darren Moore had taken out Vaesen at a corner, making no attempt to play the ball, but escaped without punishment. Now, if in both those circumstances a yellow card had been produced, then you would have to say that Tebily possibly deserved to go. However, whilst the men in black lack any sort of consistency (remember this was our World Cup representative referee) then they will continue to lack any sort of respect from players, managers and fans alike.
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Blues were simply unable to hang on though, and just a couple of minutes later found themselves back on level terms. Players were all over the place, and out of position so much so that Clement's ball into the channel for Roberts looked so easy, and Roberts was able to stay on his feet for once, and blast home past the unlucky Vaesen. Steve Vickers then had to leave the field of play with an injury, leaving Blues to hold on for the remaining 5 minutes or so with their makeshift defence and midfield.
Whilst conceding a late equaliser is always devastating, Blues should be happy to take a point from this bruising encounter. Missing 5 first team players in Cunningham, Purse, Grainger, Cisse and Johnson, and ending the game with ten men and people playing all over the place, a lot of whom were carrying knocks, then an away Premiership point is really not all bad. With a full strength side, I have little doubt that Blues would see off Albion comfortably, but circumstances prevailed, and to take four points from two successive away games can only be positive as a long, hard winter begins to set in.
PLAYER RATINGS:
Vaesen - Excellent
Kenna - Did his best and ended up as our only defender on the pitch
Vickers - Played very well until his injury
Tebily - Struggled against Roberts, especially in the second half
Carter - Looked out of position again, but did his best when pressed into the heart of defence
Devlin - Very poor
Savage - Absolutely immense, carried the team at times
Powell - Impressive performance, even in defence
Lazaridis - Always dangerous on the break, and worked hard
Morrison - Struggled, but ended up playing right wing, then midfield
John - Gave it his all
SUBS:
Horsfield - Offered a presence
Woodhouse & Hughes - Could only chase and harry in the final few minutes