Blues Res 0 Blackburn Rovers Res 1
….A polo neck sweater under his shirt!
I bet the Burnley fans love him. Imagine the sport we’d have if one of the Vilers turned out wearing thermal underwear or somesuch poncy garb. Priceless. If one were in a libelous mood, one would assume a decent-sized brown envelope found its way into Mr Souness’ back pocket from an agent somewhere for signing this utter waste of space but that, of course, would be totally incorrect and unfair. Apart from wearing his sweater to save him having to run around, he did nothing.
First half, Blues were pretty much on top, with both teams playing some decent football. Blues had two good chances, a fine run and shot from Peter Till which produced a good save from the Blackburn goalie, Steve Drench (sic) and a blistering angled drive from Motteram, which was pretty much all we saw of Motty, who was unusually subdued and seemed frightened to take his man on.
At half time I was seriously thinking of making a profound statement in tonight’s report. Regular readers of this tripe will know that I’ve only raved in the past about four players I’ve seen in the reserve games over recent years – Jay Jay Okocha, Stefan Moore, James Milner and Stewart Downing (twice). Tonight I was seriously thinking of adding Neil Kilkenny’s name to that list. In the first half he was simply tremendous – passing the ball imaginatively, nicking the ball away from Blackburn players with ease, covering every inch of the pitch, shouting and organizing his colleagues. In the second half, however, that was all to change:
Half time was 0-0.
Second half and anyone who’s ever been in a dressing room would know exactly what had been said in the Blackburn one – “stop the little fecker at No 8 from playing, just do whatever it takes”. We’ve all been there ain’t we? All of us, that is, except Miss E.A Raynor of Leicestershire, tonight’s referee. As soon as the second half started it became blatantly apparent that David Thompson and Gary Harkins had been assigned the task of stopping Kilkenny from playing. He was elbowed in the face twice in the first ten minutes, requiring treatment, every run was obstructed, shirt was virtually pulled off his back, nothing too dangerous – just professional fouls and spoiling tactics. Kilkenny failed to cope with this and Miss Raynor was completely mugged by the cunning old pros around her. Hopefully they’ll both learn from the experience (although in Miss Raynor’s case I doubt that very much).
On the topic of Miss Raynor, there was a classic incident when she pulled up Alex Bruce (yes, Steve’s son) for a nasty foul on the touchline. Whilst she demonstrated her authority by administering a strong lecture, young Alex completely ignored her, looked in the opposite direction and screamed four-letter abuse at Jamie Clapham. He treated her with the utter contempt she deserved. As for Alex, this was the third time I’ve seen him play. He’s moved from fullback to centre half now and, sadly seems to be going down the pan. Much of his play consists of hopeful punts upfield and he seems to have developed the petulant approach that so characterized Blackburn during the Souness era. I hope Hughes can sort him out, either that or maybe a change of club would do him good. He’s always seemed a pretty decent player in the past.
As Kilkenny’s influence on the game faded, Our Hero Bertschin produced one of his managerial master strokes. First, he makes a substitution whilst his team are getting ready to defend a free kick from a dangerous position, a tactic which probably ranks alongside passing the ball straight across the face of your own goal in the league table of no-no’s and then to cap it, the substitution he makes pushes Kilkenny out from central midfield onto the right wing where he pretty much faded out of the game. You could see the Blackburn players fighting the urge to offer high fives all round!
From then on, the game deteriorated, with obstructions and pushes going totally unpunished, Blackburn took control and fully deserved to go ahead. A very good goal it was, too, a surging run from David Thompson, followed by a fierce left foot shot across Vaesen and inside the far post. 82 minutes 1-0
I didn’t get a very good look at Brucie tonight, so I won’t attempt a Brucie Watch. I DID get a good look at Clinton Morrison, in fact I’m sure he was looking at me, thinking “could that really be IPFreely? How crumulent is that?” Clint seemed to be limping a little – maybe he’d had some physio on his knee. If he hasn’t had physio today, I very much doubt he’ll be fit for Saturday. Whatever, I assume his brief encounter with IPF left him feeling embiggened.
Also, as a special bonus, I offer a Lee Hendrie watch. Lil’ Lee was there, lurking around outside the ground before the kick off, his jug ears catching the reflected light from the floodlights. Apparently, he’d been told one of Steve Bruce’s kids was there tonight. Pity he’s a Viler, a brighter person would have stayed at home in the warmth and bosom of someone’s family. We never told him he’d got the wrong A. Bruce.
Final score – Birmingham 0 Blackburn 1
Blues: Vaesen, Parratt, Clapham, Oji, Painter, Alsop, Birley, Kilkenny, Barrowman, Till, Motteram. Subs: Bagnall, Blake, Howland, Hall, Curtis.
Blackburn: Drench, Douglas, Gresko, Thompson, Bruce, Nolan, Donnelly, Harkins, Johnson, Jansen, De Pedro. Subs: Morgan, Fielding, Taylor, Peers, Derbyshire.