Charlton 0 Birmingham City 0: Colin Tattum's big match verdict

Apr 13 2009 by Colin Tattum, Birmingham Mail

Neither was the support of Jerome satisfactory while Charlton, after an early flourish, defended stoutly but were nothing more than average.

The system was changed to 4-4-2, Larsson – ‘‘knackered’’, said McLeish – going off five minutes into the second-half.

Kevin Phillips, then Marcus Bent and James McFadden were pitched into the fray to liven matters, and they did, yet only in the last third of a match that opened up and ebbed and flowed with thrills and spills.

After Blues readjusted, Charlton had their best spell of sustained pressure and Maik Taylor touched a fierce Lloyd Sam shot from a tight angle on to the post.

Darren Ward lashed in after Tresor Kandol headed on and although he was flagged offside, replays showed that Stephen Carr was playing him on. A fortunate escape for Blues.

It wasn’t convincing at this stage, and defensively Blues were forced to be right on their mettle, with all of the back four and goalkeeper performing with considerable fortitude, intelligence and determination in the face of peril.

Eventually Blues got a firmer foothold and began to open up Charlton, with McFadden causing panic coming in off the right and Fahey carrying the ball and probing positively from the other side.

Anchoring the midfield, Damien Johnson was absolutely tremendous on sentry duty, winning scraps and forcing counter-attacks off stride.

Still, Blues required more than such grit and endeavour. They needed better thrust when using the ball and inventiveness.

Bent’s substitution for Jerome got the ‘‘you don’t know what you’re doing’’ treatment but the ball had not been held up and Jerome was seen off physically by Ward and Mark Hudson.

Blues pressed on much more as time went by, and Fahey forced two fine saves from Rob Elliot in as many minutes, the second from a stooping header from Bent’s nod down. But the urgency and desperation to go for the win also left the door open for Charlton, and they almost walked straight through.

Carr had blocked Zheng Zhi’s attempt right in front of goal after the ball popped out to him when Taylor and Radhi Jaidi got into a muddle as a ball bounced through.

And Taylor, in the 90th minute, overshadowed Elliot by readjusting himself with great agility when on one knee to claw away a deflected attempt from Jonjo Shelvey, and then a subsequent follow-up.

There was still time for Fahey’s low drive, that was heading for the bottom corner, to be plugged by Hudson, and a Phillips shot from close range sliced wide.

A goalless draw didn’t help either side, less so Blues of course as Charlton are already in the midst of the long goodbye. And neither really merited the winner’s spoils.

It’s now a battle of attrition between Blues, the Blades and others.

It’s who blinks first, who slugs it out and rolls with the punches, like the ones jabbed and hooked at below par Blues in south London.

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