Birmingham City 1, Portsmouth 0: Andy Walker's big match verdict
THERE was only one way Blues could truly pay tribute to club legend Jack Wiseman.
The minute’s applause was observed, black armbands were donned and images of ‘Mr Blues’ flashed up on the new big screen.
But the one thing that ‘Jolly Jack’ would have wanted from his beloved football club, as he looked on from above, was a victory.
And that’s exactly what the players delivered for their late vice-chairman at St Andrew’s last night.
Forget your top-four elite, forget minted Manchester City and even forget the Europa League hopefuls; last night was an example of the real battles that Blues need to win this season.
Whether it’s Pompey, this weekend’s visitors Stoke, Hull, Wolves, Burnley or Bolton, there are certain clubs that need to be beaten, anything else is a bonus.
In the same way they single-mindedly focused on promotion last season, Blues have a job to do in the Premier League and that is to secure survival or ‘finish in the top 17’, as Alex McLeish has put it.
This slim victory over troubled Portsmouth, courtesy of a James McFadden penalty in injury time, was the first ticked box of the new campaign.
It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t convincing and at times it lacked quality, but when the linesman waved his flag in the 91st minute after David James had flattened Seb Larsson in the box, what followed was just reward for an hour-and-a-half of effort from Blues.
Portsmouth were competitive but looked like a team of players who didn’t want to be there.
This victory did come at a cost for Blues though, as further injuries once again exposed their lack of cover in key positions. Left-back Gregory Vignal hobbled off with a hip injury only minutes into the second half and his replacement Stuart Parnaby, a right-footer, looked like a fish out of water. With no other defenders on the bench, Franck Queudrue looked to be on his last legs by the end.
Up front, Cameron Jerome was replaced in the 54th minute by Kevin Phillips, having turned his ankle following a tackle, and it was a substitution that gave the disappointing Garry O’Connor extra minutes on the pitch that he didn’t deserve.
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