Birmingham City 0, Aston Villa 1: Colin Tattum's big match verdict
Sep 14 2009 by Colin Tattum, Birmingham Mail
Blues were able to get through Villa’s midfield, in the first half particularly, but they couldn’t quite find anything on the end of their moves.
Villa will reflect and feel that they had the better half-chances in any case, as well as two clear openings to extend the lead as Blues desperately gambled and pushed on for an equaliser.
The case for starting Christian Benitez in a 4-4-2 will doubtless be debated endlessly and with hindsight perhaps Alex McLeish might have done things differently, albeit he was mindful of the forced readjustments and leaving Blues exposed against Villa’s five in the centre.
Certainly, a move to two up top when Benitez did come on, in the 79th minute for Garry O’Connor, or even earlier might have been more ambitious and advantageous. Villa’s defence was settled and comfortable for large swathes of the second half.
That said, Blues had not really been bothered by the threat of Ashley Young and had kept Agbonlahor relatively quiet too. Villa had not ripped through them and caused mayhem like that April 2008 afternoon at Villa Park.
So it was one of those balancing acts for McLeish, who hasn’t got the multi-million pounds worth of resources available that his opposite number Martin O’Neill has.
O’Neill decided to force the issue a little more in their favour as Villa grew the longer the game went on with Carew, and he and Agbonlahor combined to provide them with victory.
During the early salvos, Blues were sharp in the tackle and knocked the ball around well.
Villa, though, had their moments and James Milner twice failed to connect properly, or with direction, when teed-up by Agbonlahor. Larsson saw a drive at goal blocked by Warnock – one of three Villa players who dived in the way of the ball to protect their goal – and Keith Fahey went close.
Brad Friedel pushed away an effort by Lee Bowyer on a rare occasion when Villa did yield ground defensively.
James McFadden was withdrawn by Blues at the break due to a thigh strain picked up at the end of the opening half, and Blues did not probe and press to the same promising effect in the second half.
Villa began to express themselves more and got on top. Carew came on in the 71st minute to bring a dimension that they had needed while Milner and Young began to get freer.
Joe Hart saved at the back post from Steve Sidwell’s header and Milner’s low shot was taken just wide by a deflection.
Benitez, for whom the crowd had agitated, tested Friedel moments before Young won a free-kick and then delivered it with a driven, flat strike into the Blues penalty area for the winning goal. Frenzy ensued as Blues threw everything at Villa, who countered twice and went clean through only for Agbonlahor to fire over the bar and Carew to overhit a pass designed to leave Milner with a tap-in.
A Larsson free-kick in stoppage time went wide off the wall and there were a couple of scrambles in front of Friedel, but Blues failed to muster a telling response to another telling late, late show by Agbonlahor.
