Everton 1, Birmingham City 1: Colin Tattum's big match verdict
Dec 21 2009 by Colin Tattum, Birmingham Mail
THERE was to be no record-equalling feat of six top-level wins in a row for Blues.
But the other good habit was maintained on a bitterly cold afternoon at Goodison Park – Blues weren’t defeated.
That’s nine games without a loss now, which matched the streak from the class of 1977-78.
And in previous incarnations, particularly when not playing anywhere near their best – as was the case here – Blues would probably have been sent packing with nowt.
They are made of different stuff these days. A top-half team who do not crumble, but show their mettle and work things out when they need to.
It didn’t look too great after a slack and slow start, but Sebastian Larsson’s opportunist goal midway through the first half levelled things up and brought Blues back to life.
“We are unbeatable, we are unbeatable,” sang the travelling Blues support after watching their side produce another rolled-up-sleeves type of performance.
Blues began as if they were attuned to Carson Yeung’s Hong Kong time zone, such was their indifferent, passive showing in the first 20 minutes.
It reminded you a little of the way they were at Wigan Athletic.
They let the opposition do what they wanted and never really got their shape and tempo correct. There were too many spaces for Everton to forage into.
The opening goal was a soft one by Blues’ standards, too, after just five minutes.
A looping throw from the right was chested off to Diniyar Bilyaletdinov and he all too easily eluded Liam Ridgewell, veered past Larsson and cracked the ball in at the near post with a venomous half-volley.
Everton, searching for their first home win since September, were lifted by the early goal and whirred around Blues to good effect.
Louis Saha was sent through and scored only to be flagged wrongly offside.
And Roger Johnson stopped one goalbound shot by Leon Osman as Blues could easily have found themselves further adrift.
But this Blues team are nothing if not hardy and brimming full of character, as they have shown often during their recent run of excellent form.
From their first proper attack, Christian Benitez switched the ball back to Larsson inside the area and he sidefooted it neatly past Tim Howard with perfect precision.
The 22nd-minute equaliser knocked the stuffing out of Everton and, suddenly, Blues got the measure of their opponents – and themselves.
The collective became better and the passing got going, too.
