Coventry City 1 Birmingham City 0: Colin Tattum's big match verdict
Feb 23 2009 by Colin Tattum, Birmingham Mail
Blues got in a huddle just before kick-off. What words were said, goodness knows, because they began like their heads hadn’t been hunched together, but somewhere in the clouds.
Martin Taylor allowed himself to be bullied, Clinton Morrison should have scored after 23 seconds, Scott Dann did, from the resulting corner after Maik Taylor saved, within the minute.
Leon McKenzie, before he left the field with a suspected ruptured Achilles tendon, played on Sebastian Larsson’s unsuitability at right-back although, in fairness, the Swede put his heart and soul into it and was not disgraced.
Aron Gunnarsson again impressed against Blues, driving the midfield on, and McLeish’s side never properly got going.
Their wingers flattered to deceive and were well hassled and even when Lee Carsley had to go off, which brought Keith Fahey into the centre, Blues didn’t dictate.
Coventry kept their concentration and willing to get back into good defensive positions when Blues had the ball, and maintained a high tempo.
As Blackpool showed, Blues can easily get thrown off stride when you get in their faces, and scoring first to force them to do the running helps no end, of course.
It wasn’t until the latter stages, with the pressure piled on, that Blues suggested they might score, and then Scott Sinclair’s goal was ruled offside.
Despite the confusion and furore, it possibly was the right decision to judge Marcus Bent fractionally ahead of the defence in the build-up.
Maik Taylor kept Blues in with a chance as Coventry, knowing Blues had to commit, and were unsteady defensively, had the clearer openings.
Bent seems to have become the scapegoat for some of Blues’ ills. Fans chanted that old standard “you don’t know what you’re doing” when McLeish substituted Cameron Jerome for Carlos Costly – they felt Bent should have made way.
But Jerome was ineffective and Bent no better or worse than others around him.
The defeat, Blues’ seventh of the campaign, was avoidable certainly, and damaging no doubt.
Not just for the league position and the chance to make up ground on leaders Wolves and edge away from Reading, who lost at home to Bristol City, but in prolonging the trauma and embitterment.
