Sheffield United 2, Birmingham City 1: Colin Tattum's big match verdict
Mar 2 2009 by Colin Tattum, Birmingham Mail
IF LEE Mason felt his visit to the Blues dressing room afterwards would offer some crumb of comfort or soften the blow of defeat, he was badly mistaken.
The referee took the unprecedented step after awarding a controversial 83rd-minute penalty that put another dent in Blues’ hopes of climbing to the Championship summit, and so fired the Blades’ own promotion ambitions.
By this stage he knew his decision was contentious to say the least, so he did a detour as he and his assistants made their way through the corridors deep in Bramall Lane.
He watched on performance analyst Joe Carnall’s lap top a re-run of the challenge involving Radhi Jaidi and Stephen Carr as they jumped with Craig Beattie to a cross, and he was surrounded by Blues’ assistant managers Roy Aitken, Andy Watson, a couple of players, support staff and even the coach driver.
Aitken was having none of it when Mason tried to justify himself – apparently he said Jaidi had grappled Beattie, even though the best guesswork at the time was that Carr had made negligible contact, the sort of bump and grind that happens in most aerial skirmishes.
If Mason didn’t go to apologise or hold his hands up for making an error, what was the point of his visit?
Beattie exaggerated his fall – flopped, as they call it in America – and Mason bought it.
David Cotterill calmly sent Maik Taylor the wrong way from the spot-kick, and Blues were sunk.
Coming after the offside for Sheffield’s opening goal, scored in the 43rd minute by Danny Webber, Blues were left seething; and Mason’s post-match act hardly calmed the ire.
However, let’s not suggest that Blues simply fell foul of the Lancashire official. Far from it.
His was a huge, incorrect, decision that ultimately settled the outcome.
But Blues didn’t do enough – not nearly enough – to come away with a victory that would have set them up in good mood for the run-in.
In the first half they were the side most likely. Ironically they defended stoutly, with Franck Queudrue getting stuck in gamely as Liam Ridgewell’s replacement.
Marcus Bent headed onto the top of the crossbar from a free-kick in the eighth minute, and Blues had plenty of space in which to develop their attacks.
But, as is normal, there was not cutting edge, no convincing threat. No end product.
