Birmingham City 1, Wigan 0: Colin Tattum's big match verdict as relegation effectively avoided
Mar 1 2010 by Colin Tattum, Birmingham Mail
THERE were no celebrations of the kind favoured by Canada’s ice hockey women after they won the Winter Olympic gold.
The cigars and champagne swilling can wait for another time, in May.
Blues took the acknowledgement of the crowd having done another good, efficient job and then they were off the pitch to get ready for the next challenge – the FA Cup quarter-finals.
But had Blues got a little carried away with themselves after the final whistle – maybe sprayed the isotonic drinks, let off a few Chinese firecrackers perhaps – it would have been understandable.
The barrier every newly-promoted team strives for – the 40-point mark – was reached courtesy of the 1-0 win, James McFadden’s penalty the deserved decider.
And let’s not underplay this achievement, coming as it did in February and with a revamped squad, knitted together expertly by Alex McLeish, and playing not just with a hearty defensive resilience but with a philosophy of careful possession and passing football.
A year ago, Carlos Costly was going through and missing the target on his first start at Crystal Palace, Stephen Carr was debuting and Blues’ 0-0 draw was sandwiched between defeats at Coventry City (Scott Dann scored the winner) and Sheffield United.
People were asking why Ulises de la Cruz was coming in after Carr had been dug up from the retirement graveyard, Karren Brady was cranking up the pressure and cracking cheap gags in her newspaper column and Marcus Bent was leading the line.
With 11 games left, Blues are safe and still stand a realistic chance of their highest league finish since 1956.
In previous Premier League campaigns when avoiding the drop, they had not hit 40 points until 34 games on Easter Monday (2003) and 36 games on April 30 (2005).
In 2005, Blues went past 40 points in their 27th match – the same number as played now – and were fifth in the table. They tapered off, finishing on 50 points for tenth position.
Wigan felt aggrieved at the manner of their defeat but overall it was not a surprise.
Keith Fahey was cute and flopped after minimal contact from Mario Melchiot as he ran to retrieve his own cross that was cleared.
McFadden duly slid the penalty kick into the bottom right-hand corner, sending Chris Kirkland the wrong way.
And Liam Ridgewell somehow escaped censure for a steam-train tackle that took out James McCarthy at the corner quadrant, plus the flagpole and linesman Trevor Massey, who was hit in the forehead by the stick as it catapulted out of the ground.
The scene of carnage, with McCarthy and Massey writhing around, watched over by a nonplussed Ridgewell, was comic.
