It's not all doom and gloom for Birmingham despite defeat at Preston
Dec 15 2008 by Colin Tattum, Birmingham Mail
TO SOME, it’s the end of the world as we know it again.
Blues lose, sound the alarm bells, it’s crisis time.
Yes, it was not a very clever way to end a game that was closing to a goalless draw.
A couple of misjudgments, an error, and Jon Parkin punishes Blues in the first minute of stoppage time, inflicting a fourth defeat of the season, and only a second away from home.
Blues did enough not to have lost but they didn’t do enough to have won it either.
Like Preston, a neat and tidy side, they passed the ball and got into promising areas, but that little extra edge, that spark of incisiveness, was lacking.
Sometimes Blues do play within themselves.
This seemed to be the case at Deepdale, and as the game wore on you sensed ideas had run dry and they had settled for a draw which, had Parkin not struck, would have been a satisfactory result.
However, with Reading snapping right on Blues’ heels now and with a huge showdown at St Andrew’s on Saturday against them looming, and Wolves extending their lead at the top of the Championship again to six points, the Private Frazer brigade – you know, ‘we’re all doomed’ – kick in once more.
Yet it’s not all that bad. Honestly.
At the halfway point, 23 games, Blues have tallied more points – 47 – at this level, since 1902-03.
Last season, Albion had 41 points and were second; two years ago Blues topped the league with 46 and were three clear of Derby County. Were it not for Wolves’ astonishing excellence and Reading’s ability to win regularly too, there wouldn’t be the worries.
Perhaps we should credit the top three with what they’ve done so far.
