Birmingham City 0, Aston Villa 1: Mat Kendrick's big match verdict

Sep 14 2009 by Mathew Kendrick, Birmingham Mail

ONCE again it took a free Brummie to settle the showdown between certainly the Second City’s most expensively assembled team and arguably its most expensively assembled crowd.

In the build-up to the derby, Blues boss Alex McLeish attempted to swing the pendulum of pressure in Villa’s direction by insisting that his big-spending rivals were the favourites to win this clash.

And, shrugging off the mind games, his Villa counterpart Martin O’Neill chose instead to have a dig at Birmingham’s prohibitive prices with St Andrew’s tickets for away fans costing almost £50.

But ultimately, after Brum’s fierce rivals looked like matching each other pound for pound, it was one of the few players on the pitch who cost nothing and one of the few locals who paid nothing to get in who grabbed the glory. Gabby Agbonlahor.

And not only was Agbonlahor free, after coming through the claret and blue ranks, he was also left completely free to head the decider in the same Railway End net as his dramatic winner almost two years ago.

Suddenly 50 quid seemed like a bit of a bargain for the 3,000 delirious Villa visitors behind the goal.

Talk about smash and Gab.

Or should that be Ash and Gab – with a bit of John Carew thrown in too – because Birmingham’s trio of tormentors from two seasons ago, having scored two goals each in the 5-1 and 2-1, returned to haunt McLeish and Co.

Agbonlahor was the only home-grown hero to start the 107th league meeting between the near neighbours and he is certainly out on his own when it comes to finishing it.

The England hopeful later admitted that the offensive Bluenose taunts about his mum, which naughtily adapt the words of his Villa signature tune, with the onus on the final syllable of his surname, was the inspiration for his goal.

Agbonlahor also confessed that just moments before he nodded in Ashley Young’s free-kick after a nod back from Carew, he had glanced up to the clock to see if there was time for more late heroics.