Premier League - Blues survive late fightback

Eurosport - Sat, 24 Oct 15:50:00 2009

Birmingham survived a late fightback at St Andrews to record their third Premier League win of the campaign with a 2-1 win over Sunderland.

Liam Ridgewell, Birmingham v Sunderland, PA Photos - 0

Liam Ridgewell gave the hosts the lead with a close-range effort in the first half before James McFadden doubled their advantage with a neat finish three minutes after the break.

The visitors set up a nervy finale when Scott Dann poked a header from Michael Turner into his own net with eight minutes remaining.

But it was too little too late from the visitors who had been second best for most of the afternoon.

The first-half was certainly not an entertaining spectacle to behold with little effort made to get the ball down and play football.

Sunderland have enjoyed an excellent start to the season, but with a place in the top four up for grabs they seemed to lack cohesion and were being hustled and harried by a determined Birmingham side.

It was the hosts who looked the likelier to break the deadlock and were it not for a goal-saving tackle from Kieran Richardson, they would have done so midway through the first half.

Christian Benitez slid the ball across the face of the goal and McFadden only had to tap into the empty net before Richardson got back to deflect his shot over the bar.

Benitez then had a go himself and drew a fine save from Craig Gordon when he turned in the area and let fly with a powerful shot that the Scot did well to turn around the post.

But there was nothing the Sunderland keeper could do to prevent Ridgewell's opener from hitting the back of the net.

Sebastian Larsson whipped a free-kick into the six-yard box and Ridgewell got in front of a static Sunderland defence to knee the ball into the back of the net.

Birmingham were quick out of the blocks in the second with McFadden doubling their lead three minutes after the restart.

The Scot got on the end of a flick from Benitez, cut inside Phil Bardsley and calmly stroked the ball into the bottom corner.

It was no more than the hosts had deserved and they almost added to their advantage minutes later when Gordon pulled off a good save to deny Larsson's free-kick from 25 yards.

Further opportunities came and went for Birmingham with Benitez shooting narrowly wide midway through the half and Cameron Jerome failing to make a good connection with a header when unmarked in the area.

Sunderland had been totally outplayed, but as is so often the way they struck back as the game entered its final 10 minutes.

A long free-kick was tossed into the box and Michael Turner got his head to the ball ahead of Joe Hart and flicked it goalwards. Scott Dann did his best to stop it going into the back of the net but in the end could only help it on its way.

Darren Bent should have levelled with three minutes still on the clock when he volleyed a cross from Andy Reid an inch wide from six yards out while substitute Gary McSheffrey could have put the game to bed at the other end only to see his effort beaten away by Gordon with his feet.

Birmingham held on to claim the points that take them up to 14th in the table while defeat sees Sunderland remain in seventh, having given up the chance to move into the top four.

Toby Davis / Eurosport

Comment 32 - 51 of 51

Sort comments by: Most recent | Most rated

  1. ha ha point taken newcastleian but being at the top of­ a hill of s hit ?. . .well it's still just a hill­ of s hit,but it's nice being a big fish in a­ little pond,granted

    From jack torrance, on Tue 27 Oct 12:44PM

  2. Not skint Jack, just at the "grabbing­ overtime" stage......

    From Tony K, on Mon 26 Oct 8:56PM

  3. Tomorrow belongs to me.
    SAHB
    FTM

    From downy100, on Mon 26 Oct 8:52PM

  4. scarborough, margate?? last time i looked we were top­ mr shining??(hee hee).

    From newcastleian1, on Mon 26 Oct 8:10PM

  5. p.s Blackpool and Scunthorpe!!! . . who next­ Scarborough and Margate ? hee hee

    From jack torrance, on Mon 26 Oct 7:58PM

  6. ha ha nice one cameron "that equates" love­ that term,that's a great way of sayiing our lot get­ beaten off s hit and your lot get beaten off complete­ and utter s hit,like your style man,always did.Check­ out the 'Pavlick pulls out of Williams fight'­ thread,some serious memory lane stuff going on­ there.Tony you must be skint by now surely?

    From jack torrance, on Mon 26 Oct 7:56PM

  7. jojo..not me with the thumbs up fella, im not that­ vain(yet)! cant comment on rant 43 as my french is not­ good, unlike you who have probably got a phrase book,­ good effort,you never know you might even impress­ somebody one day.

    From newcastleian1, on Mon 26 Oct 6:07PM

  8. Annnnnnnnnnnnnnd....voting a 'thumbs-up' for­ your own comment is pathetic....nah, nah x100

    From JojO, on Mon 26 Oct 5:07PM

  9. Tu ne sais pas, dear. Obviousment le sarcasm ne has pas­ made it dans le cite des bar-codes. Comme la mouton­ mort? Growez-vous up, petit(e) brain....

    From JojO, on Mon 26 Oct 5:06PM

  10. jojo.. oooooohh it is like been savaged off a dead­ sheep, i bet your dads proud of you with your nah, nah,­ nee, nah nah, most sensible words you wrote.

    From newcastleian1, on Mon 26 Oct 4:38PM

  11. By the by....if you still don't get it, I'll­ stoop to your level...the top of the mountain is the­ top division title so we HAVE been there, and more­ times than you.....nah, nah, nee, nah nah....and my dad­ is a policeman....

    From JojO, on Mon 26 Oct 4:26PM

  12. Yesterday has now departed and tomorrow hasn't­ started....all that really matters is right now....­ Yes, blah, blah, you were there long time, blah blah,­ won cups, blah blah, bigger crowds, blah, blah, bigger­ stadium, blah blah...none of it matters one jot. We won­ the cup in '73 ....so what? We won the old Div 1­ six times....so what? You won the Fairs Cup....so what?­ Doesn't matter if was one year ago or one hundred­ years ago... it's gone. Yes, you will get promoted­ sooner or later....so what? Yes, we may go down­ again... so what? I'm enjoying NOW! Are you?

    From JojO, on Mon 26 Oct 4:23PM

  13. jojo.."the top of the mountain is there" yeah­ somewhere you clowns have never been or never will, can­ you just remind me fella,exactly how many seasons were­ you lot scratching around "the league of has-beens­ and no-hopers" while we were 16 unbroken years in­ the countrys elite!!

    From newcastleian1, on Mon 26 Oct 4:13PM

  14. Now, now Cameron...you can't go making relative­ comparisons between the country's elite division­ and the league of has-beens and no-hopers. Stay focused­ on the climb to greatness that we mastered so well, the­ top of the mountain is there, bud, just keep your eyes­ on it, no matter how far it seems....

    From JojO, on Mon 26 Oct 3:14PM

  15. JoJo
    that's Brum, Burnley and Stoke now; in­ relative terms, that equates to Blackpool, Scunthorpe­ and Forest - people in glass houses etc.!

    From cameron w, on Mon 26 Oct 2:02PM

  16. Oh, and it was a weekend for freaky results anyway,­ Stoke, Wigan, Liverpool, Man City, Newcastle....only­ Chelski were true to form.

    From JojO, on Mon 26 Oct 10:05AM

  17. Thought we might get scalped at Brum, we were a bit lax­ and they were out to impress new owner...not a­ disaster, more of a wake-up call (again!) Glad the­ resident bar-codes are crowing, shows we still scare­ them....lol

    From JojO, on Mon 26 Oct 10:04AM
  18. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Win 2 tickets to a premier match of your choice text GL­ MATCHTICKETS to 87070

    From gibson7201, on Mon 26 Oct 7:33AM

  19. Tone
    No need to crow___ in th words of JC or N/castle­ Ian
    every good team has a blip !!!!!
    Your team­ fought well not sure it shouldnt have been a draw tho­ ?? if Doncaster had scored with the penalty it might­ have been so different. But wasnt it a bad pen!!!! no­ professional should miss from 12 yds I never did.
    We­ didnt play well at all , again mistakes from Messers­ Turner and Ferdinand, and Gordons poor positioning and­ perception of the game.
    Midfield was poor and the front­ two looked tired although Bent was very unlucky to­ shave the post in the last few seconds of the game .

    From MALCOLM D, on Sun 25 Oct 11:36PM

  20. I knew we'd beat Liverpool... I knew we'd lose­ to Birmingham... I've been watching this team too­ long.
    Well done Mags... what a result!

    From PATRICK, on Sun 25 Oct 11:00AM
Sort comments by: Most recent | Most rated

Not already a Yahoo! user ? to get a free Yahoo! Account