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Getting through Spaghetti Junction at anything but rush hour for an evening match at St Andrew's is not the easiest journey to undertake, but we made it with enough time to enjoy a couple of pints of Ansells in the Cricketers before the match.
The beer was cheaper than the very informative match programme.
The locals were surprisingly apprehensive about playing Bolton, even though they were on a good run and our recent results speak for themselves.
Blues fans were also worried about the possibility of a 12-point deduction for falling foul of the fair play criteria and they should hear their fate this month.
They have done well despite being under a transfer embargo for most of the season.
Embargoes are something we know a lot about at Bolton. They are hoping to be treated similarly to Manchester City but the football authorities do not always treat lower teams fairly in comparison to the Premier League elite.
We wished them well... after they played us.
Then it was on to the match to be greeted with an attacking team selection from Phil Parkinson with both Clayton Donaldson and Josh Magennis up front.
He reverted to a back three – could we really be giving it a go and at least going down fighting?
The answer was a resounding ‘yes’. We fought for every ball and deserved to go in level at half time.
In the second half, we upped it a gear and took the game to Birmingham, and finally got our just reward when Callum Connolly headed in at the far post from Luke Murphy’s great free kick.
We easily saw the game out with Remi Matthews more than equal to anything thrown at him by a relatively poor Birmingham team, who had been scoring for fun recently.
One win does not solve everything, but at least it shows we are not prepared to go down without a fight.
There were heroes all over the pitch, but young Callum Connolly and the ever-young Clayton Donaldson – returning to his old stomping ground – were outstanding. Unfortunately, it looked like Gary O’Neil and Marc Wilson picked up injuries to join an ever-increasing list of unavailable players.
Points have been a little thin on the ground recently but on Tuesday night we stood tall and restored some pride in the shirt.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Bring on Norwich City and Leeds United.
Source
The beer was cheaper than the very informative match programme.
The locals were surprisingly apprehensive about playing Bolton, even though they were on a good run and our recent results speak for themselves.
Blues fans were also worried about the possibility of a 12-point deduction for falling foul of the fair play criteria and they should hear their fate this month.
They have done well despite being under a transfer embargo for most of the season.
Embargoes are something we know a lot about at Bolton. They are hoping to be treated similarly to Manchester City but the football authorities do not always treat lower teams fairly in comparison to the Premier League elite.
We wished them well... after they played us.
Then it was on to the match to be greeted with an attacking team selection from Phil Parkinson with both Clayton Donaldson and Josh Magennis up front.
He reverted to a back three – could we really be giving it a go and at least going down fighting?
The answer was a resounding ‘yes’. We fought for every ball and deserved to go in level at half time.
In the second half, we upped it a gear and took the game to Birmingham, and finally got our just reward when Callum Connolly headed in at the far post from Luke Murphy’s great free kick.
We easily saw the game out with Remi Matthews more than equal to anything thrown at him by a relatively poor Birmingham team, who had been scoring for fun recently.
One win does not solve everything, but at least it shows we are not prepared to go down without a fight.
There were heroes all over the pitch, but young Callum Connolly and the ever-young Clayton Donaldson – returning to his old stomping ground – were outstanding. Unfortunately, it looked like Gary O’Neil and Marc Wilson picked up injuries to join an ever-increasing list of unavailable players.
Points have been a little thin on the ground recently but on Tuesday night we stood tall and restored some pride in the shirt.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Bring on Norwich City and Leeds United.
Source