Luke Turner looks ahead to the derby…
Friday`s defeat to Burton is gone, forget about it. Attentions now turn to the game we’ve all been waiting for- the Second City derby.
The last time Blues and Aston Villa met at St Andrews was way back in 2011 where the two sides played out a 1-1 draw.
Roger Johnson scored for us on that occasion with the likes of Kyle Walker, Nigel Reo-Coker, John Carew and Richard Dunne all starting for Villa. How times have changed.
Since that meeting we’ve seen Blues win the Carling Cup, get relegated to the Championship, sell all our best players, play in Europe, reach the play-off semi finals, survive relegation to League One thanks to a 93rd minute equaliser, finish 10th in the last two seasons and now, finally, new owners have arrived.
All that in just over 5 years. It’s fair to say there’s never a dull moment at Blues.
Eventually, after all of that, we finally have our derby back. Yes, we played each other in the cup last season but this one is different.
Both clubs are in the Championship, Steve Bruce returns to St Andrews and, of course, Blues have the home advantage.
It sure will be some atmosphere inside the ground throughout the duration of the match and Blues fans will need to stick with the team even if things aren’t quite going our way.
Forget Arsenal v Tottenham, Everton v Liverpool or Manchester United v Manchester City. This is the real one.
The intensity, the passion, the rivalry. The chance for someone to become a hero. Blues v Villa returns this Sunday and I for one can’t wait!