Blues Match Zone

Blues back in second place

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This was a much improved result from a Birmingham side who need to take heart from this performance and use it to spur them on for the rest of the season.

Team changes included Rowan Vine moving to left wing to cover for McSheffrey and Gray, who were both suspended. Larsson started on the right wing, with Clemence and Damien Johnson in central midfield.

Bendtner and Jerome made up the forward line with DJ Campbell on the bench.

New loan signing Andy Cole had picked up a hamstring strain in training and was an unexpected omission from the 16.

After many slow starts to games this campaign, Blues were quick out of the blocks while Coventry seemed sluggish and out of sorts compared to their recent form.

A early, curling shot from Nicklas Bendtner was palmed away by Marshall. A corner from Larsson resulted in the first goal in the 13th minute as Jaidi rose to head the ball past a keeper who seemed temporarily rooted to the spot.

Also in the first half, Cameron Jerome squandered two good chances and Bendtner put a shot wide. Birmingham could easily have been three or four goals up by the end of the first 45 minutes.

It was obvious that Iain Dowie had applied the hairdryer during the half-time break as Coventry came back after the restart in a much brighter fashion and were seeing much more of the ball. Virgo shot over the bar and for a while it looked as though the Sky Blues had a chance of an equaliser.

The misfiring Jerome was hauled off just after the hour to be replaced by DJ Campbell, but to be fair to Jerome he had put in a lot of work tiring Coventry defence; it was his touch in front of goal that was letting him down.

DJ Campbell made his mark in minutes, latching on to a long ball from Kelly and charging down some sleeping Coventry defenders to flick the ball over Marshall for 2-0.

Campbell also set up Vine minutes later, who crashed the ball off the post to rattle the Sky Blues further.

Clemence was subbed for Nafti with just over a quarter of an hour to play, and it was his cross that presented Campbell with his second goal and Blues’ third on 78 minutes to capture the three points.

Steve Bruce’s final tactical change was to bring off the very impressive Bendtner for Muamba with less than ten minutes of normal time remaining. The game was played out with Birmingham looking secure.

This proved to be an important result for Birmingham today; even without Andy Cole the team played confidently, with many fine individual performances and the first game in 2007 with more than one goal scored.

This is a good start for the run-in and has set the standard.

Player Ratings

Colin Doyle
Not much troubled. Less wayward in his area than in recent games.

Stephen Kelly
Looked assured; plenty of forward movement.

Mat Sadler
Like Kelly, plenty of forward movement. Still a tendency to lose concentration at times.

Rahdi Jaidi
Great header for first goal.

Martin Taylor
Man of the Match – just, as there were many good performances today.

Seb Larsson
Only just missed out for Man of the Match – excellent movement and link-up play

Damien Johnson
Solid in midfield; little sign of tiredness after international action.

Stephen Clemence
Another assured, dependable performance. Maybe a fraction less on form than of late.

Rowan Vine
Coped with the makeshift left-wing role well.

Cameron Jerome
Misfired in front of goal but still made a big contribution to the game.

Nicklas Bendtner
Excellent all round performance; class always shows.

DJ Campbell
Brilliant contribution from the bench with two poacher’s goals.

Mehdi Nafti
Set up third goal from an unaccustomed left-wing position!
Brief appearance but didn’t let midfield slip.

Manager Rating
Although Steve Bruce has come in for considerable censure for his tactics, he set up an attacking team today and substitutions changed the game in a positive way.

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