26, 27, 29 where’s 28 – International duty and the new boy wonder.

Welcome to FITS 29. The more observant of you will have noted that FITS 28 did not appear. Frankly there was not much Blues news to write home about. The International break was taken up by the suitability of Jude Bellingham to be a fixture in the England team. At least it was in my case. The necessity of me repeating the blindingly obvious was mute. You all know what I think and it seemed pointless to repeat it. Jude himself put on a master class of international midfield play which said it all. The ‘National’ (London) press and indeed the manager were at long last forced to admit that Bellingham is the real deal, and should be first on the team sheet for any England game. Only for the next 15 years though, he might need to take the odd break by then.

Another week and back to the league

Back to league action on Sunday. The poor West Midland Police were not able to cope with two football matches 25 miles apart so Blues and Albion match was shunted to Sunday. In spite of zero trouble between the fans of either team for 40 odd years, the inconvenience to the fans was ignored and WMP were able to claim their double time and spend a peaceful afternoon in the Sunshine.

The match itself was pretty tedious with no discernable attacking expertise on either side. By half time any resemblance of 150 years of Derby rivalry had disappeared. The two sets of back three defenders were outstanding with Blues’ attacking players showing a little more promise than a totally anonymous Baggies front line.

Let’s get positive here because in our back line we had a giant of a player in Marc Roberts and at his side, Nic Gordon improves with every touch. The boy has got a future and Lee Bowyer’s idea of opening up a gap for him to step into, is paying dividends.

On 56^th minute Tahith Chong exploded away from two Baggies who had previously held him in check, and hit a 40 yard no-look pass across to Hogan. After that threat was dealt with, we all noticed the Dutchman down and he had to be replaced. Every Bluenose was thinking the same. The curse has struck and Tahith’s season was over.

Within the next 11 minutes the mood changed as Bacuna hit another 60-yard pass in the direction of Hernandez. Previous attempts had not been very accurate and this was not looking too promising. Amazingly the Cuban Flyer reached it and somehow managed to keep it in. His cross was handled and the Ref begrudgingly pointed to the spot.

Lyle Taylor then had the chance to perform his unique penalty taking method. Most of us had seen him do this successfully for other teams. Would Blues fans see his first miss with this method?

Of course not! Taylor’s “Amble and Spank” left former England and Aston keeper sniffing his left-hand post and the ball nestling in the other side.

A minute and a half of footballing perfection. Well worth the trip!

Forest Saturday, can’t wait.