Birmingham City vs West Bromwich Albion  

Saturday 3rd February 2024 

Before coming into this fixture Blues had won the last 4 meetings against West Brom. The Baggies previous 5 games in the league consist of three wins zero draws and two loses. Birmingham’s form in the championship has steadied since Tony Mowbray’s appointment blues have acquired four points from a possible nine across the three championship games he has overseen. 

First Half:  

Blues start strong and have an early chance as Stansfield’s determination to reach a long ball then debutant Alex Prichard gains possession delivering it back to the number 28 who tests Alex Palmer from the edge of the box. The opposition were creating numerous chances constantly coming at Blues then Myoshi manages to find the tricky winger Dembele who narrowly misses the cross flashed into the near post by Ethan Laird.  

Etheridge was quickly aware of his surroundings and makes a standard stop keeping the Baggies captain Jed Wallace and the scoreline at bay. Blues quickly manage to move up the other end where the midfield partners Ivan Sunjic and Krystian Bielik both register shot on target for their side but nether managing to change the scoreline.  

As the first half is coming to a close West Brom are trying to create one final opportunity but the last pass steers off course leading to a wasted attack.  

Half time: West Bromwich Albion 0-0 Blues  

Second Half: 

Mowbray starts the second half with Substituting the new man Pritchard after a strong first half in his new colours for the star boy Jordan James. He gets straight into the thick of it carrying possession. The game started to get slightly heated when Siriki was tripped by Cedric Kipre which caused everyone to get frustrated because the West Brom centre half did not receive a second booking as he was already on a yellow card.  

The game flipped on its head when hosts had a massive opportunity to go a goal to the good, but Alex Mowatt glanced the header wide. The pressure kept rising for the Blues because the opposition had an agonising chance with Thomas – Asante firing a volley narrowly wide of the target. Mowbray then decided to call on Bacuna to help soak up and relieve some of the pressure being absorbed by his team.  

A new arrival was to swiftly come on to try and make an imminent impact that signing being Paik Seung – Ho. Birmingham are now trying to ramp up the tempo to try and find avenues and hope a goal comes their way asap. Blues are given a corner as Dozzell swings in the corner, and it

connects with the head of Kevin Long hitting the post and bouncing into the grateful grasp of Palmer unfortunately for the Irish man.  

Blues have another chance having a corner delivered by Paik that had West Brom scrambling in their own 6-yard box, but the game wouldn’t end the way Blues wanted it to because in the dying   embers of the game Corberan’s team sunk Brummie hearts as Darnell Furlong’s cross was directed into the roof of the next by Weimann as the Hawthorns explodes into life as fans are celebrating being victorious in the derby.  

Full Time: West Bromwich Albion 1-0 Blues

My Overall Thoughts  

I believe we managed to contain West Brom very well considering their recent league projection under Carlos Corberan. The Debutants Pritchard and Paik added a lot of solidity and attacking promise to the middle of the park. It has been a consistent theme over the last few games we have played of not being able to convert our chances when they come to us. The defence played well as a unit restricting the hosts to just 2 shots on target all game and winning 75% of all tackles but to our dismay one of their shots managed to nestle into the back of the next. Leaving Blues with nothing to take back to St. Andrews after suffering that narrow defeat.  

Birmingham now look to change their fortunes with a trip to Hillsborough to face 23rd place Shefield Wednesday on Friday 9th February.  With the game being televised let’s hope Blues don’t buckle under the pressure as picking up 3 points is going to be a must to allow us to climb up the table away from the relegation zone.  

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