THE66POW

Wednesday 22nd January 2020

SkyBet EFL Championship

at the City Ground

Nottingham Forest (0) 1
Lewis Grabban 80

Reading FC (0) 1
Sam Baldock 82

Attendance: 26,840 (inc. 808 Reading fans)

Nottingham Forest:
Brice Samba; Matty Cash, Joe Worrall, Michael Dawson (C), Yuri Ribeiro, Ben Watson, Samba Sow (Joao Carvalho 61), Joe Lolley (Albert Adomah 89), Tiago Silva, Sammy Ameobi, Lewis Grabban
Unused subs - Jordan Smith, Carl Jenkinson, Alfa Semedo, Ryan Yates, Chema Rodriguez
Reading:
Rafael Cabral; Chris Gunter, Michael Morrison, Liam Moore (C), Tyler Blackett, John Swift, Michael Olise (Danny Loader 90), Pele, Ovie Ejaria, George Puscas (Sam Baldock 78), Jordan Obita
Unused subs - Sam Walker, Matt Miazga, Andy Rinomhota, Lucas Boye, Charlie Adam

This game was rescheduled to tonight, from Saturday 26th October 2019, because the adjacent River Trent had burst it's banks on the originally scheduled date and the subsequent flooding rendered the City Ground pitch waterlogged.
When these two sides last met, just eleven days ago, at the Madjeski Stadium, the game finished 1-1, after the Reds took the lead in the 96th minute, when Ben Watson volleyed home what looked to have been the winning goal... but agonisingly for Sabri Lamouchi's team, their Potugese defender: Tobias Figueiredo. inadvertently diverted Jordan Obita's cross into his own goal in the 97th.

Since then, Reading have seen off Blackpool in a FA Cup replay at Bloomfield Road, before going down 2-0 at Millwall on Saturday, while Forest beat Luton Town 3-1 in their last game, at the City Ground on Sunday.
A few weeks ago, Leeds United and West Bromwich Albion appeared to be claiming the top two, automatic promotion spots for themselves, but a recent spell of erratic form has seen both of those teams allow the chasing pack, including Nottingham Forest, to make ground on them.
A win tonight would've seen Forest move to within two points of Leeds United, and though they nudged up a place in the table to fourth, and with third placed Fulham drawing 0-0 against Charlton Athletic at the Valley tonight, the Reds could've leapfrogged over them in the Championship too.

But, in the event, they had to settle for a draw, in a cagey, possibly even slightly nervy and not overly eventful game, as the mist rolled in from the Trent and Nottinghamshire based photographer Dan Westwell should've been awarded with the man of the match award, for heading the ball back onto the field of play, without even breaking from his pitch-side position, and pay scant regard to the safety of his spectacles and equipment, before diligently carrying on with his duties.

Lamouchi's promotion chasers held onto their lead for seventy seconds tonight, as Reading pegged them back again, late in the game, as the visiting supporters serenaded the home fans with a joyful refrain of: "Nottingham Forest... it's happening again!", a song that is usually sung at the City Ground when news filters through that Derby County are losing elsewhere (again).
I think that prior to kick off, it was probably universally agreed among the Forest faithful, that 'any kind of win', even a fluky and unconvincing one, was the most important aspect of this game... and the outpouring of tangible relief that met the opening goal, was largely evident as a consequence.

But whilst the City Ground was still rocking to the strains of "Lewis Grabban, he scores when he wants!", after the Forest number seven had netted his sixteenth goal of the season, from Sammy Ameobi's clever pass that had completely stranded the Royals keeper Rafael Cabral and his defence,
Sam Baldock, who'd entered the fray from the bench just four minutes eralier, got a shot away on the turn, despite the fact that he was surrounded by opposition players... and though Brice Samba almost kept the ball out, he couldn't quite stop it from crawling over the line.
A draw wasn't exactly the end of the world for the home side, but the four points they've dropped against Reading from winning positions, would've seen them level in the table with Leeds, and just one point behind the leaders West Brom.

Reading for their part, were very well organised, gave Forest no time to settle on the ball or allow them to dictate the shape or pace of the game and pounced effectively when the Reds just maybe switched off momentarily, after having had to play a patient waiting game, before finally making a breakthrough.
Sabri Lamouchi spoke wisely, calmly and philosophically in the aftermath of what had been a disappointing result and fairly lacklustre showing from his side... and he talked a lot of sense, in a very reassuring way, about their still being eighteen games of the Championship season still remaining. Although I would've also been interested to hear what he had to say about the slapstick comedy quality of some of Forest's miscued shots from just outside the Reading area, shortly before half-time.

Although some things are probably best left said in the dressing room and aren't really suitable for public consumption.
The Reds need to develop an in-house siege mentality in the run-in to the end of the season... and public bollockings aren't conducive to that kind of thing.
His side are next in action at fifth placed Brentford (who're a point behind Forest at the present time) next Tuesday night and following that they travel to Birmingham City a week on Saturday, before entertaining Leeds United at the City Ground the weekend after.

Reading, who moved up to fifteenth in the table tonight, have a home tie in the FA Cup on Saturday, before facing Bristol City at home in the Championship on Tuesday night. Then then play Cardiff (away) the following Saturday... the quick turnaround against the same opponents seems to be fast becoming a tradition for them.
And, for what it's worth... in my humble and impartially neutral opinion, I reckon that Jordan Obita and Ovie Ejaria are two of the best players that I've seen plying their trade in the Championship this season, Make no mistake about it, a draw and the subsequent point keeps Forest in contention at the business end of the table, but Reading deserved something out of this game for their efforts too.

On a personal note, combining anything this week with my rota of night-shifts and a top-heavy schedule of hospital visits, while my wife is undergoing an intensive course of treatment and I'm still being monitored vis. the after effects of my recent tribulations, has been a logistical nightmare... and fatigue is becoming a very real issue; while travel, football matches and keeping this here blog up to date, have been knocked off the top of my list of priorities.

Life is what happens when you're making other plans.

So thanks to Dave who helps to organise the coaches to Forest games from Retford for allowing me to travel with them tonight. I promise that I wasn't spying on your team on behalf of Birmingham City ;-)

And, as many non-league games across the county were postponed and/or abandoned as the fog descended throughout the night, respect is due to the Kettlewells of Retford coach driver who got everyone home safely and in one piece. Hail to the bus-driver!

Thursday 23rd January 2020
WVH North Midland U21 League
at Cannon Park
Retford United (1) 2
George White, Alex Bennett
Swallownest (0) 0

Last night's first team game at Cannon Park was abandoned after just five minutes, after a pea-souper smog descended on the area and decimated the local football calendar.
As I entered the ground tonight, the match officials were discussing the worsening conditions and it was touch and go whether this game would meet a similar fate, but as the first half progressed, the fog lifted and left everybody present alone for long enough to get this game finished.

Truth be told, I virtually spectated the opening exchanges in braille... that is to say, visibility wasn't very good. However, slowly but surely, the haze cleared, just in time for me to pick out George White, shooting the Badgers in front, when he tucked the ball away into the bottom right hand corner of the net, from just outside the penalty area. halfway through the first half.

All three sides; Retford United, Swallownest... and the match officials: Chris Ward, Dan Brown and Dan Tracey, deserve a lot of credit for putting on such a lively, entertaining and high tempo game, in what must have been very difficult circumstances at times, particularly during the opening fifteen and last five minutes.

The final outcome wasn't actually decided until three minutes before the end, when Alex Bennett surged forward through the left channel and lobbed the ball over the advancing 'Swall' keeper.
FT: Retford United U21 2 v Swallownest U21 0

Both of these teams are in action again on Thursday 30th January, when Swallownest host Borrowash Victoria and Retford United travel to second -placed Worsbrough Bridge... both games kick-off at 7.45PM. League leaders Handsworth FC consolidated their position at the top of the table tonight, with a 0-5 away win at Worksop Town, while across the other side of town, Retford FC lost by the odd goal in five against Borrowash Victoria.

Saturday 25th January 2020

FA Cup Fourth Round

at St. Andrew's Stadium

Coventry City (0) 0

Birmingham City (0) 0

Attendance: 21,193 (inc. 9,465 'away' fans)

Coventry City:
Marosi, Hyam, McFadzean, Rose, Dabo, Walsh, Kelly, McCallum; Shipley (O’Hare 68), Westbrooke (Biamou 68), Godden (Bakayoko 81).
Unused subs - Mason, Allen, Pask, Wilson (GK).
Birmingham City:
Camp, Colin, Dean, Clarke-Salter, Pedersen, McEachran, Sunjic, Montero (Maghoma 85), Mrabti (Bela 56), Bellingham (G Gardner 85), Jutkiewicz.
Unused subs - Roberts, Davis, Gimenez, Ramos (GK).

And so, the scene is set:Birmingham City away from home at their own ground.
In the previous round, Pep Clotet's side had beaten Blackburn Rovers 2-1, in front of a crowd of 7,330, which included 843 visiting supporters (i.e 6,487 Blues fans), while Coventry beat Bristol Rovers at St. Andrew's 3-0, in a third round replay, that attracted a crowd of 2,693 of which 397 were Pirates fans (meaning that only 2,296 Sky Blues fans were present on the night). Mark Robins' side drew their initial tie at the Pirates' Memorial Ground 2-2, having drawn had to come from going behind twice.

The FA Cup draw, pairing 'Cov' and Blues, was almost inevitably going to happen at some point, from the moment that the Sky Blues signed up for a ground sharing deal at St. Andrew's... and when it did, it was almost bound to be a draw, necessitating a replay at the same ground.
On Tuesday morning, the Birmingham City club website posted a message saying that today's 'visitors' had sold all of their entire 9,260 ticket allocation. And that was followed shortly afterwards, by a similar announcement from Coventry City, saying that they had shifted just over 10,000 briefs and there were no more available.

The official stadium capacity is still, I am led to believe: 29,409, but after consultations between both clubs and the West Midlands Police, areas of seats were left unsold for segregation purposes. While the crowd limit (including hospitality packages) was capped at 22,000.
Two blocks of seats that are usually open for visiting supporters to use, in the Gil Merrick Stand/Railway End, remained empty, because the turnstiles through which those areas are accessed, are in the away fans car park... which this afternoon, is where the coaches ferrying the 'home' fans from Coventry into Birmingham were being parked.

In the event, there were 205 more Blues fans than that reported 'sold out' figure in the sections of the ground allocated to them, which possibly explains how the problem arose with overcrowding on the aisles and in the stairwells throughout the afternoon.
Common sense would suggest that it might've been wise to make use of some of the static areas for the subsequent over-spill, to alleviate the apparent and fairly obvious congestion.

Understandably, there are a number of disgruntled supporters in both camps, who were disappointed to have missed out on tickets for today's game... and, financially speaking, making more seats available would've meant more income for both cash-strapped clubs, seeing as the gate money for FA Cup games is split 50/50 after the FA have creamed 10% off of the total gate receipts figure..
But... as a combined total of just 8,783 'home' fans had turned out for the two third round ties at St. Andrew's, the authorities had all the statistical date and evidence that they needed to impose a restriction on today's gate.
Not that they ever need any kind of excuse to inconvenience football supporters around these parts.

Good afternoon Mr Stokes

Alas, they could also back up those figures, secure in the knowledge that 'the greatest cup competition in the world', no longer holds the same kind of sway and box office appeal that it once did, back in the days when priorities within the game were much different.
A large percentage of modern day fans, no longer have the inclination to huddle around Bakelite radio sets at 12.30PM on a Monday, in excited anticipation, listening to the draw for the next round of t'cup being made live. In fact a large number of them (but not all of them, in their entirety), probably give the draw no more than a mere cursory glance on their mobile devices, before heading back onto social media, to slag off the team that they purport to support's players and their fellow supporters.

Sad but true, The FA Cup is seen many as an irrelevance and irritant, clogging up the flow of league games in an even more annoying fashion than the regular, and usually very untimely, international breaks.
The game itself, as a spectacle, was fairly awful. So much so, that I hereby applaud the BBC for having managed to pick a whole two minutes and twenty one seconds of highlights (including action replays) to show on their website (click HERE) out of this dreary stalemate... and must also thank Callum O'Hare, who is on-loan at the Sky Blues from Aston Villa, for providing a moment of sheer comedy to lighten the mood of the afternoon, in second half stoppage time, when he missed an absolute sitter of a chance, after Armadou Bakayoko had headed down Liam Walsh's cross into the path of the former England Under 20 player.

Look! What you get up to in your own home is your business.
But while you're stopping here, we need some ground rules

Pep Clotet was glowing about how well his side had approached this game tactically, but I'm not sure that he would be able to find a single Blues fan that would respond to that claim very enthusiastically.

Blues managed two shots on target, out of an overall total of five chances, across the entire ninety plus minutes, which was exactly the same amount as Coventry,

Fankaty Dabo was instrumental in keeping Blues at bay, looking very composed and strong in the tackle, while both goalkeepers, who had remained untroubled for most of the game, made a decent stop apiece to claim a clean sheet each.

Marko Marosi thwarted Jefferson Montero's close range volley, early in the second half as he turned the ball against the bar, while Lee Camp turned away Max Biamou's snap shot late in the second half.

But in the main, the game didn't live up to any of the hype associated with it in the build up.

In fact, if the Blues merchandising department decide to release a DVD of this game, they could be onto a winner, as insomniacs the world over would be queuing around the ground to get their hands on a copy for what would be a surefire cure for their sleep deprivation habits. I'm not so sure that the demand for replay tickets will be quite as high though.

FT: Coventry City 0 v Birmingham City 0

These two sides will now meet again at St. Andrew's on Tuesday 4th February, which will be the thirty-sixth first team game that they will have played at the ground this season so far.

During the interim, Blues have a home game against Nottingham Forest in the Championship to look forward to next weekend, while Coventry face back to back away games at Fleetwood Town and Bristol Rovers.

On Tuesday night, Birmingham had been robbed of three points at Middlesbrough, by a referee: Andy Woolmer, who was as bent as a nine bob note, while Boro's Marcus Tavernier earned himself a place on the shortlist for an Oscar and Johnathan Woodgate, the Teessiders manager, proved to be an unreliable eye-witness, who is incapable of giving an accurate and honest statement.

On the way back to the station, somebody told me that I could now officially tick Coventry City off on my grounds visited list.

This is the fourth different ground that I've seen 'Cov' play 'home' games at now... and I was already planning on counting St. Andrew's towards my overall total anyway, whether I actually saw the Sky Blues play here or not.

Three young lads were bouncing around under the railway bridge on Coventry Road, singing "Sky blue army!"... "Just you wait 'til we get you back to our place!", boomed a Blues fan in response.

A glass half-full optimist, could point out that Blues have chalked up yet another unbeaten game , towards a run that now extends to five matches... and they're still in the hat for Monday night's FA Cup fifth round draw too. I'm more of a pragmatic realist myself... and while conceding that things could be worse (no, really) for Blues, they could definitely get a whole lot better too, and there is no glossing over the fact that today's disappointing game was the kind of stalemate that has gotten nil-nil draws a bad name.

I wonder if the 'Cov' fans who're boycotting their home games outside of Coventry, but still attending away games, will travel across for the replay.

Sunday 26th January 2020

Women's FA Cup Fourth Round
at the Proact Stadium
Sheffield United (0) 0
Birmingham City (0) 3
Harriet Scott 55, 90+2
Lucy Staniforth 59
Attendance: 335
A few more mobile phone pictures: click HERE

Sheffield United:
Emily Ramsey, Alethea Paul (Veatriki Sarri 59), Leandra Little, Naomi Hartley, Chloe Dixon, Maddy Cusack, Sophie Barker, Mollie Green, Olivia Fergusson (Rhema Lord-Mears 59), Katie Wilkinson, Jade Pennock.
Unused subs - Ali Johnson
Birmingham City:
Hanna Hampton, Adrianne Jordan, Kerys Harrop (Sarah Mayling 71), Georgia Brougham, Harriet Scott, Lucy Whipp, Lucy Staniforth (Rachel Williams 71), Chloe Arthur, Abbi Grant, Brianna Visalli, Emma Kelly (Claudia Walker 78).
Unused subs - Rebecca Holloway, Alexandra Brooks

In which the women's teams of an FA Premier League club and an EFL Championship side, met to do battle in the fourth round of the Women's FA Cup, at a Derbyshire non-league ground, on a wet and chilly afternoon.

I hear told that the football supporters within the locality, had begged the Blades women's team to play their home fixtures at the Proact Stadium so that they could at least have one half-decent side to watch in this footballing backwater of a town this season, where the host club (Chesterfield) is fighting against relegation towards the foot of the National League.

Of course, the league standing of today's sides is a polar opposite reversal of their respective men's teams, inasmuch as, Blues are a top-flight club, while the Blades are chomping at the bit to get out of the Championship. United are currently second in the league, so fingers crossed that they can catch overtake the team above them (Aston Villa) to win the title.
The gap in class showed today and though the Blades weren't without their moments, it was a fairly comfortable win for Marta Tejedor's Blues, particularly after the interval, when they converted their dominance into goals.

I was surprised upon entering the Proact Stadium to see somebody hanging up a couple of Manchester United flags, but it transpired that today's hosts included midfielder Mollie Green and the nineteen year old goalkeeper Emily Ramsey in their line up, who're both on loan from the Old Trafford based club. Green acquitted herself well and Ramsey had a great game too, despite being beaten three times in the second half.

Maddy Cusack (a former Blues player herself) was a rather intimidating presence in the Blades midfield... and evidently isn't shy about putting a foot in, or muscling opposition players off of the ball. I mean that by way of compliment too.

Birmingham had the better of the first half, but were unable to add the finishing touch to some neat build up play and the teams went in level at the break.

The Blades looked raring to go as the teams re-emerged for the second-half, but Blues soon picked up territoriality, where they had left off at the break.

A goal for the visitors looked ever more likely as United survived a couple of scares... and the breakthrough finally arrived in the 55th minute, when Emma Kelly, making her first start for Blues linked up well with Abbi Grant and Adrienne Jordan, to force a corner on the left. The Blades cleared their lines at the expense of a corner on the opposite side, that Luck Staniforth played short to Grant, whose dipping cross was met by Harriet Scott at the back post, who headed the visitors in front.

Scott has been playing out of position while Birmingham have had to reorganise themselves because of injuries, but having been restored to her favoured marauding full-back/wing-back role today she excelled. Staniforth was thwarted by Ramsey almost straight from the restart, but just four minutes after Scott had given Blues the lead, she did well to cut the ball back from the bi-line to set up a chance for Staniforth who crashed her shot into the back of the net, via the underside of the crossbar.

Chances went begging for the visitors, as the Blades just about dug in deeply enough to repel a wave of attacks.

Amongst the close calls for the Blades defence, Brianna Visalli probably went closest to adding to the visitors total during the scheduled ninety minutes, after Lucy Whipp, Chloe Arthur and Abbi Grant, knocked the ball around the struggling home defence at will, to set up the lively Blues number ten, who fizzed her shot narrowly past the right hand post and into the side netting.

Jade Pennock let fly with an angled shot in the dying moments of the game, that almost threw United a lifeline, but Hanna Hampton was equal to the effort and got both hands to the ball.

Having come on for the final twenty minutes, Sarah Mayling was causing the hosts all kinds of problems with her direct running... and as the game went into stoppage time, it was Mayling who got free on the left flank, before crossing to Scott, who netted with her second headed goal of the afternoon, to put the tie well and truly out of the Blades reach.

FT: Sheffield United 0 v Birmingham City 3

Footnote:

Added Monday 27th January 2020.

In the draw for the Fifth Round of the Women's FA Cup, Birmingham City have been drawn away against Sunderland, the game is scheduled to be played on Sunday 16th February.

The Blues men's team will face Leicester City away in their Fifth Round tie, in early March, if they get past Coventry City in their replay, at St. Andrew's, next Tuesday night.

Lee Camp: Game changing cover star.

Saturday 1st February 2020
SkyBet EFL Championship
at St. Andrew's Stadium
Birmingham City (1) 2
Scott Hogan 42
Kristian Pedersen 74
Nottingham Forest (1) 1
Tiago Silva 18
Attendance: 20,837 inc. 2,746 away fans
THE66POW mobile phone photos: click HERE
Dan Westwell's professional photos: click HERE

The January transfer window closed last night, in fact it slammed shut.
Xuandong Ren, the TTA director who is apparently running the show at St. Andrew's, said in the run up to the window, that he had a plan in place as regards transfers and team-building, while implying that he would be assisting Pep Clotet in a quest to strengthen the team.
Hmm, maybe something went awry and got lost in translation then.

Jude Bellingham; he's staying... for now..

But, if truth be told, I strongly suspect that the EFL actually have a cost-cutting mandate in place that the club owners have to strictly adhere to (this time), to avoid any further repeat sanctions and that the league's governing body are now dictating the terms by which the club should operate its player recruitment policy.
Y'know, pretty much along similar lines and governed by the same rules, that every single other club in the league has to comply with as well.

If you really want to make your point. Sticker-bomb
those toilet cisterns, everybody reads those things.

As regards the promise made by Dong, you decide for yourself, was the guy thwarted in his efforts to get a few deals over the line to bring more players in, or was he just telling fibs all along after all?
I know which option I believe and I'd wager that the over-riding majority of people who have read his fictitious claims will be thinking exactly along the same lines.
Off-loading players, on loan, during the window, with a view to making those moves permanent at a later date, has seen: Álvaro Giménez, Fran Villalba, David Stockdale and, more surprisingly: David Davis, whose recent input and upturn in form has been instrumental to Blues remaining unbeaten in their last six games, prior to today; all exited St. Andrew's, along with a rack of the younger players.

Though that in itself is a common practice and should prove mutually beneficial as the academy prospects pick up some valuable match time in competitive matches elsewhere.
So effectively the squad has been pruned and trimmed, and though there are those who'll hardly be lamenting the departure of some of the aforementioned players, the Championship is a competitive league and subsequently, players pick up knocks, bookings and suspensions, so it's best practice to hang onto the fringe players, so there is a plan B in place, should the need arise... for example, look how Marc Roberts excelled when he was drafted in as defensive cover during the first half of this season.

It was pretty much a 'make do and mend' approach by Blues, to the what was supposed to be a squad enhancing opportunity. And while one could say that 'Dong'& Co. are merely applying financial common sense and good house-husbandry to a situation (of their own making) that cost Blues dearly last season, honesty is surely the best policy... and supporters are far more likely to respond realistically and more sympathetically towards a board that hold their hands up to say that they are having to cut their cloth accordingly, because they're still on the radar for their past misdemeanours, than one that makes false promises and peddle fake news.

Personally however, I do think that the board boxed clever and were very shrewd as regards two great bits of business during the 'January sales', namely: when they turned down bids from Manchester United and Watford, for Jude Bellingham and Kristian Pedersen respectively, neither of whom wanted to leave the club anyway.
Holding onto these two highly sought after players (AKA: prize assets) bodes well, for the short-term at least.
I have no doubt whatsoever that TTA will be looking to cash their chips in as regards these two players, to the highest bidder before next season, but for now, they are not going anywhere.

The only incoming signing during the window was Scott Hogan, on loan from Aston Villa, with the added incentive that if he does well, his move will be made permanent at the end of the season.
Hogan has been out on loan at Stoke City, but Villa recalled him from the Potteries, before loaning him out again to their cross-city rivals.
And as if to prove that this kind of stuff doesn't just happen in 'Roy of the Rovers', Hogan won over anyone who had any doubts about his move this afternoon, despite his dubious links, by scoring on his debut, where he also fitted in seamlessly alongside Lukas Jutkiewicz. Doubtless, if he does enough to earn a contract at Blues, he'll be playing against his former Villa teammates in the Championship next season.

Anyway, my mum is always telling me to stop being so facetious... so moving swiftly on.
When these two sides met at the City Ground back in August, the Reds claimed their first Championship win of the season; while it would be fair to say, that Blues had an off day, as Sabri Lamouchi's team missed a whole host of chances, but still took maximum points with a comfortable 3-0 victory.
Forest picked up a 0-1 win at Griffin Park against promotion rivals Brentford on Tuesday night, that saw them move to within just two points of second placed West Bromwich Albion, after the Baggies lost away at Cardiff City. Leeds United returned to the top of the table, beating Millwall 3-2 at Elland Road, after being 0-2 down at half -time against Gary Rowett's Lions.

Blues themselves, had a midweek sabbatical following their FA Cup fourth round goalless stalemate against Coventry City last weekend, who return to St. Andrew's for the replay on Tuesday night.
The league table, that is perpetually in a state of flux, all changed again this afternoon, after Leeds lost at home against Wigan Athletic, while the Baggies beat Luton at the Hawthorns and Forest blew the chance of making up ground as they went down at St. Andrew's today against a never say die Blues team, playing a good old-fashioned four-four-two system and seemingly dispensing with the tippy-tappy passing the ball to death, with little or no end result experiment... for the time-being anyway.

Brentford, Bristol City and Fulham also chalked up wins to keep themselves in contention at the business end of the table, while Birmingham fans were suffering from dizzy spells after the final whistle, as Blues surged one place up the table to seventeenth.
Tip your head back and pinch the bridge of your nose, that'll stem the bleeding.
And FFS enjoy the moment. Your team just won against the third placed side in the Championship and chalked up their seventh game in a row with losing this afternoon.
Social media seems to be exclusively a platform for negativity and moaning at the moment, it's getting very tempting to delete a whole lot of it and start giving that block function some serious use.

Brice Samba, the visitors keeper, almost gifted Jutkiewicz with an early goal, when he rolled the ball out straight to the prolific striker, but as Samba and Ben Watson struggled to stop Blues number ten from getting his shot away, Jor Worrall got in the way and managed to make a last ditch block.
Things took a promising turn for Forest, when Tiago Silva gave them the lead in the eighteenth minute, after picking up the ball in his stride, from Joe Lolley, on an overlapping run to the former Blues youth team player's left, before charging forward and cutting inside a challenge from Jake Clarke-Salter and shooting into the roof of Lee Camp's net, a fraction of a second before Pedersen arrived on the scene.

Typically, the timing of the Forest strike (which was Silva's first ever Championship goal) was all wrong, not that there was ever probably a right time for such a thing today. Because eighteen was the exact minute, that the St. Andrew's faithful had put aside to pay tribute to an eighteen-year-old Blues fan Jake Foster, who'd sadly passed away this last week.

Even though the Forest players and supporters were celebrating, the Blues fans rose to their feet, almost as one and applauded for the whole minute in memory of Jake and followed that with a hearty rendition of the club anthem 'Keep Right On'.

Rest in peace Jake... and don't worry, the Blues players were about to teach Forest a lesson, for having been ill-mannered enough to have disrupted your moment.
Tragically, Jake's brother Robert passed away in 2000, aged just four, of the same debilitating illness that took Jake. In the interim, his family have moved to a house that was converted to cater for Jake's needs. And because their new home is in a different council borough, the Fosters are facing a £6,000 bill (double the usual price) so that both of their sons can be buried together.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the Foster family with their added financial burden at this traumatic time. Please click HERE if you wish to (and can afford to) donate anything towards the costs... and thanks in anticipation.

Football is only a game, but even though the sad events detailed above put things into some kind of perspective, I'll endeavour to cover the remainder of the afternoon's events in the same kind of narrative context, i.e. the usual, long-winded, self indulgent, tongue in cheek, honest and unbiased as is humanly possible manner.
Five minutes before half-time, which is of course: world famous for psychologically being a good time to score, Forest won a penalty. And in all honesty, I thought that at 0-2, there would probably be very little chance of Blues coming back into the game.

Why was the penalty awarded?
Well, Josh McEachran had apparently been punished for handling the ball as he made a goal-line clearance, which he actually didn't While Ryan Yates went to ground moments later after Lee Camp ran into him, which he actually did... which unintentionally or otherwise, is always a risky business..

It still remains a mystery as to which of the two incidents the referee Jeremy Simpson saw worthy of meriting a spot-kick, but that's all immaterial now, because Camp got down well to his left and turned Lewis Grabban's knock from twelve yards away.

Grabban has found the net seventeen times so far this season, but even he wilted when he came face to face with the 'Penalty King'.

And as play swept from one end of the pitch to the other, Camp's intervention proved to be a real game-changer, as Jeremie Bela broke away on the right and his cross found Jutkiewicz beyond the back post, whose return header across the face of Simba's goal, dropped towards Hogan who side-footed the ball into the back of the net in front of the Tilton Road End.
From almost being two goals behind, Blues went into the interval on level terms. And if five minutes before half-time is psychologically a good time to score, three minutes is quite awesome.

Left to right: Celebrating Blues. Dejected Reds.

Lee Camp's critics among the boo-boy element at St. Andrew's would have to stay off of the internet tonight, with their usual hate-speak and poisonous barbs... ditto, those who have taken to aiming abuse towards Blues captain Harlee Dean, who looked to be back to his best this afternoon, putting in a flawless and solid shift.
Dean became a father again this weekend and as such was given the option of compassionate leave, but he showed commitment to the Blues cause, when he could've chosen to dodge the verbal bullets that have been aimed his wait of late... maybe now people will get off of his back and possibly even realise that aiming invective towards opposition players is a better option than unsettling one of their own, just saying.

"Who impressed you for Forest today?" asked one of the many Reds fans who were on the same train as me home. Ben Watson did, who, not unlike like Dean, excels in the captain's role. He isn't shy about putting putting or leaving his foot in and leads by example... and Sammy Ameobi, who I'd likened to 'Bambi on ice' the last time that I'd seen him in action, showed a lot of skill out wide on the left and he kept Maxime Colin busy all afternoon, which in turn curtailed Blues number five from making his trademark runs forward on the right flank. Ameobi looks clumsy, but having had a close up view of him throughout the first half, I can confirm that he has a lot of skill to get out of tight situations and a good eye to pick out any player making an overlapping run, which more often than not was Yuri Ribeiro.

"What about Joe Lolley?" they asked... and the conversation closed abruptly when I replied: "Gary Gardner had to apologise to Lolley for sitting on him after the game. When he got back to the changing room he'd completely forgotten that Joe was still in his back pocket".

I once watched Forest in action, alongside a guy who was running the rule over them for an opposition side they were playing in a few weeks time. On the subject of Lolley, he actually said: "I'll have to get somebody to tackle Lolley properly early on, to keep him quiet", then went on to say "And if that doesn't work, we'll get someone to hit him even harder the second time".

It would be wrong of me to betray a confidence, but the person I have quoted, is currently employed by another Championship side.

Both sides had chances in second-half lead, Jutkiewicz headed from Josh McEachran's cross, then Grabban juggled the ball inside the six yard box to make a shot on the turn for himself, that skimmed off of the crossbar.
Gardner was only inches away from bulging the roof of the the net, when he chested the ball down and fizzed a shot over the bar.
Moments later Dean put his body on the line as Grabban's strike crashed off of his chest, as the Blues skipper made a goal-line clearance... ouch, that must've smarted!
Bela, who was full of running and giving Tobias Fifueiredo plenty to do all afternoon, let fly with a speculative shot that Samba did well to field.

Jutkiewicz laid the ball off to Bela, who unleashed a shot from twelve yards that Samba had to push around the post at full stretch.

In the seventy-fourth minute, Pedersen scored what proved to be the winning goal, with an improvised scissor kick after he'd landed on his backside in the area. Forest can't say that they didn't have prior warning about how the chance would be created, as Bela's right wing corner was directed into the goalmouth from Jutkiewicz's header, sound familiar?

Hogan left the field to a great ovation as Marc Roberts joined the fray from the bench to bolster Blues defence, in anticipation of a late Forest push to try to salvage something out of this game, but the best chance in the closing stages, fell to another of the home side's substitutes: Jacques Maghoma, who cut in from the left but rolled his shot just wide of the upright. And that was that.

FT: Birmingham City 2 v Nottingham Forest 1

As the players were being filmed as they were leaving the pitch, Kristian Pedersen approached the camera and said: "That was for you Jake", as he dedicated his goal and the win to young Jake Foster.

Blues are back on home-turf on Tuesday when they face Coventry City in the FA Cup Fourth Round replay, before travelling to Ashton Gate on Friday night to face Bristol City, and then Oakwell next Tuesday to take on Barnsley.

Forest now have back to back home games, against: Leeds United on Saturday evening and Charlton Athletic a week on Tuesday.

Enjoy your football!

Tuesday 4th February 2020

FA Cup Fourth Round Replay

at St. Andrew's Stadium

Birmingham City (0) 1 (90 mins) 2 (AET)

Harlee Dean 90+2, Jeremie Bela 120

Coventry City (0) 1 (90 mins) 2 (AET)

Amadou Bakayoko 50, Maxime Biamou 114

Birmingham City won 4-1 on penalties

Attendance: 11,680 (inc. 4,515 away fans)

Birmingham City:

Camp, Harding, Roberts, Dean, Pedersen, McEachran (Boyd-Munce 19), Sunjic, Maghoma (G Gardner 103), Concannon (Bela 57), Bellingham (Jutkiewicz 70), Montero.

Unused subs - Clarke-Salter, Keita, Trueman (GK)

Coventry City:

Marosi, Hyam, Pask, McFadzean, Dabo, Shipley (Allen 72), Kelly (Walsh 106), Westbrooke (O’Hare 72), Mason, Biamou, Bakayoko (Godden 82).

Unused subs - Jones, Williams, Wilson (GK)

"You are either a glutton for punishment! Or completely mad! Or an obsessive combination of both!"

And, to be fair, I tend to agree with what these voices in my head had been telling me earlier this evening.

Especially as I circumnavigated the rush-hour traffic like a deranged 'Skid Solo' (RIP) wannabe, to get to the railway station on time, to travel to St. Andrew's for tonight's game.

Alas, even my inner demons weren't talking to me on the way home... but hey! They seldom have anything nice to say about anybody... and besides, sleep is vastly overrated anyway.

And so it came to pass, that Birmingham City will now face Leicester City at the King Power Stadium in the next round, on Tuesday 3rd March.

That's the correct date (for the time being) by the way, a Tuesday night, though that could in all probability be swapped for Wednesday 4th or Thursday 5th if the game is picked to be televised. Because none of the Fifth Round games are being played on a Friday, Saturday, or even a Sunday this season.

The original tie between these two sides, on Saturday 25th January was, not to put too fine a point on it, something of a listless, no frills and no thrills, ugly as sin, goalless draw.
In fact, it was the kind of lacklustre encounter that gets dismal nil-nil stalemates a really, really bad name.

But Blues put in a more solid and spirited display, when they beat promotion chasing Nottingham Forest 2-1 at the weekend, which gave those who made the effort to get along to this rematch, a bit more hope that tonight would be an improvement on the initial game at St. Andrew's... that even taking into account the added novelty factor of Birmingham City playing away from home, at their own ground, and the inevitable 'good-natured' (to a point) banter between the rival fans that filled the air, still couldn't stir up much enthusiasm from those present, on what was, in essence, an anti-climatic and dreary afternoon.
But that was then... and this is now.

Pep Clotet's Blues went into this game unbeaten in their previous six games, while the visitors hadn't lost in their last ten outings, but one way or another, something had to give tonight... and the outcome needed to be decided right here, right now, because there is no such thing as a second replay anymore.
In fact if some of the richer clubs had their way, there wouldn't be any replays at all, or even any domestic cup competitions anymore, because their players are allegedly facing burnout from having to partake in too many of these sort of games.

Which in reality actually means that they want to extend the European competitions to involve even more moneyed clubs, i.e, elitist, selfish and greedy institutions, just like themselves, while jetting off to sunnier climes to take part in an ever growing number of prestige international tournaments... because that is a far more profitable route for the greedy bar-stewards to take, than splitting the gate receipts down the middle with Football League or even non-league riff-raff.
And guess what? When/if they get their way (and I strongly suspect that they will)... their pampered superstars will still be playing just as often, but travelling considerably more.
Burnout my arse! Well, so to speak.

Initially, as this re-run of the original horror show began to unfold, I would go so far as to say that the entertainment on offer was on a par with that first meeting.
League One Coventry were effectively dictating the pace of the game, and not giving their hosts an inch of breathing space, or wriggle room, to coin a phrase.
Perusing the Championship league table, it tends to suggest that barring a couple of months of catastrophic results, or a meteoric run of wins between now and the end of the season, Blues aren't far short of being completely clear from the risk of plunging headlong into a relegation scrap, nor are they likely to get anywhere near the promotion play-offs this season. So why on earth did the team that they fielded suggest that they weren't entirely taking having a tilt at a decent cup run ever so seriously... that said, Coventry had chopped and changed their starting line up too.

Lee Camp is watching you.
It's an omen... a prophecy even.

Of course, as the games begin to rack up thick and fast... Blues are away at Bristol City on Friday night and then Barnsley next Tuesday, squad rotation is an integral and necessary part of Clotet's game management. But personally, I would have preferred to see both teams going at each other, hell for leather, at full strength. Or am I just showing my own naivety at this juncture?

The attendance tonight of: 11,680 (which included 7,165 Blues supporters and 4,515 away fans) was 9,513 down on the original crowd figure from last week, which proves that many people really no longer give a flying one about the FA Cup. It seems that while the fat cats are wanting to amend the format of the competition to suit their own ends, the rank and file clubs and supporters are simply turning their backs on it in their droves and giving up on what used to be known as 'the greatest cup competition in the world'.

It was great to see young Jack Concannon making his first team debut for Blues tonight... and he held his own, played very well and didn't disappoint anybody who'd shown faith in him to make the step up. Although I have voiced my reservations about several squad players making up the ranks, I'll concede that there is always the risk of anyone picking up an injury during any game... and as if to illustrate that point, there was a lengthy first half stoppage after just fourteen minutes, when Josh McEachran was stretchered off with what appeared to be a serious knee problem, while Jacques Maghoma seemed to be struggling when he was replaced in extra time. Caolan Boyd-Munce took to the field in the place of McEachran, another young prospect making his first team debut, who looked comfortable in the middle of the park, slotting in comfortably to a side that had six changes to the one that started on Saturday against Forest.

Coventry had set themselves up to contain and frustrate Blues (and the home crowd), keeping things tight across the midfield and getting forward to good effect, by feeding the ball into the path of runners through the channels, which kept the home defence busy all night and, to be fair, Mark Robins' side came very close to doing a job on their Championship landlords.

I might even go as far as to suggest, that over the entire course of the game, the Sky Blues probably didn't deserve to go out of the FA Cup tonight... but Birmingham's never say die attitude and propensity to 'fight 'til the end', as the words to a traditional St. Blues battle hymn go, saw them force the game into extra-time, before pulling level again inside the very last-minute to take the game to a penalty shoot-out.

A dramatic grandstand finish, or in actual fact, two of them, before the added drama of a shoot-out to decide who went through, never looked to be on the cards for the vast majority of the game.

Amadou Bakayoko almost opened the scoring for the visitors, when Zain Westbrooke picked out his run with a well weighted pass from the half way line, but as he twisted and turned to get his shot away, under pressure from Lee Camp. Marc Roberts had moved across to cover is keeper and comfortably dealt with the resulting knock.

Jefferson Montero had two half decent efforts before half-time for Blues and Boyd-Munce was unlucky to see his effort fizz over the bar shortly after the restart, but it was 'Cov' who finally struck the first blow, when Fankaty Dabo nudged the ball forward to Westbrooke, who threaded a defence splitting pass into the feet of Bakayoko inside the hosts area... and his effort looped up off of and over a combination of Camp and Roberts as they tried to block the former Walsall forwards shot, and bounced into the goal.

The momentum of Bakayoko's hit meant that his on target strike would've found the back of the net anyway, so by rights he should claim it as his own. Even if some of the press association chaps present have credited it as a Roberts own goal. I'm fairly sure that Blues number four has no wish to claim it! But the Sierra Leonean will want it... so case dismissed.

Both sides had chances in the second half as the tempo began to pick up, but as ninety minutes came and went, the Sky Blues were still holding onto the lead that solitary goal had given them.

The Kop, the only stand open to Blues fans tonight (the Coventry supporters only used the lower tier of the Railway End/Gil Marrick Stand) was haemorrhaging spectators at a rapid rate, towards the exits and had been for most of the last fifteen minutes, but two minutes into stoppage time, Maghoma got free on the right and crossed to Harlee Dean who glanced a header past Marko Marosi to even things up.

Cue near pandemonium in the car park, as Blues fans rushed towards the open gates to get back into the ground, upon hearing the noise of cheering and celebration.

Right at the death, Montero's cross was met by Jutkiewicz, a seventieth minute substitute, but his towering header crashed back off the bar.

I nipped down into the concourse to have a quick call of nature before extra-time started and met the near stampede of returning fans head on. And when I re-emerged onto the Kop, it was pretty much a case of fit in where you can. The dynamic of the crowd had changed dramatically and was far more upbeat.

"Is there a fire drill!?"

Camp and Marosi were both called into action during the first period of extra time, but as halfway point arrived, the score was still 1-1.

However, with six minutes left to go, Coventry were in front again, when Callum O'Hare, who missed an open goal at the end of the first game between these sides, atoned for his error by slipping a pass through the eye of a needle to Maxime Biamou, who had the time and space to guide the ball past Camp.

Matt Godden had a late chance to put the game beyond Blues reach, but he inexplicably missed with his attempted lob over Camp.

In the very last minute, Bela surged forward into the right channel and launched the ball into Coventry's six yard box... and it ended up in the back of the net via the post.

Bela has a party piece as regards long range shots and special goals, but you'd have to ask, was that one a deliberate attempt or an over-hit cross? But hey! Who even cares?

Penalties would now decide who was travelling to Leicester for the next round now and they were going to be taken in front of the empty Tilton End.

But it wasn't empty for very long though, as hundreds of excited Blues fans rushed across from the Kop and massed behind the goal... where many of them should've been allowed to watch from in the first place. There was no aggro or ill-feeling involved, it was just a spontaneous and good-humoured outpouring of joy, mixed with no small amount of relief... and credit where it is due, the police and stewards, who saw the situation for what it was and handled things very well... even if they were heavily outnumbered and had no chance whatsoever of intervening and stopping the human tide anyway.

Penalty shoot-out:

Jutkiewicz took responsibility for the first kick and buried it emphatically to the left of Marosi.

Godden evened things up with another well struck effort into the left hand side of the net.

Bela once again chose the bottom left hand corner and restored Blues lead.

Liam Walsh was thwarted by Camp who kept the ball out with his foot.

Gary Gardner broke with the rapidly emerging tradition and placed his kick in the right hand corner.

Jamie Allen's effort was then pushed away by Camp.

Advantage Birmingham... who were now leading 3-1 after three kicks apiece.

If Blues captain Dean kept his composure and scored, it was game over.

He did... and it was.

Wow! As everybody spilled out onto the surrounding streets, the fans of both teams, just as much as any of the the players, looked thoroughly exhausted... and worn out after having gone through the whole gamut of human emotions.

"Technically, I thought that was a very poor game!", boomed a large bearded man, to nobody in particular. Maybe it was, but if he was unmoved by the drama, the tension, the joys and sorrows, the mind-phucking despair, the sheer exuberance and the extra large serving of disbelief... then that says far more about him that it does anybody else. Thankfully nobody responded to his 'words of wisdom' and sans the audience he obviously craved, he shut up. Which was nice... otherwise I might have had to nudge him gently towards the traffic that was trying to make a quick getaway from the scene, to avoid the imminent invasion of pedestrians all over the roundabout and expressways, bringing everything in it's path to a standstill.

Typically, the late train out of Bordesley back to the city centre, had been cancelled, but thankfully the local taxi drivers were out in force taking advantage of the situation and twenty minutes later, I was heading back home on the last train out of New Street.

Coventry City, who have only lost three League One games all season, will be back at St. Andrew's on Saturday and Tuesday, when Bolton Wanderers and then Portsmouth are the visitors, while Blues have back to back away games, at Bristol City on Friday, followed by Barnsley on Tuesday... it's all go innit!

Saturday 8th February 2020
SkyBet EFL League Two
at the Peninsula Stadium, Moor Lane. Salford
Salford City (0) 0
Crawley Town (0) 0
Attendance: 2,385 inc. 290 away fans

Admission: £10 - standing or sitting. Print at home ticket.

The ground on Moor Lane, that stands on the opposite side of the road to Kersall Moor, has been completely revamped since my last visit here, but then, so has Salford City FC itself.
No longer do they traverse the non-league grounds of the north-west, wearing a kit of orange and black; because since 2014, when the club was famously taken over by a consortium of ex-Manchester United players: Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, Phil Neville, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt, along with their business associate Peter Lim, the 'Ammies' have worn red and white, though they had first worn those colours in back 1981, some thirty nine years after their formation as Salford Central in 1940.

(Left): Salford City's crest until 2014.

(Right): The modernised post 2014 version.

The 'Ammies' nickname arrived in 1963, to coincide with a promotion to the Manchester Senior League and a name change to Salford Amateurs.
The current name of Salford City was adopted in 1989. Some say that the most recent re-branding was undertaken when Salford itself was granted city status that same year. But that is just one of many myths surrounding the football club because Salford has been classified as a city since 1926.

The 'Class of '92' takeover, saw the five above mentioned former 'Red Devils' purchase a 10% stake each in the club, with Peter Lim holding the other 50% of the shares, of which he sold 10% of his stake-holding to David Beckham last season.
Moor Lane was flattened in 2016 and the old facilities were replaced with four new stands... hence the reasoning behind my revisit/first ever visit to a new(ish) ground* (delete as you see fit), which now has a capacity of 5,106, including 2,240 seats and is known as the Peninsula Stadium.

With seats along both sides and bolted down metal terracing at both ends of the ground, the stadium is more than adequate for League Two football, but if the club is to progress up through the Football League, though there is scope for some additional building work to increase capacity, particularly behind the West Terrace, to the rear of the current 'fanzone' bars and eateries, Moor Lane is however a residential area and there might come a time, that Salford City actually outgrow their current facility. But that is just personal observation and speculation, based on complete assumption on my part.

A local I was talking to, did suggest that Gigg Lane, Bury would be ideal for the growing club, but he might just have been saying that because if Salford City FC did move up the road to Bury, then they wouldn't be inconveniencing his own neighbourhood anymore.

The 'Ammies', who are currently managed by the former Scotland international: Graham Alexander, won the Northern Premier League Division One North title in 2014–15, before going on to win the NPL Premier Division play-offs the following season. They went on to win the National League North title at the second time of asking, at the end of their 2017–18 campaign and then secured a place in the English Football League, via a comfortable 3-0 win against AFC Fylde, in last season's National League play-off final at Wembley Stadium, in front of a crowd of 8,049.

Salford have been in the direct line of fire for criticism over the past few seasons, within some non-league circles, amid allegations that they've bought their success. Yet, I would imagine that the vast majority, if not all, of their detractors to that end, wouldn't knock back any offer that would see even a fraction of the 'Ammies' new-found wealth being pumped into their own clubs.
There was even a backlash from some quarters because of a BBC One series: 'Class of 92: Out of Their League' which was first screened in October 2015, followed by a second series in February 2016, 'Still Out of Their League', which were effectively a fly on the wall documentaries based around the day to day running of the club.

The inspiration behind today's programme cover
is the video to the Blur song 'Coffee and TV'

The resentment as regards the behind the scenes television coverage, stemmed form the fact that many people viewed the BBC serialisation as an insight into how the other half lives, rather than concentrating on the grassroots level of the game, where the cash-flow is nowhere near as fluid, but, TV exposure of non-league football, of any kind, regardless of whether it focused on the haves or have nots, surely still generates publicity for the game outside of the usual remit for nationwide television audiences.
Some people can't get enough of the new regime, while other's dismiss Salford City as a 'rich man's play-thing', but each to their own... personally, I'm just here for the afternoon, to watch a game of football and check out the new lay of the land around Moor Lane and the locality.

While Salford are the new kids on the block as regards their Football League status, Crawley Town were actually promoted from the Conference (as champions) as long ago as the end of the 2010-11 campaign; when they were still managed by Steve Evans (and his ubiquitous sidekick: Paul Raynor). They went on to win promotion to League One at the first attempt, although Evans had been batting his eyelids at gullible chairmen elsewhere by then and was tempted away from the Broadfield Stadium by the more evidently more glamorous bright-lights of Rotherham United, before the end of the 2011-12 term. Crawley then spent three seasons in League One, before dropping back into the basement division in 2015.

Salford began the afternoon in eleventh place in League Two, two points and two league positions above today's visitors Crawley, who's nickname of the 'Red Devils' is somewhat ironic given the personnel involved within the hierarchy and structure, along with the geographical location of today's host side.
The 'Ammies', who also have a second and lesser used nickname of the 'Lions', have ambitions to reach this season's promotion play-offs, or so Gary Neville said in an online interview earlier this week. Evidently he hadn't reckoned with the visitors keeper: Glenn Morris, being such a stubborn nut to crack this afternoon, as he put in a near heroic man of the match performance.

'Twas a windy afternoon, but both sides made the best of the conditions and though a draw was a good result for both team'current form statistics, whereby Salford are undefeated in five games and Crawley have only been beaten once in their last ten, a solitary point hardly is hardly like to enthuse the followers of either side, that a late season push towards the business end of the table is imminent.
The home side went close inside the first few minutes of the game, Morris pushed Bruno Andrade's well struck shot from the edge of the area away down to his right. While the next goalmouth action saw Morris in action again as he tipped Tom Elliott's thumping header over the bar at full stretch.

Crawley's should have been in front, when Josh Dacres-Cogley, who is on loan to the west Sussex side from Birmingham City, threaded to ball into the path of Ollie Palmer, but he rushed and miscued his shot and knocked the ball tamelyto Kyle Letheren, having spotted the Salford keeper Liam Hogan homing in from his left hand side, before crumpling in an undignified heap inside the Salford area.
Elliott was thwarted by the agile Morris once again, shortly before half-time, having connected well with a cross from Ash Hunter.

The visitors made a lively start to the second half and Manny Adebowale went close when he flicked a header narrowly wide.
There were spells of the game where Crawley were forced to play deep and grind out a result with what you could call, a typical away performance. You wouldn't actually sat that it was one way traffic, but Salford were definitely in the ascendancy more often than not and taking the game to John Yems' resolute and hard working side, who defended an admirable amount of rugged determination throughout... while the 'lions' share of the game was played out in the visitors half.

Ash Hunter was inches away from unlocking the Crawley, with a volley on turn from Jack Baldwin's knock, that fizzed over the bar.
While right at the death, Jordan Tunnicliffe came to the 'Red Devils' rescue with a last ditch block from Richie Towell's strike.
FT: Salford City 0 v Crawley Town 0
Footnote: Brief highlights courtesy of Salford City FC's Twitter feed.
Key moments from the draw against Crawley Town.#WeAreSalford🦁🔴 pic.twitter.com/twx4ldb1mN

— Salford City FC (@SalfordCityFC) February 9, 2020

Sunday 9th February 2020

Premier League

at Bramall Lane

Sheffield United (1) 2

Billy Sharp 45+2

John Lundstram 84

AFC Bournemouth (1) 1

Callum Wilson 13

Attendance: 30,361

Sheffield United:

Henderson, Baldock, Stevens, Fleck, O'Connell, Basham, McBurnie, Sharp (Mousset 74), Egan, Norwood, Berge (Lundstram 61).

Unused subs - Jagielka, McGoldrick, Verrips, Osborn, Retsos.

AFC Bournemouth:

Ramsdale, Smith Francis, Ake, Rico, Gosling, Surman (Solanke 88), Billing, H Wilson (King 72), Fraser (Stanislas 84), C Wilson.

Unused subs - Boruc, Stacey, S Cook, L Cook.

"I'm telling you... they'll be back down before the Christmas decorations are. Just you wait and see!"

So speaketh a friend, well more of a work associate of mine if truth be told (friend would be stretching a point a fair bit), who follows another Sheffield club, who ply their trade in the EFL Championship, when he was holding court in August.

Well, I waited... and then I waited a bit longer, but all that I'm seeing is, is that there is a very good chance that Sheffield United are heading for a high enough finish in the Premier League this season, to actually qualify for next terms European competition, having ruffled a few feathers while going toe to toe against some of the big guns in the top flight along the way.
For the record, they finished this afternoon in fifth place.

Chris Wilder is leading the club he loves (and whose supporters love him), to heights that the Bramall Lane faithful, couldn't have even dreamt of just a couple of seasons ago. And as things stand, it looks as though the Blades aren't just sustaining their meteoric rise towards the top of football's elite in this country, but they're actually using their current standing as a solid foundation to build upon, towards an even bright future.

And though my Wednesday supporting colleague, who made the aforementioned prophecy of impending doom and gloom, probably won't thank me for saying such a thing: Sheffield United are a shining example to all clubs outside the predictable top two of Liverpool and Manchester City, that there is always hope for any rank and file 'normal' club, to make a fist of things with the right calibre of people at the helm and a sustainable and secure business plan in place.
Today's visitors are of course, another prime example of a team punching above their apparent weight.

And Leicester City might also lay claim to representing such a template as well, but they've also had the added advantage of being bankrolled to a level, as well as generating a buzz around their locality. Not that the Blades haven't been flashing the cash themselves of late.

Returning for a moment to the subject of the blue half of Sheffield, it's mathematically possible that the Owls might sneak into the top division themselves this year, via the back-door entry that is the play-offs, but they're going to have to get their skates on if they don't want to miss the promotion party again this term, whilst their neighbours are feasting on a lavish spread at the top table.

The next time that my 'work associate' mentioned the Blades, he was flicking through my most recent copy of BACKPASS magazine this last week, during one of our well earned tea-breaks, when he proclaimed: "Ha,ha, this will piss them piggy Blades off, there's a bit about Terry Curran and the Boxing Day Massacre in here!"

For the benefit of those of you who haven't heard of this occasion before (I am probably correct in assuming that you don't work with a Sheffield Wednesday supporter, if that is the case), on 26 December 1979 (i.e over forty years ago), Division Three leaders United visited Hillsborough to take on fifth placed Wednesday and a crowd of 49,309 saw the home side beat their nearest and dearest 4-0, with the aforementioned Curran scoring the opening goal. I think he missed the point I was making when I replied: "Oh yes, I bet it will... but why are all of the pictures from that day always in black and white?" Pretty much like a lot of televisions still were during that particular decade.

I sat there momentarily awaiting the predictable conclusion to this frequently repeated superiority affirming mantra about his chosen club. And sure enough, less than a minute later: "And that Waddle goal against them at Wembley in the FA Cup Semi-Final, that shut 'em up and put 'em in the place too!"
At least that latter instance was a more recent triumph... weighing in at a mere twenty seven years ago. Let him have his little fantasy... Wednesday are a 'massive' club... and a much, much, bigger club than their Premier League neighbours. However, just in case irony and sarcasm isn't your thing, I wasn't being entirely serious about the current pecking order in the 'Steel City'.

But hey! I'm sure that we all have football rivalries that we struggle to view without our blinkers on sometimes, don't we!? Been there, done that and had enough egg of my face to provide a substantial breakfast for a whole army.

Arriving in Sheffield today, amid a wind and rain storm of neat tsunami proportions, I was quite relieved to see that the home side had Tweeted that the game was still on, but became slightly worried upon entering the ground, fifty minutes before kick-off, when a steward told me to hang on to my ticket, which would be valid to use whenever the game was played if it was called off this afternoon... I'm not sure if anyone was brave enough to tell this to the people filtering into the far end of the ground who'd travelled up all the way from Bournemouth on such a foul day.
But the teams came out to do their pre-match drills and following what amounted to little more a cursory nod towards the pitch by the referee, it was game on. Although Manchester City v West Ham United across the other side of the Woodhead Pass had fallen foul of the weather and wouldn't be going ahead. Having driven back across the M62 from Salford City last night, that didn't surprise me.

The visitors game-plan of thwarting the Blades with five men across the middle of the park, worked to a point, as the Cherries intercepted passes and snaffled up the ball at will, particularly inside the opening twenty minutes. The visitors were much better moving the ball forward into attacking positions than I was expecting them to be, but any admiration I had for their attempts to dominate play and the tactical nous of of Eddie Howe, was somewhat dissipated, by their frequent bouts of gamesmanship, whereby their players systematically spent an embarrassing amount of time going to ground and staying there, in an attempt to break up the flow of the game and run the clock down.

If the Bournemouth players haven't all had their flu jabs, then there could be an epidemic breaking out on the south coast any time soon... and they would only have themselves to blame for that, as a consequence of spending so much time rolling around on the rain sodden Bramall Lane pitch for most of the afternoon.

On a wet and windy afternoon, it took a while for United to find any kind of rhythm and get into their stride, amid the congested midfield... and while they were still struggling to get a grip on the game, the visitors deservedly took the lead, when Harry Wilson's blocked shot fell into the path of Callum Wilson who swept the ball into the roof of the net, before he celebrated in front of the Shoreham Street 'Kop', much to the annoyance and chagrin of the home crowd.

(C) Wilson is the first and only ever Bournemouth player to score for England, when he netted on his international debut, in a friendly against the USA in November 2018.

Wilson's goal signalled that it was time for the Blades to get their act together and Wilder's side clawed their way back into the game, showing that they weren't just a one trick pony, with just the one style of play, but that they could adapt to a combat Bournemouth's approach and were more than capable of grinding out and fashioning an 'ugly win', when the necessity arose.

Oli McBurnie and Billy Sharp emerged as just the kind of players that the home side needed to overcome their well organised opponents, as a double pronged battering ram style tag team... and it was the latter, currently serving the Blades for his third spell at the club, who levelled things up in first half stoppage time. The pall pinged around the visitors area as Enda Stevens' corner kick was cleared back towards him and he whipped in a cross that John Egan connected with, but his shot was blocked and rebounded to Sharp, who does precisely what it says on the flag hanging up at the side of the 'Kop', in tribute to the thirty-four year old striker, that many people wrote off and said was past it and not good enough to cut it in the Premier League.

For the record, Sharp's first Premier League goal for the Blades this term, was back in August, when he netted an eighty-eighth minute equaliser in an away game at... AFC Bournemouth!

Norwegian international Sander Berge, who recently became the Blades record signing at £22 million, didn't really get involved too much this afternoon, as he laboured to get acclimatised to the frenetic battle, in difficult conditions and Bournemouth's 'shit-housing' tactical approach. and he was replaced on the hour, with what proved to be an inspired switch, by John Lundstram.

Billy Sharp, having done his bit was also replaced in the seventy-fourth minute by Lys Mousset, who had joined United for £10 million in the Summer from today's visitors, for whom he had joined for €7.3 million from Le Havre in 2016.

The second-half was an entertaining affair, with both sides having their moments and evidently not settling for a draw.

The hosts on-loan keeper, Dean Henderson, who has been at Bramall Lane for the past two seasons from his parent club: Manchester United, pulled off a quite outstanding save to keep his side on level terms, when Adam Smith's cross was flicked on by (C) Wilson to Ryan Fraser who looked odds on to score with a sweetly struck shot, but Henderson reacted quickly and thwarted the Scotland international winger.

The sun was now shining brightly... and it was just like a Summer's afternoon (as Summer afternoon's go in Antartica), as this enjoyable game headed towards it's conclusion.

With just six minutes remaining, Mousset (it was bound to be him) rolled a sideways pass to Lundstram inside the visitors area and he spanked the ball past Aaron Ramsdale, to earn a hard fought win for the hosts.

Nathan Ake was thrown into the mix up front from his defensive berth for the Cherries during the closing minutes... and he almost equalised, but the Blades held on for the three points.

FT: Sheffield United 2 v AFC Bournemouth 1

Due to the Premier League's staggered Winter break, neither of these two sides now play again until Saturday 22nd February, when AFC Bournemouth travel to Burnley and Sheffield United are back at Bramall Lane for a game against Brighton & Hove Albion.

I will be back in that there Yorkshire on Tuesday night, when Barnsley entertain Birmingham City at Oakwell. Hopefully it won't be quite as cold as it was today, because I'm getting nesh in my old age.

Tuesday 11th February 2020
SkyBet EFL Championship
at Oakwell Stadium
Barnsley (0) 0
Birmingham City (0) 1
Scott Hogan 76
Attendance: 12,788 (inc. away 1,450 fans)

Barnsley:
Collins, Williams, Sollbauer, Andersen, Oduor (Ludewig 27), Brown, Styles (Bahre HT), Mowatt, Chaplin, Simoes (Thomas 70), Woodrow.
Unused subs - Walton, Dougall, Schmidt, Halme.
Birmingham City:
Camp, Colin, Pedersen, Roberts, Clarke-Salter, Bellingham (Harding 88), Gary Gardner, Sunjic, Montero (Bela 69), Hogan, Jutkiewicz (Dean 86).
Unused subs - Trueman, Crowley, Keita, Boyd-Munce.

Prior to tonight, Barnsley had lost four and drawn one (1-1 v. Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday) of their previous five games, while Birmingham City rolled into town, unbeaten in eight (including FA Cup games), which included impressive wins against promotion contenders: Nottingham Forest at home and Bristol City away, in their last two Championship outings.

When Blues beat Barnsley 2-0 earlier in the season at St. Andrew's, Pep Clotet's side ended the night in a promising looking eighth position in the Championship table, as Lukas Jutkiewicz and Álvaro Giménez both scored in the second half of a game where patience was a virtue, against a Tykes side who had seemingly set out their stall to grind out a goalless draw from the off.

Never say never in football, but barring some kind of miracle, or a whole rack of other Championship sides being sanctioned with hefty points deductions for breaching rules and regulations (and we all know that the EFL only have a short-list of clubs that such things ever apply to), Birmingham probably aren't going to reach such dizzy heights in the table again this season, even though their recent form hasn't been too shabby... while Barnsley, for their part, are staring relegation to League One in the face again, for the second time in three years.

Arriving in Barnsley this evening, I was met by a deluge of hailstones, that felt like they were the same size as cricket balls. But this is that south/west Yorkshire border hinterland where you would expect such a climate in the month of February, so I pretended to be unperturbed by the swirling icy blast that was blowing across the car park and bringing me to a standstill, mainly because I didn't want the local who was wearing just a t-shirt and shorts as he walked his dog nearby, to think that I was some kind of a wuss.

The Mount public house.
By heck, it looks warm and inviting in there.

I tossed a coin: heads, the options are: heads: I go and find a nice warm pub to watch the game in, or tails, I man up and get myself into the ground. Bloody hell fire! Tails it is. So I appealed and insisted that the binding result would have to be decided by a best of three coin chuck.

Kinnel! Tails again. Oh well, here goes nothing... we're all blue aren't we? lAt least, we effing well will be after being outside in this foul weather for a couple of hours tonight.

The two sides weren't just vying to beat each other tonight, but they were battling against the elements too. A few people around me were complaining about the visitors defensive strategy of lumping the ball clear to nobody in particular, rather than playing it out; but it was a needs must situation, whereby the Winter elements weren't conducive to playing tippy-tappy artisan football for the purists.
The strong winds were dictating the way that the game was played... and though it wasn't very entertaining or exciting to watch at times (most of the time if truth be told), the low risk tactical approach was understandable, as Pep Clotet and his sidekick Gary Gardner, oversaw a horses for courses performance, on a night when the hosts, who are becoming ever more desperate for points, were bound to commit themselves to pushing forward while leaving gaps to exploit.

Scott Hogan had a great chance to put the visitors ahead inside the opening five minutes, but he couldn't keep his close-range shot down as he connected with Jude Bellingham's corner.
It would be easy to be critical from up in the relative shelter of the stand and say that Blues recent loan signing had missed a sitter, but the ball had a life of it's own as the so called 'Storm Ciara' demanded to be the centre of attention as it apparently moves on out of the United Kingdom, with more of a big loud bang than a whimper, to make way for the next crappy weather front that is scheduled to batter this green and pleasant land over the weekend..

The Tykes saw more of the ball than the visitors in the first-half, but regular Blues watchers will be familiar with the way that they are adept at standing off and keeping their shape while letting other teams pass the ball to death while restricting any kind of attacking intentions they might have.
Jordan Williams, Callum Styles and Jacob Brown tested Lee Camp, but they were forced into shooting from long range, because the visitors defence weren't in any kind of mood to hand over the key to unlock the final third. Camp performed admirably, as Gerhard Struber's side lamented the fact, that Blues keeper is relishing holding onto his position by playing better of late, than he has done throughout the whole his time with Birmingham. Keyboard warriors like to crucify Camp, but those who actually travel to games on a regular basis, sing his praises. You work it out ;-)

Just before half-time Conor Chaplin fizzed the ball just past the post, but Blues were still containing and frustrating their hosts and patiently waiting for the opportunity to arise to put them on the canvas with a sucker punch... while Jeremie Bela continued to warm-up on the touch line, as the away support ominously chanted his name with gusto, in both hope and anticipation.

Stay tuned folks, Birmingham's French winger will eventually be unleashed on these unsuspecting Yorkshiremen in due course, but not until that nice Mr Clotet has had him chomping at the bit for a while loner... and wondering what he's got to do to get selected in front of Jefferson Montero.

Jeremie's got a point to prove... so apologies Barnsley, but you're going to be on the receiving end imminently, but all's fair in love, war and midweek football, under the floodlights, in the wind, rain, and sleet. It did to snow too, but the gales kept that particular element at bay... for now.

Barnsley struggled to find even half as much will to breakdown Blues in the second half, as they began to look more and more resigned to their inevitable fate: League One football again next season... and then they were kiboshed, in the seventieth minute, by the abrupt arrival of 'Storm Jeremie', who twisted, turned and tormented the Reds defence and pulled them all over the place.

Blues had absorbed whatever their hosts had to chuck at them and were now ready to pounce and move in for the kill. It had been an ugly, rugged, hard fought and almost brutalist battle plan that Clotet's troops had implemented to wear down Barnsley so far, but as they say: 'any port in storm', which was very apt tonight... and now it was time to finish the job off.

Half t-time entertainment was provided by Ciara.
That Barnsley rain, is a different breed of rain, tha knows!

The second-half was turning into a proper slog... a test of endurance for those who were trying to play the game in a variety of horrible weather conditions and the 12,788 hardy souls who'd braved the elements, most of whom must've been wishing that they had stayed at home and opted to use that red button on their TV remote tonight. Hogan made two runs, deep inside the hosts half to no avail, while Jude Bellingham, in between chasing down every single ball, advanced forward but shot wide.

The purposeful effort being shown by both sides was very commendable, but try as they might, the end product was lacking and the game was ebbing away towards a goalless stalemate, unless something was going to manifest itself out of nothing, to give this tussle that extra missing ingredient.

Lo and behold, as the clock nudged towards seventy minutes, a Frenchman wearing a yellow shirt, bearing a royal blue number 11 on it's back, was dropped into the action like a highly charged and primed scatter-bomb... and nothing would ever be the same again.

Bela's mazy running, lay-offs, close control, unshackled dribbling skills and audacious trickery, began to pull the hosts well regimented back-line all over the place and gave Blues (and the game itself) a hitherto missing dimension.

Having found themselves stretched, Barnsley took their eye off the ball (quite literally) as they tried to regroup... two Tykes defenders: Ben Williams and Mads Andersen, were under the impression that they had shepherded the ball safely out of play, but completely missed the sight of Bellingham motoring past them like Billy Whizz, before snaffling the ball away before it went out of play and knocking it inside towards Hogan who took a touch, then clipped it past Brad Collins with a peach of a shot on the turn, from fifteen yards out, that nestled into the back of the net.

Incidentally, the online definition of the Beano character Billy Whizz is: a boy who can run extraordinarily fast. His speed often causes chaos yet at the same time his ability can prove useful.

I think that more or less sums up Bellingham's input tonight too.

That's three goals in three games for Hogan (one in each) now, since he arrived on loan at St. Andrew's last month. I think that I'm safe in assuming that everyone who went online to express their disappointment and annoyance at only capturing an Aston Villa reserve team player on loan during the transfer window, is quickly scrolling back through all of their misplaced vitriolic posts to delete them, while holding up their hands to concede that Pep Clotet knew what he was doing when he targeted the striker.

Barnsley were finished, they had nothing left to give and as Blues saw the game out by replacing the hard working Lukas Jutkiewicz and Bellingham, with two more defenders in: Wes Harding and Harlee Dean, and effectively switching to a back six against a side that didn't even look to have a single drop of body fuel left in their reserve tank.

FT: Barnsley 0 v Birmingham City 1

Roll out all of the cliche,: y'know the sort of thing... it was a typical away performance, Blues did a job on Barnsley, Birmingham parked the bus, etc. etc. but credit where it is due tonight, the visiting coaches game management and the fitness level and work-rate of their whole team, means that Blues are now unbeaten in nine, up to fourteenth and (hold your horses) seven points off the play-offs with the momentum of a great sequence of results in their favour.

And Barnsley are nine points adrift of twenty-first place Stoke City, who have a game in hand (at home against Preston North End tomorrow night)... ant though it must have been difficult to even attempt to fly on a night such as this, them there vultures are circling mercilessly over Oakwell.

Birmingham face an altogether different sort of challenge at the weekend, when fourth placed Brentford (who drew with Leeds United tonight) visit St. Andrew's, while the Tykes are probably dreading their trip to third placed Fulham on the same afternoon. The Cottagers could actually move up to second if they beat Millwall (away) tomorrow night.

Tuesday 18th February 2020
The Integro NPL League Cup Third Round
at the Martin & Co. Arena, The Northolme
Gainsborough Trinity (0) 1
Gregg Smith 59
Kidsgrove Athletic (1) 1
Lee Williamson 13 pen
Attendance: 135
Kidsgrove won 9-10 on penalties.

Trinity were were reinstated into the Integro Cup Third Round, after Lincoln United, who had beaten the 'Holy Blues' at the Northolme, following a penalty shoot-out in the previous round, were removed from the competition for fielding a player in that game, who was ineligible to turn out in this competition.
Or, as an excitable youngster from Gainsborough told me, in the run up to tonight's kick-off: "Lincoln were booted out of the cup because they had an illegible player!"
You've got to love the inadvertent humorous usage of a decent malapropism.
Though I'm a fine one to talk when it comes to wuddling my mords up.

Trinity's defeat to Stalybridge at the weekend, was their first loss in twelve games, as they've undergone a complete transformation, on a par with a revolution, under the management of Curtis Woodhouse.
Kidsgrove Athletic also lost at the weekend, when they went down 2-0 to another Lincolnshire side: Cleethorpes Town, at the Linden Club in a BetVictor Northern Premier League, South East Division fixture, i.e. one division below the current level that Trinity ply their trade at.

'The Grove' beat Market Drayton Town 2-1 in the last round of the Integro NPL League Cup and face the same opposition in a league game at their Hollinwood Road ground on Saturday, as they look to make a dent in the promotion play-off places, which they currently sit eight points adrift of. Although they do have four games in hand over fifth placed Stocksbridge Park Steels. Tonight marked the first ever meeting between these two sides, but if the visitors show the same kind of tenacity that they did at times, especially during the first half, for the remainder of the season, they might well be visiting the Northolme in the league next season.

Having finally made a delayed start to their season, Gainsborough now are sitting comfortably, just below mid-table, in the NPL Premier Division, twelve points behind the clubs in the play-off berths, but, more importantly, ten points clear of the relegation dog-fight that had threatened to usurp their current campaign.
Which you might've thought would have been an incentive for tonight's hosts to focus their energies on this cup competition, as a means of maintaining some impetus to this season, a commodity that was sadly lacking during the opening months of their campaign.

Alas, as things turned out, Trinity now hold the unwanted distinction of having been knocked out of the Integro Cup on penalties, in both the second and third rounds this season.
The visitors took the lead after thirteen minutes, when Jamie Green was penalised for a push inside the area... and at the tender age of thirty-seven years old, Lee Williamson took responsibility for the resulting spot kick, waiting for George Willis to move a fraction to his right before calmly stroking the ball into the other side of Trinity's net.

Blimey! If Williamson is thirty-seven, then I must be really ancient, because I recall him breaking into the first team from the youth ranks at Mansfield Town, where he spent five years before playing for a variety of Football League clubs, including: Blackburn Rovers, Blackpool, Burton Albion, Northampton Town, Portsmouth, Sheffield United, Rotherham United, Watford and Preston North End (on loan), while picking up five international caps for Jamaica. The last that I'd heard, he was 'keeping his hand in' at Kimberley Miners Welfare, following a spell as assistant manager at Belper Town. It was great to see that he is playing at a decent level and still having an impact on games too.

Trinity fielded a fairly strong side but were slow to get going and appeared listless, out of sorts and second best for long spells, during a first half that saw Ryan Austin's very well organised visitors bossing the shape and tempo of the game, while the 'Holy Blues' began to look frustrated, which led to Gregg Smith picking up a yellow card for an improvised off the ball wrestling move, right in front of the referee's assistant, which left tonight's match referee: the affable Matt Tyers, with no option but to issue a caution after consulting with his sidekick.
'The Grove' created several chances to build on their lead, but it was almost half-time before the home side created anything worthy of note, when their captain Simon Russell drilled the ball from fifteen yards out, but was thwarted by Kieran Harrison who pushed the ball away at full stretch.

Gainsborough picked up the pace after half-time, when the introduction of Alex Wiles gave them more cohesion moving out from the back.
The game was opening up as both sides began to tire and right on cue, Nicky Walker entered the fray in the fifty-seventh minute from the bench to good effect... and a little over sixty seconds later, he picked out Smith with a dipping cross, that the Trinity number nine met with a looping header that nestled just under Harrison's crossbar to level the tie up.

The game ebbed and flowed from one end to the other, with the goalkeepers putting in a great shift apiece, as Harrison denied Walker and Dec Bacon within the space of a minute, before denying Smith a second headed goal, while George Willis pulled off a great save as the clock ticked down, getting down well to his left at full stretch to turn Alex Morris' well struck effort from the edge of the box round the upright. In the final minute Kyle Blake's angled effort was blocked as Willis spread himself and made a vital block.

But still, nothing could separate these two sides again in open play and it was all going to be decided with a penalty shoot-out, sans thirty minutes of extra-time.

FT: Gainsborough Trinity 1 v Kidsgrove Athletic 1

Penalty shoot-out detail:
In the previous round, Gainsborough had missed all three of their penalties when they lost against Lincoln United... but tonight: the Trinity captain Simon Russell took responsibility for their first kick and comfortably set the ball rolling. 1-0
Tom France levelled things up with the visitors first kick. 1-1
Nicky Walker struck the ball cleanly but Kieran Harrison saved the hosts second kick. 1-1
Ollie Jepson finished emphatically with Kidsgrove's second spot-kick. 1-2
Dec Bacon coveted Trinity's third kick (2-2), but Richard Duffy launched the visitors next attempt into the roof of the stand behind the goal (still 2-2)

Gregg Smith made it 3-2, but Ryan Griffiths levelled things up again. 3-3
Alex Wiles, Michael Williams and Jamie Green all netted for Trinity, as did Alex Morris, Kyle Blake and Sam Hall for 'The Grove' (6-6) even though George Willis got a hand to Blake's effort.
Kingsley James stepped forward and smashed his penalty home via the underside of the crossbar, but Kidsgrove were on level terms yet again, when the highly-rated Abdul Sankoh stroked the ball past Willis. 7-7
Harrison reached James Williamson's kick, but couldn't keep the ball out (8-7), before Butler crashed the next kick into the roof of the net. 8-8

Nathan Stainfield restored Trinity's advantage, (9-8) while Kieran Coates either picked his spot precisely or squeaked his kick just inside the right hand upright. 9-9
All of the outfield players had taken a turn, so it was now up to the goalkeepers to see if they could settle the outcome between them.
Willis put his kick into orbit as it sailed over the bar... advantage Kidsgrove! 9-9
But Harrison, who pulled off a string of decent saves in the second half, kept his shot on target... and the visitors were through to the next round of the League Cup. 9-10

Kidsgrove are still firing on all fronts, pushing for a play-off spot, while progressing through in the Integro Cup... and they also have a quarter-final ties against Stoke City in the Staffordshire Senior Cup coming up on the horizon. Good luck to them with all of that.

Trinity for their part, are heading for a much better finish to their league season than most people had anticipated prior to Curtis Woodhouse's arrival... and will be looking to finish as high in the table as possible, while the players vie for attention, to keep their places in the next phase of the manager's plans next season. If you ask me, not that you probably will, I reckon that they've got the right man at the helm to deliver on the Northolme faithful's growing hopes and expectations for next term.

Friday 21st February 2020

2020 Betfred Super League, Round 4

The Mend-A-Hose Jungle/Wheldon Road
Attendance: 7,202

Castleford Tigers (14) 32
Tries: Blair, Olpherts x 2, Clare x 2, Holmes
Coversions: Richardson x 2
Penalties: Richardson x 2

Wakefield Trinity (15) 15
Tries: Westerman, Johnstone
Conversion: Hampshire
Penalties: Hampshire x 2
Drop Goal: Miller

Castleford Tigers:
Rankin, Olpherts, Mata’utia, Shenton, Clare, Trueman, Richardson, Watts, McShane, Griffin, Holmes, Blair, Massey.
Substitutes: Millington, McMeeken, Smith, O’Neill.
Wakefield Trinity:
Jowitt, Tupou, Lyne, Arundel, Johnstone, Miller, Hampshire, Kopczak, K Wood, Tanginoa, Pitts, Ashurst, Westerman.
Substitutes: Batchelor, Tangata, J Wood, Navarrete.

Saturday 22nd February 2020

SkyBet EFL Championship

at St. Andrew's Stadium

Birmingham City (2) 3

Jacob Murphy 6 OG,

Lukas Jutkiewicz 30,

Scott Hogan 90+2

Sheffield Wednesday (2) 3

Barry Bannan 20,

Fernado Forestieri 34 pen,

Jacob Murphy 65

Attendance: 22,120 (inc. 2,614 away fans)

Point & hope match photos: click HERE

This afternoon marked the first time that Garry Monk had returned to St. Andrew's since he was dismissed as Blues manager during the Summer.

When these two sides met back in November at Hillsborough, they shared a point apiece following a 1-1 draw.

In the build-up to the game Monk had an undignified hissy-fit and behaved like a twelve year old girl with underwear problems, bitterly spewing his guts in public about his ex-colleague Pep Clotet, in a pre-match interview, then refusing to shake the hand, or even acknowledge the presence of, his former assistant on the night, who had taken over his role when he departed Birmingham City, while Clotet merely smiled (or possibly grimaced) to himself, as he walked away from the embarrassing (for the Owls boss) spectacle, to take his place on the visiting team's bench.

The views of many of those present, within the ranks of Blues followers, in the upper tier of the West Stand/Leppings Lane End, who had previously thought that Monk was a class act, dissipated somewhat that night.

The visiting fans marked the occasion, serenading their former manager, with an adaptation of 'Sloop John B', whereby the words had been altered to: "Garry Monk, your football is shit!", in response to his dummy spitting episode... and just in case anybody was in any doubt about where their loyalties lie pertaining to the matter, followed that up with a chorus of: "Pep Clotet's barmy army... Blues!"

I've not actually heard that second one sung anywhere previously... nor since, although I have noticed a steady movement towards the Spanish head-coach on the popularity swingometer of late.

Incidentally: apologies to any twelve year old girl with underwear problems, who might have taken offence at being compared to Garry Monk.

Last Saturday's draw against high-flying Brentford, that saw Blues chalk up their tenth unbeaten game in a row, won't have hurt Mr Clotet's reputation any either, even though that total includes those two ugly as sin FA Cup ties against Coventry City at St. Andrew's.

But hey! 'Any port in a storm', 'needs must' n' all that... and some of the Championship results and performances along the way to extending that impressive run into double figures, have actually been quite impressive. Particularly since a 4-4-2 game-plan has been implemented in favour of some of the over-complicated stuff favoured by Blues hierarchy earlier in the season. The promotion of Craig Gardner through the ranks into a coaching role, has also had a positive effect to this end too and his input shouldn't be understated.

For what it's worth, in my estimation; during the time that Monk was still in charge of the team at St. Andrew's, he steadied a sinking ship and galvanised the fan base behind a common cause, while encouraging everyone with the best interests of the club at heart, to pull in the same direction and read from the same hymn sheet... during what was an otherwise difficult time for Birmingham City.

Nobody can dispute the fact, that at the time, he genuinely did connect with the fan base.

And while-soever that momentum lasted, he was a breath of fresh air around Birmingham City.

Alas, all things must pass, and it is a repeatedly time proven adage, that whenever anything or anybody seems to be too good to be true... it/they invariably will be in the final analysis.

The thing with Garry Monk is: he never seems to stay anywhere for very long and whenever he moves on, as is his wont, it is (apparently) always somebody else's fault, according to Monk himself.

However, subsequent events and revelations have sullied his reputation somewhat round the blue half of the Second City... to the extent that a lot of the good that he did, has all but been forgotten about in some quarters.

Personally, I was hugely disappointed, on a number of levels, when Monk's tenure at Blues ended. But football has a massive turnover cycle (and recycle) of players, managers and personnel, at all clubs... and some of that perpetual state of flux is bound to contain a few elements of acrimony along the way.

I dare say, that there are people at all levels of the game, who are quick to besmirch the character of anybody that leaves their club, be it in an enforced manner or by their own vocation, in a bid to taint them with lies, damn lies, fake news and statistics... such is the nature of the beast in this competitive world. With so much mud being slung about, some of it is bound to stick, either unfairly or otherwise. Regardless of the absence of any actual concrete evidence to back-up the launching of any of the brown sticky stuff in the first place.

I wonder what the Blues supporter who had a portrait of Garry Monk tattooed on his bum makes of it all now?

Either way, the two managers shook hands and went through all of the pre and post match protocol and rigmarole formalities today, even though, no doubt, neither of them really would have wanted to lose this particular game (not that they ever would, of course).

In the word's of Pep Clotet himself: "It's not Clotet versus Monk. This is Birmingham City v Sheffield Wednesday. I turn the page on this. I never mix professional matters with personal matters. The manners make the man."

The gutter press elements who'd viewed the 'handshake-gate' incident at Hillsborough, with a collective hard-on, while salivating in anticipation over the fall out of two former friends, like a circle of infant school kids, crowding around a playground spat, would have had to write about something completely different today, i.e. report on the actual game itself instead... it's your job!

There are a number of decent writers amongst the press corp that follow the fortunes of both of these clubs, so credit where it's due on that score. But the sensationalists and click-bait headline types, who are all too busy fighting for a good place under the lighting, to be bothered to learn anything of use from the good guys, are also way too prevalent in football as well.

And, while I'm on my soap-box, you have to really watch out for those bloody bloggers, who operate outside the parameters of any kind editorial control and say what they see, instead of what they're told to say they've seen ;-)

But I'm meandering (again), so getting back on topic... It hasn't gone unnoticed, that away from all of these smoke and mirrors type distractions, there is a groundswell of antipathy growing towards Monk among the Sheffield Wednesday faithful of late... though I'm quite sure that they would happily have snatched your arm off, if you'd offered them a 3-3 draw prior to today's kick-off, given the Owls slump in form, since they peaked around Christmas, but then tailed off, after scaling the giddy heights of third-place for a while.

Earlier in the week, Monk had spoken about getting away from a cycle of losing games. So he achieved his aim to that end, against an in-form side, who in all probability were expected to beat the faltering Owls this afternoon.

Following this game, both teams now have forty-five points apiece (as do Derby County (who also drew last night, against Fulham), with Blues remaining in fourteenth place as they added an eleventh unbeaten game to their current run, with a ninety-second minute Scott Hogan equaliser, in a game where they had been ahead twice in a topsy-turvey first-half.

By my reckoning, a draw was a fair outcome, because even though Blues did marginally (fractionally even) better than their visitors stats-wise, there wasn't much in it... and while the hosts had more or less the best of the first half, the Owls were just about the better side in the second.

Blues piled on the pressure from the off The rule of thumb appears to be, if the currently out of sorts Owls go a goal behind, their heads drop, they lose their shape are then there for the taking.

Another rumour pertaining to today's visitors, was that when/if they lose any more ground in the Championship, then an imminent managerial change is likely to be in the offing.

But, as things transpired, the stories of Mr Monk's imminent public flogging and subsequent beheading, have been ever so slightly exaggerated.

Although it did look from the outset, as though one of his former clubs were more than happy to contribute to his demise and rough him up a bit while he was down, just for old times sake.

The hosts took the lead in the sixth minute, when Jeremie Bela whipped a corner kick in from the left, with so much backspin on it, that as Jacob Murphy swung a boot in an attempt to clear his lines, all he could do was look on in horror as the ball glanced off his boot and past the Owls keeper Cameron Dawson.

This was the moment when Wednesday were supposedly at their most vulnerable... and though they were nervously absorbing a lot of pressure, as their five man defence treated the ball like a piping hot potato, they ripped up the script and were on level terms after twenty minutes when Kieran Lee stabbed the ball forward's to Barry Bannan who made light-work of not having a lot of options, by planting the ball just inside the right-hand post from all of thirty yards out.

Blues were stung into action and regained the lead, when Lukas Jutkiewicz pricked up the ball from Marc Roberts, before running from right to left across the visitors area and picking up a return pass from Scott Logan while Jude Bellingham removed two defenders from the equation, allowing Blues number ten enough room to shoot past Dawson on the turn on the half-hour mark.

But before the home crowd had even had time to aim a "Garry, what's the score!?" brickbat towards the visitors bench, Maxime Colin mistimed a challenge on Kieran Lee inside Blues penalty and the match referee: John Brooks, wasted no time in pointing to the spot, from where Fernando Forestieri calmly levelled things up again.

Bellingham and Roberts respectively created great chances for Ivan Sunjic and Kristian Pedersen before half-time, but Wednesday survived both scares and the two sides went in level at the break.
HT: Blues 2 v Owls 2
Monk made two half-time substitutes, with Connor Wickham and Morgan Fox replacing Joel Pelupessy and Dominic Iorfa, in a bid to change the shape of the game and offset the effectiveness of Bela, Bellingham and Sunjic. And the second-half tactical switch worked well for the visitors, to a point.
Gary Gardner combined with Scott Hogan, whose dipping cross narrowly evaded the incoming Bellingham, but it was now the visitors who were making most of the running.

Forestieri took up possession on the edge of Blues area and rolled the ball into the path of Murphy, who for the second time in the game, found the back of the net at the Tilton Road End, but this time he actually meant to do it.
Having gone behind for the first time this afternoon, Blues had to push forward, which left space for Murphy to exploit, as he motored forward from inside his own half, as far as Camp's goalmouth, where he was thwarted by an excellent reflex save from Blue number one.
Whickham then tested Camp, but he stretchedd and pushed the ball over his bar.

The Wednesday fans were baying for the referee to blow for full time as the clocked ticked towards the ninety-second minute (a total of five minutes of stoppage time had been added)... and it was time for Blues to hatch another episode of the 'late, late show, as Roberts hit a long ball towards Jutkiewicz, who rose like a salmon to meet it and glanced a header down into the path of Hogan, who struck the ball cleanly first time as his volley whistled past Dawson, to deny Wednesday what would have been only a second win in their last eleven league games.

That was Hogan's fourth goal in five games since he began his loan spell (with a view to a permanent deal at the end of the season) at Blues. I wonder if he'll still be available come May.

FT: Birmingham City 3 v Sheffield Wednesday 3

Both teams will feel that they could've won this windswept tussle... and to be fair, there were enough chances at either end, in both halves for one of them to have claimed all three points.

But in conclusion, I don't think that either manager could've claimed that their particular side were unlucky not to have won, even though the one whose return to his former place of employment this afternoon, saw his defence breached so late in the day, still had plenty to say on the subject.

Give over Garry Monk! Let the football talk for itself today... and give your rattle a well earned rest, in front of any microphone that is thrust before you tonight. Just saying.

Both team's are in action again on Wednesday night, when Blues travel south to face Gary Rowett's Millwall, while Lee Bowyer's Charlton Athletic travel north to take on Wednesday at Hillsborough.

Next weekend, Birmingham are in London again, when they visit QPR, while the Owls are at home again, against Frank Lampa... whoops nearly, I meant: Wayne Rooney's Derby County ;-)

Enjoy your football!

Tuesday 25th February 2020
at Blundell Park, Cleethorpes
SkyBet EFL League 2
Grimsby Town (2) 4
Brad Garmston 1, John Benson 40, James Hanson 61, Max Wright 84
Newport County (1) 2
Jordan Green 10, Padraig Amond 68
Attendance: 3,578 (inc. 33 away fans)
Mobile phone point and hope pictures: click HERE

Grimsby Town:
James McKeown (C), Elliott Hewitt, Luke Waterfall, Matthew Pollock, Bradley Garmston, Harry Clifton, Josh Benson, Elliott Whitehouse (Matt Green 59), James Tilley, James Hanson (Max Wright 66), Charles Vernam (Billy Clarke 77).
Unused subs- Sam Russell, Ludvig Öhman, Elliot Grandin, Anthony Driscoll-Glennon.

Newport County:
Tom King, Ryan Inniss (Joss Labadie 46), Scot Bennett, Mickey Demetriou, Robbie Willmott, Dale Gorman, Josh Sheehan (C), George Nurse, Jordan Green (Tristan Abrahams 71), Otis Khan, Jamille Matt (Padraig Amond 46).
Unused subs - Ryan Haynes, Kyle Howkins, Matty Dolan, Lewis Collins.

Was there ever anything more life affirming to humankind than a nighttime stroll along blustery banks of the Humber Estuary, from Cleethorpes promenade towards the floodlights of Blundell Park, whence the sixteenth team in League 2 (Division 4 in old money) are preparing to face the fifteenth.

You can say what you want about this windswept 'owd football ground on the northern outskirts of this unfashionable seaside town (I have quite deliberately omitted the words stadium and resort from this sentence), but I personally enjoy visiting the place.

If you prefer functional and more recently built (or redeveloped) modern grounds, then each to their own innit!?

But this place is steeped in character and pervades echoes and traditions of a bygone halcyon age in every single twist, turn, nook and cranny... while the locals up in the high-rise seating of the Findus Family Stand are a very fair-minded and good-natured bunch too. Unless you happen to be a match referee... and then, well, not to put such a fine point on it: you're fair game. The gloves are off, the Marquis of Queensbury Rules are torn to shreds and scattered in the breeze and the kind of expletive ridden vicious invective you wouldn't dream of using in front of your grandmother is liberally aimed your way for the entire duration of the game (and beyond), more often than not by conservative grey-haired ladies of a certain vintage, who are probably sat within earshot of their fist-brandishing and snarling grandchildren.

My spouse once remarked to me, that sitting up among the clouds in the upper-tier of the stand at Grimsby, makes for a perfect vantage point, for watching the cargo-ships and car-transporters meandering out to sea from the nearby docks, if the football ever became slightly tedious.

Uh!? What does she mean if!?

This is basement division stuff, played against the backdrop of a stiff north-westerly wind, which invariably manifests itself into a high percentage of stray passes, misplaced shots... and judging by the failure of several Newport players to remain upright at times tonight, seriously affects ones balance out on the open spaces of the pitch too. Unless of course, I have misread the situation and some of the visiting team were actually trying to hoodwink tonight's match referee: Seb Stockbridge, to gain an unfair advantage.

To be fair to both teams, this turned out to be a decent... and for the most part, fairly evenly matched encounter.

When the message came through on my phone: "Are you having fun?" and I replied in the affirmative that it was a great game, the follow up text of: "Weirdo!" was most uncalled for, because it genuinely was an open and entertaining contest, with thrills and spills at both ends and an occasionally comedy interjection by Mr Stockbridge, which vexed some of the Mariners fans sat in my midst.

Was he really that bad though? His tendency to turn the game into a bit of of a stop/start spectacle at times, was occasionally frustrating, but it wasn't him making niggly challenges and then demanding to have every single decision he made explained in great length, to the nth degree all night.

I suspect that the catcall from a jovial chap sat to my right, of: "Bloody hell referee, we're here to watch the football, not you!", gets a regular outing atmost Mariners home games. But hey! I can talk... the last time that I watched a game at Blundell Park, back in October, when they lost against Mansfield Town, I'd described the referee that afternoon, one Paul Marsden as being shocking.

But that kind of caper was only a minor distraction tonight, as the game unfolded and produced a contest that excelled the somewhat modest expectations that I, and probably everybody else present, had for tonight's apparently 'dead rubber' of a game, whatever that means.

Besides, both of the referee's assistants had good games, especially that guy running the line in front of my vantage point tonight, brandishing a yellow flag.

The game was less than a minute old, when Ian Holloway's side opened the scoring, when Tom King blocked Charles Vernam's close range effort but could only push the ball away in the direction of Brad Garmston, who fired home an angled shot from the rebound.

The former Grimsby front-man Jamille Matt, was chipping away at the Mariners defence, trying to make some headway from Robbie Wilmott's crosses to no avail, but the visitors were on level terms in the tenth minute, when George nurse whipped in a low cross from the left, that evaded Matt and the hosts captain (and keeper) James McKeown as he rushed from his line to intercept the apparent threat of the County number eleven, which left an open goal for Jordan Green, who'd shadowed Matt's run, to roll the ball into. "Clever little sod! I bet he knew that Jammy was going to miss that!" Uttered one of my new found gang of octogenarian pals.

The same gentleman muttered to himself as the players regrouped to restart the game: "At least Podge (an affectionate nickname for Padraig Amond, another former Grimsby player) is only on the bench for them tonight, he'd bloody score against us without a doubt".

Prophetic words indeed goodly sir. Please feel free to pick six numbers for Saturday's National Lottery draw for me too.

Newport were fortunate when John Benson crashed a long range shot off of the crossbar, but it only proved to be a temporary respite for the visitors... and Benson had only been checking his range and testing the flight of the ball in the wind. In the fortieth minute, after both sides had created a number of chances, Vernam was tripped by Ryan Inniss twenty five yards from the Exiles goal as he was about to shoot, which earned the Exiles defender a booking, although he could quite easily have been shown a red card instead... and Benson bulged the top left hand corner of King's net from the resulting free-kick.

Matt had been leading the line well for the visitors during the first half, but couldn't keep his shot down when he looked odds on to score a second goal for Newport. But Mike Flynn substituted him at half-time and sent on 'Podge' to start the second half. "You should've taken that Jordan Green off as well, that nippy little bugger is a right handful!"
How on earth was this guy managing to predict all of this stuff with such remarkable accuracy... and more to the point, what the effing 'ell was the Newport manager thinking of when he did indeed hook Jordan Green and substitute him with twenty minutes still remaining, when, in my opinion, he was offering by far the most consistent attacking threat that Newport posed tonight?
I guess that is why Mr Flynn is making a decent living as a football manager and I'd more than likely be a crap one.

In the interim, before I started meandering off on a tangent (again) both sides had scored again... Green, Joss Labadie and Otis Khan (who is on loan from Mansfield Town until the end of the season) went close for the visitors, before the Mariners extended their lead, just after the hour, when the popular Harry Clifton fed the ball forward to James Tilley, whose shot deflected into towards James Hanson, who drilled the ball just inside the left hand post, before being substituted five minutes later.

Inevitably it was that man Almond who put Newport back in with a shout, when Dale Gorman's long-range strike was parried by McKeown but 'Podge' was following the ball and nudged it into the back of the net. 'Rush goalie' that childhood game of yore, is evidently getting put to good use in League 2 training sessions.

"Where's that daft bugger going now!? He frightens me to death", was the next pearl of wisdom to emanate from the sage and wise old owl, who I was by now on first name terms with (I expect a Xmas card from you this year now bestie), as McKeown dashed out of his area for the fourth time during the second half, to cover the apparently vacant right-back berth and thwart yet another Newport attack, while leaving his goal open to all kinds of mischief.

Heaven forbid their might have been scouts from Grimsby's next couple of opponents sitting just across the way, making notes about any perceived weak-spots and vulnerabilities they might have... expect some pretty high-scoring games involving the Mariners any time soon methinks.

As the clock ticked down, Khan was thwarted by McKeown, who had finally remembered which position he was meant to be playing in tonight again. But as Newport pushed forward in numbers looking to salvage a point from this enthralling game,they ran the risk of leaving themselves exposed and Tilley and the much-travelled Matt Green were unlucky not to add to the Mariners lead, before a Max Wright shot deflected in an arc beyond King's reach to claim all three points for the hosts.

Good game! Good game!

Let's have a look at the old scoreboard!

FT: Grimsby Town 4 v Newport County 2

Respect is due to the thirty-three Newport fans who travelled all this way on windswept and damp Tuesday night, I dread to think what time they'll all be getting home.

The Exiles face another trek on Saturday, when they travel up to Oldham Athletic,

while Grimsby entertain Notrhampton Town in Cleethorpes upon Humber.

The main roads home were all clear tonight, save for one minor diversion near the Immingham turn off, and I got home in next to no time.

Next up. I'm heading for that there London... give me Grimsby any day (or night) of the week instead... that's what I say.

33 Newport County fans

Saturday 29th February 2020
SkyBet EFL Championship
at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium
Queens Park Rangers (0) 2
Mark Pugh 51, Jordan Hugill 55
Birmingham City (1) 2
Scott Hogan 24, 81
Attendance: 14,113 inc. 2,642 away fans

Last year's Hoops v Blues encounter in west London was a classic goal feast of a game, that saw Birmingham win 3-4, courtesy of a penalty save by Lee Camp, late in the game, after the visitors had led by four goals to nil at one point.
If I recall correctly, that was the afternoon that cheerful repose: "Lee Camp... in the middle of our goal!", to the tune of the Madness song "Our house... in the middle of our street!" was born.

Earlier this season, Rangers won a scrappy game at St. Andrew's 0-2, which was instantly forgettable, apart from Bright Osayi-Samuel's unstoppable shot for the Rs second goal, in the sixty eighth minute, that beat Connal Trueman in the Blues goal all ends up. Though to be fair, if the understudy keeper had had Camp on the line with him and a defender guarding each post, it would still have been a goal.

Loftus Road Stadium, is now formerly known as: the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium.
Kiyan Prince was a fifteen year-old schoolboy and QPR youth team player, who was fatally wounded, when he was stabbed while trying to protect another boy who was being bullied.
His death led to legislation being passed regarding the carrying of knives and street crime.
Prince’s father, the ex-International IBF and WBO Champion boxer, Mark Prince, founded the Kiyan Prince Foundation in his son's memory. The KBF dedicated to using Kiyan's legacy to combat knife crime and other forms of youth violence.

The foundation's mission statement is:
"To work with young people to increase awareness and address the consequences of gun and knife crime through education. It aims to empower young people by promoting a sense of belonging, self-worth and purpose that can be found outside of gang culture and offending behaviour through providing access to diversionary and preventative activities".
At the end of last season, it was announced that the 'Loftus Road Stadium' would be renamed the 'Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium', following name nominations for the ground from and a vote by QPR supporters.

Mark Warburton's side were unbeaten in their last four games prior to this afternoon (two wins, two draws), and the visitors hadn't lost in their last twelve outings (in all competitions. So this mid-table head to head, was always likely to be a close run thing... and so it proved to be, as both sides remained unbeaten for another game, courtesy of this entertaining 2-2 draw
Rangers began the afternoon in thirteenth place, following their 2-1 home win against Derby County on Tuesday, while Blues arrived at Loftus Road off of the back of a goalless draw at Millwall the following night, in fourteenth. As it happens, the point apiece wasn't enough for either team to climb the table, in fact they both dropped a place as a consequence of Derby County's 1-3 win at Hillsborougfh, against Sheffield Wednesday.

Staying with the subject of the midweek game at Millwall; Kristian Pedersen scored with a well taken strike at the Den, only for David Webb, the match referee, to rule the goal out, for reasons best known only to himself.
Even the remotest chance of any kind of 'these things balance themselves out over the course of a season' equilibrium, in regard to Birmingham getting their fair share of rub of the green to this end, is a ship that has long since sailed far away into the distance, over the course of the current campaign... to the extent that these sort of incidents no longer come as any sort of a surprise anymore.

In fact they've almost become commonplace, to the extent that I'm seriously beginning to wonder how much longer I can continue to justify (even to myself) investing so much time into following Championship football, not to mention the ever growing expense, when the game at this level evidently isn't always being played on a level playing field, so to speak.
In actual fact, my regular football fix is becoming an increasingly frequent source of deep frustration, as a consequence of a disproportionate amount of quite obvious unjust decision making, whereby blatant 'mistakes' by match officials are proving far more costly to certain teams (lets say Birmingham City for example) than others.

Today was to be no exception. Blues should have been awarded a penalty late in the game this afternoon, when Scott Hogan was fouled by Yoann Barbet.
But not according to the match referee: James Linington, even though the on-loan striker was denied a fairly blatant stonewall spot-kick. The in-form striker had attempted to stay on his feet and keep the ball alive as Blues were probing for a late goal, but he was unable to keep his balance and subsequently went down late after the Rangers number 29 had clumsily, but definitely, made contact with him.
Back on the Central Line after the game a young Birmingham fan asked his dad who Blues regular penalty taker was, his father replied: "Don't worry it about it son, we never get any penalties awarded to us anyway".

I don't wear a tin-foil hat (not yet), nor do I subscribe to any conspiracy theories, but even though I'm not paranoid enough to ever imagine that referees and the EFL themselves, have an actual vendetta against Blues... it would be remiss of me not to say that seeing is believing, that there might be an ever growing case to answer after all.
Particularly when a large body of evidence is beginning to stack up, to suggest that such a scenario isn't quite as far fetched as it might seem to anybody who hasn't actually witnessed the whole catalogue of apparent 'discrepancies' first hand.

Whilst 'VAR' is proving to be unpopular within the higher echelons of the game, Pep Clotet has gone as far as to suggest that it should be introduced for Championship games too. I'm not fond of the lack of spontaneity that 'Video Assisted Refereeing' creates, but maybe he does have a point as regards using the technology as a means to an end, if it ensures fair play is implemented for EFL fixtures. It would be a drastic measure, but surely anything has got to be better than the current 'FBO' method of controlling games including Birmingham City, because the 'Fuck Blues Over' decision management system has ruined and affected the outcome of far too many games already, especially this season.

One massive plus to have come out of Blues visit to the Den, was the substitute appearance of the influential midfielder Maikel Kieftenbeld, for the final eighteen minutes of the game, after 'Dutch Mike' has been sidelined through injury for the last ten months. Quite who he will replace in the team once he gets back up to full match fitness is anyone's guess, especially with Gary Gardner displaying his best form in a royal blue shirt since he joined the club of late. But Blues head coach seems to enjoy chopping, changing and tinkering, or indulging in squad rotation if you prefer to call it that, so having another string to his bow and midfield option, will be a challenge that the Spaniard will no doubt be relishing. Kieftenbeld made a late cameo today too, replacing Danny Crowley who'd run himself to a standstill for the Blues cause.

Sadly, an incident of alleged racism occurred on Wednesday night at the Millwall v Blues game, when a spectator in the home supporters section of the ground, behind the technical area, was reported by Mr Clotet, for shouting racist abuse at Jeremie Bela while he was laying injured on the floor, after having been felled by a stray elbow.
The match referee instigated the first stage of the required protocol, by informing the Lions manager Gary Rowett about the allegations, while the home crowd took to booing Bela every time he subsequently touched the ball.

Whether their vitriol was based around the political aspects of the issue, or they were calling the French winger out, and levelling accusations towards him, that he had been play-acting and making too much of the situation (slow-motion replay footage showed that he hadn't been), is open to conjecture. But at best, it was a thoughtless knee-jerk reaction, given the serious nature of the allegations that had just been made, at worst, well it doesn't even bare thinking about.
Hopefully the matter will be investigated thoroughly... and though I concede that Millwall supporters will all be tarred with the same brush for all eternity, when things like this occur, because of their past reputation for mob violence and lawless behaviour; if the accusations are upheld, the individual concerned needs the book throwing at him and he has to be made an example of.

If the incident merely gets swept under the carpet (and there is a massive chance that it will), it leaves the door of temptation wide open, for any brain-dead clown to behave in a similar way, with impunity and without any fear of reprisal, from within the anonymity of a crowd.
In December, a Chelsea player, Antonio Rudiger, was (allegedly) subjected to similar abuse in a game at Tottenham Hotspur. A month later, the north London club issued a statement saying that they and and the police had "exhausted" all lines of enquiry but could not "corroborate or contradict" the allegation.

Today's weather: subject to change (often).

The matter is now closed... but in the meantime counter allegations were made on social media, saying that Rudiger had made it all up. So on Wednesday night, two months after the original (alleged) incident, a copycat scenario develops across the other side of the capital city.
Whatever your reading of the two wholly unacceptable situations are: let's all hope that some kind of warped precedent hasn't been set. Modern football has enough problems to deal with, without anybody rekindling any of the kind of crap that had seemingly died a death years ago.
For what is is worth, in my humble opinion, Mahlon Romeo was the man of the match at the Den on Wednesday night, a black Millwall defender of no small standing, who has played internationally for Antigua and Barbuda. You have to wonder how he must feel about such matters occur.

I've always said that this blog will never feature politics of any persuasion, but some issues transcend such a template and invade a space set aside for the difference between right and wrong.
People who look the other way and claim that because they're not indulging in such hatred towards fellow human beings, it's got nothing to do with them and as such are reluctant to comment, are effectively shirking their responsibilities and in doing so are as much to blame as anybody else, for the perpetuation of this ongoing problem.
It is not always practical, or even safe, to challenge people face to face, or even report them to a nearby steward for fear of reprisal. But the old adage of: "Ignore it and it'll go away" doesn't work. The problem has been ignored and it hasn't gone anywhere... not by any stretch of the imagination.

Rangers thought that they had taken the lead in the twentieth minute, when Angel Rangel took the ball round Kristian Pedersen, but took a fraction too long before delivering a cross for Jordan Hugill, who had by then run into an offside position, though their wasn't a great deal in it.
Just minutes after the narrowest of margins had thwarted the home side, they were undone, when Maxime Colin knocked a dipping ball into the path of Hogan, who had already started to sprint towards the Rangers goal, leaving Barbet his wake... Liam Kelly advanced from his line, but the Blues striker nudged a bouncing shot past him, that nestled just inside the right hand upright, moments before Barbet caught up with his man and pole-axed him.

The visitors were still in front by the solitary goal at half time time and looked lively at the outset of the second period too, but the Rs had upped the tempo too and six minutes after the restart, they scored twice in quick succession to put themselves on the front foot.
Pedersen conceded a free-kick out the right, was tussling for the ball with Bright Osayi-Samuel.
England Under 21 international Ebere Eze, took the resulting free-kick towards Hugill who had peeled away from the goalmouth huddle before heading the ball down for Mark Pugh, who stroked it past Lee Camp to level things up. Osayi-Samuel then combined with Eze before crossing to Hugill who diverted the ball inside the right hand upright.

Blues misery was compounded when the lively Jeremie Bela was kicked out of the game, as Pugh caught him with a late, studs up challenge out on the right hand side touchline.
After a long stoppage, Bela left the pitch on a stretcher with an apparent hamstring injury.
Amazingly, the referee didn't show a possible red or even a yellow card to Pugh, but Mr Linington didn't get his cards out all afternoon, in spite of a few industrial strength challenges flying in from both sides across the course of the afternoon. I guess you shouldn't criticise an official who wants to keep the game flowing and has a word with players about curbing their reactions instead of dishing out cautions willy-nilly, but I'm actually more inclined to think that he'd forgotten to bring his cards with him.

It's a goal!

The 'Superhoops' (look, don't blame me, that's what Wikipedia says they're called), were pushing forward with menace, but the visitors defence were playing hard to get and soaking up everything that Rangers were throwing at them.

But in the last ten minutes (plus the eight minutes of injury time), Blues switched back into attacking mode and made a proper fight of salvaging a draw... and then even went in search of a winner after they pulled level.

Mark Roberts long throw unsettled Rangers defence and as Lukas Jutkiewicz flicked the ball on to Pedersen, Liam Kelly did well to make the save that preserved his side's lead.

But with six minutes left to go, Gary Gardner met Crowley's corner kick with a towering header towards Hogan who stooped to conquer and nodded the ball into Kelly's net from close range.

My phone's camera evidently doesn't have a sunlight filter.

Besides the aforementioned Blues penalty appeal, there was still plenty of other action to keep the crowd on the edge of their seats, not least when Camp stretched to reach a lob by Eze that was otherwise destine for the roof of his net... and when the ball was only half cleared as far as Osayi-Samuel, who smashed the ball towards Blues goal at full-tilt, there was Camp again, doing a passable

impression of Spiderman to somehow keep out.

Camp was rested earlier in the season, but since his return, thirteen games ago, Birmingham haven't lost a single game... go figure!

FT: Queens Park Rangers 2 v Birmingham City 2

Right lads.
Nobody is going home until we find Mr Linington's contact lenses.

Blues are back in action again on Wednesday night, when they visit Premier League side Leicester City in the Fifth Round of the FA Cup, then Reading visit St. Andrew's for a Championship fixture next weekend.

Rangers have a blank midweek before they travel up to Lancashire, for PNE v QPR at Deepdale on Saturday.

Tuesday 3rd March 2020
BetVictor Northern Premier League, Premier Division
at the Martin & Co. Arena, Northolme
Gainsborough Trinity (1) 4
Jordan Adebayo-Smith 26,
Greg Smith 68 Pen, 76,
Simon Russell 81
Radcliffe FC (0) 1
Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro 72
Attendance: 272

Both teams went into tonight's game off of the back of defeats at the weekend, with Trinity losing 1-4 at the Northolme to league leaders and champions elect South Shields (although Basford United and FC United of Manchester might have something to say about that), while Radcliffe were beaten 3-1 at play-off hopefuls Scarborough Athletic, in what was new manager; Lee Fowler's first game in charge of the 'Boro'.
To avoid being called out by any nit-picking pedantic types out there, tonight's visitors were called Radcliffe Borough until two years ago, when they shortened their name by removing the Borough suffix, but kept the 'Boro' nickname.
It's on their club crest and everything, so there!

I had anticipated and expected a slightly larger crowd tonight than the 272 that turned out, which was 440 down on Saturday's gate, but the hardcore who did make the effort were vocal in their support, which was indicative of the generally upbeat and positive vibe that emanates from the local football community at the present time. A season of impending relegation woes was salvaged when Curtis Woodhouse was appointed as manager at the Northolme (with Martin Foster following him as his assistant) and subsequently, the 'Holy Blues' have climbed steadily up the table ever since.

Thirteenth in the Northern Premier League, which is where Trinity finished the night as a consequence of this win, might sound like some kind of unfulfilling mid-table mediocrity to the outside world, but scaling such heights was seemingly some kind of pipe dream to most Gainsborough supporters, just a couple of months into the current campaign. Rome wasn't built in a day... but the club is certainly making progress. There will of course be disappointments and set-backs along the way, but more good than bad is currently unfolding at the Northolme, with the many positives far outweighing any apparent negatives, both on and off the pitch.

The last time these two teams met in January, Gainsborough won 0-2 with Gregg Smith scoring both goals. 'Boro' would no doubt be fed up of the sight of the prolific striker by the end of tonight then.

The first half set off at a no place for the faint hearted frenetic pace, with both sides on each others toes, having a real scrap for dominance of the midfield.

The first chance of the night fell to Smith, but Ollie Martin thwarted the big lad with. Both keepers were in action early on and it was George Willis who featured next, keeping out Callum Grogan's header.

Trinity were starting to find gaps in the visitors rearguard, but Martin was keeping them at bay... until he was left woefully exposed by his own defender, Richard Smith, whose header dropped kindly for Jordan Adebayo-Smith who wasted no time in firing the hosts in front in the twenty sixth minute.
Kingsley James, a workhorse if ever there was one, for the Gainsborough cause, almost doubled the lead before half time, but yet again, Martin was well placed to thwart him.

The vastly experienced former Republic of Ireland international, Stephen Dawson, was conducting operations for Radcliffe in the middle of the park and almost put the visitors on level terms early in the second half, but Willis denied him. I had a short-list for man of the match tonight: Trinity's powerhouse striker Smith, the live-wire Adebayo-Smith and Willis himself, whose contribution to tonight's win shouldn't be overlooked, despite the final margin of victory.

The 'Holy Blues' were two ahead, when Adebayo-Smith surged forward through the left channel and homed in on the visitors goal along the dead ball line, before being toppled by Martin as he dived in bravely at the on-loan (from Lincoln City) attackers feet.

Gregg Smith firmly planted the resulting penalty inside the right hand post and Trinity were on their way to a hard won victory, as Martin shot a spectator behind the goal a look that could melt an iceberg, as he shouted out: "You're allowed to dive and use your hands goalie!". It was, of course, tongue in cheek, because both keepers earned their wages plus an overtime rate tonight.

Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro, a recent signing from Oldham Athletic, netted on his debut for 'Boro' as a more open game of football suddenly broke out in the seventy second minute, taking advantage of sliced clearance that fell his way... they all count.

But Trinity's two goal cushion was restored less than five minutes later, when a well worked right wing corner routine, saw the ball find it's way through to Smith who lashed the ball past Martin to claim his tenth league goal for the home side in just his twelve appearance.

With a little under ten minutes remaining, the hosts put the game beyond Radcliffe's reach, when Adebayo-Smith picked up the ball near the penalty spot and rolled it into the path of Simon Russell, who was arriving into the D on the edge of area right on cue, and crashed a shot into the bottom corner of the net.

Although the visitors were beaten, had it not been for Willis, there could still have been a twist in this tale, as the Trinity keeper fielded a well struck effort from Rhian Hellawell, before pulling off an agile double-save from both Akpa Akpro and Danny Mitchley right at the death.

FT: Gainsborough Trinity 4 v Radcliffe 1

Radcliffe probably deserved more for their efforts than being on the receiving end of such a deficit, but there can be no denying the tenacity and willingness of the Trinity players to chase down every ball and make a fist of their remaining games this season. They're still a work in progress, but there are definitely signs that they're heading in the right direction, which, with one eye on next season already (although there is obviously still plenty of this current campaign left), bodes well for the future.

One final note: can somebody get Trinity's recruitment guy Darren Giovannetti a club coat to wear? Because he looks like a proper poser swanning around in that Manchester City coat.

Wednesday 4th March 2020

Emirates FA Cup Fifth Round

at the King Power Stadium

Leicester City (0) 1
Ricardo Pereira 82

Birmingham City (0) 0

Attendance: 27,181 (inc. 5,129 away fans)

Leicester beat Championship clubs in both of the previous rounds of this competition, seeing off Wigan Athletic at home and Brentford away, without conceding a single goal in either game. So they kept that record intact tonight, with this narrow win

Blues laboured to beat Blackburn Rovers at St. Andrew's in the third round, before making even harder work of seeing off Coventry City after a replay, that was settled on penalties, after extra time. Of course, both games against the Sky Blues. were played at St. Andrew's, which has been Birmingham City's home since 1906, while 'Cov' have been dossing down on the sofa there as lodgers this season, while they've needed somewhere to play games outside the boundaries of their home-turf.

This season's fifth round FA Cup games are being played in midweek, because otherwise, the fixtures would've clashed with the staggered winter break that Premier League teams have been enjoying.
So while the grassroots end of the game is struggling to get games on, while the inclement weather is causing a massive backlog of fixtures, the teams that are creaming all of the cash out of the game at the top end of the pecking order, continue to complain about playing too many games in cup competitions, but can still find the time to take a week off halfway through the season... not to mention all of the international money-spinning tournaments they jet off to play in during the Summer months.
The manner in which those at the top of the game have wilfully devalued the FA Cup, as a means to serve their own greedy ends is, to be frank, effing obscene.

The Foxes had suffered a blip in form of late, but still occupy third place in the top flight, seven points adrift of second-placed Manchester City and a massive twenty nine points behind runaway leaders Liverpool, who even I would risk predicting might just be en route to pick up their first Premier League title... or at least get a quote on the odds to put ten bob on them each way.
Either way, Leicester look more likely than any of the chasing pack, to finish in a top four place, that will guarantee them a Champions League spot next season.
Blues on the other hand arrived in the East Midlands unbeaten in their last thirteen games, a run that they extended with a hard won away point at Queens Park Rangers at the weekend, while Brendan Rogers side slipped to a 0-1 defeat at Norwich City in an attritional encounter at Carrow Road, which saw them chalk their fifth game in a row without a win... and third on the trot without scoring.

Typo alert* Jonathan Moss was the referee,
not Ross! That would've been interwesting.

Birmingham currently sit in fifteenth place in the Championship, nine points off of the running for a play-off berth and eight clear of being roped into a relegation battle, hence 5,129 Blues fans descended on Leicester, travelling more in hope than expectation, that their team might keep the embers of the current season glowing a bit longer with the added interest of a cup run.
Realistically, it was always going to be about a containment and counter-attack approach by the visitors tonight... and to that end they worked hard, kept their shape and were superbly organised in a game of few clear cut chances, but as extra-time beckoned the Foxes finally broke Birmingham's resolve, when Ben Chilwell's cross from the left looking fr Kelechi Iheanacho at the back stick, found it's way through to Marc Albrighton, to the right of Blues goal, who tussled with Kristian Pedersen, but managed to lift the ball back towards the six yard box at the second attempt, where Ricardo Pereira glanced a header beyond the reach of Lee Camp, despite the close attention of Harlee Dean.

Dean had thwarted Leicester's best opening thus far when he got in the way of James Maddison's long range strike and deflected the ball against the crossbar, but clear cut chances had been at a premium, in spite of the Premier League side upping the ante after half time and keeping Blues on the back foot for the majority of the second half, after a fairly even open forty five minutes.
Prior to Pereira's goal, the vast majority of chances at either end amounted to shots that were charged down or blocked by two well drilled defences, which is exactly how the game reached it's conclusion, when just moments after Lukas Jutkiewicz had shot over Kasper Schmeichel's bar, Dean's thumping effort from the edge of the hosts area, saw Chilwell make a last ditch clearance from almost on the goal line.
Pep Clotet and his staff knew that they couldn't adopt a gung-ho approach against a team of Leicester's quality and set out their stall accordingly. Ultimately they were never outplayed nor outclassed by their esteemed hosts and deserve a lot of credit for a hard working and focused shift.

Blues return to Championship action against Reading at the weekend, in the first of three home games this month, all against teams below them in the table, looking to pick up as many points as they can, to finish the season as highly placed as possible... they also have a West Midlands derby at league leaders West Bromwich Albion coming up on March 14th, for which the away allocation of tickets already sold out fairly quickly.

Leicester will now play Chelsea at home in the next round and have the opportunity to string a couple of wins together in the interim, when they face relegation threatened Aston Villa at home and Watford away, though as Jurgen Klopp could testify, they would do well not to underestimate the latter of those teams.

Friday 6th March 2020
SkyBet EFL Championship
at the City Ground
Nottingham Forest (0) 0
Millwall (3) 3
Matt Smith 20, 26, 33
Attendance: 27,307 (inc. 936 away fans)

The last time I saw Sabri Lamouchi's team in action, a month ago, they lost 2-1 against Birmingham City at St. Andrew's.
The following weekend they beat Leeds United 2-0 at the City Ground to move to within just one point of their second placed West Yorkshire visitors in the table and just two adrift of Championship leaders West Bromwich Albion.
Since then, Forest have won just one of their last six games, while also losing twice (including tonight) and drawing three times, which sees them firmly entrenched in the play-off berths, some eight points behind Leeds and nine behind the Baggies, who both have a game in hand over the Reds and play tomorrow.

You can seriously never predict anything in this division, but it's almost nailed on for Forest now, that any bid that they ultimately make to reach the Premier League for the first time since 1999, will now have to be via the end of season play-offs. Although if they get turned over like they did by Gary Rowett's Lions tonight anymore, it is by no means a mathematical certainty that they'll even be taking part in the May-time lottery involving the third, fourth, fifth and sixth placed sides in the table.
Quite often however, there is a team that makes a late push for contention in the play-offs... and if Millwall set the bar tonight for how they intend to finish the current campaign, then you never know, that accolade could even be theirs.

Walking down the stairs, as I headed towards the exit, from my panoramic perch, up in the 'Brian Clough Stand (formerly known as the Execuitive Stand), after the game had finished (yes, some people did actually wait until the full time whistle had sounded), I overheard Nottingham's answer to Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, philosophising and expounding poetically about the plight of Nottingham Forest FC:
Raising his arms aloft, he held court:
"I mean look at this lot... and there's a new stand going up over the other side soon. It's all geared to bigger and better things. We're a Premier League set up in everything but name.

"And then there's the history: nobody... and I mean absolutely no-bod-y, is ever going to repeat some of the stuff that we did, not ever! But this lot we've got now... all of these foreign managers we've had, and these overrated players, they just don't get it... they're bottlers!
"Forest now, we're still showy, we still look the part, but we don't deliver, no matter how much money us loyal fans chuck at it. I'll tell you what it's like, exactly what it's like! It's like getting seduced by a beautiful woman, spending a shed load of cash on her and then when you get her home, she hasn't even got a vagina... and you've been led up right up the path for nothing!"

Thankfully, the angst ridden gentleman was going in the opposite direction to me when we reached the car park... and I was unable to pick up any more pearls of wisdom from him.
If I had a pound for every time that I'd heard someone say: "We can do it against Leeds, but not against teams like Millwall" tonight, I would've been quite comfortably off by the time that I got home.
Hmm... that there Millwall team, who many were dismissing as some kind of inferior beings, have actually only lost one of their last six games... and, for the record, they played very well tonight and thoroughly deserved the three points. In actual fact, if they had kept their first half tempo up after the break, then Forest might not have gotten away with a mere three goal drubbing.

By the way, no offence is intended to any of my mates who support tonight's host team... I'm just saying it as I saw it. Your lot were second best.
Gary Rowett's side did a job on Forest and made them look decidedly average, at best. I bet the Lions manager is still chuckling to himself about the: "Gary Rowett, your trainers are shit!" song that was aimed his way from A Block in the main stand (AKA the Peter Taylor stand), while the home crowd were still in full voice, even though their side had just gone two goals down.

Alas, Millwall's third goal, saw an exodus of home fans from various parts of the ground, as many Reds fans decided to call it a night, despite there still being almost a hour (plus stoppage time) left to play. I wonder if these sort of people have ever seen a film all the way through, or read the last page of a book? What a curious way to carry on.

Matt Smith has been credited with a hat-trick, for having got the final touch on all of the visitors goals tonight, which were all netted within a thirteen minute spell during the first half, when Millwall overran Lamouchi's side, while for their part, Forest got pulled all over the place by the rampant Lions, to the extent that they to only appeared be putting up a token resistance.

The visitors absorbed some early pressure, before getting to grips with the game in the twentieth minute and passing their way through the Reds ranks, like a warm knife cutting a swathe through butter, when Jayson Molumby slipped the ball to Mason Bennett, who in turn found Murray Wallace, who burst forward into space on the right flank, before delivering a low cross that Smith stooped to head past Brice Samba.

Molumby was involved again with the Lions second goal, when his long range strike took a deflection off of Smith's foot, that wrong-footed Simba as the flight of the ball changed.

The goal that gave Millwall a three goal cushion, was simplicity itself in it's execution, as Smith towered above his marker Joe Worrall, to head the ball in under the crossbar, directly from Shane Ferguson's corner kick.

Sammy Ameobi had two chances to reduce the deficit before the break, but his first was saved by Bartosz Bialkowski... and his second opening was thwarted by a time tackle by Molumby, who was having a game and a half for his side tonight.

Forest looked livelier in the second half, but the visitors could by now sit back and let the Reds have more of the ball, while hitting them on the counter attack. As it turned out, Millwall looked just as adept in defence after the break, as they had done in attack before it.

Joao Carvalho, a crowd favourite at the City Ground, rewarded his fan base in the upper tier for their loyalty, by hoofing a couple of match balls up to them, while the visitors had closed their ranks, restricting the home side to resorting to speculative efforts from outside the area.

With seventy minutes on the clock, a Reds substitute: John Bostock tested Bartos Bialkowski with a thumping shot, that the Polish international keeper did well to deal with.

Carvalho went down in the Millwall penalty area under a challenge, but the referee: Geoff Eltringham was unimpressed by the Forest number ten's appeals... and the player was substituted a few minutes later too, making way for Tyler Walker, the son of the former Forest defender Des Walker.

But in the main the game passed Walker by and he was unable to make any kind of impression. Meanwhile, Sam Hutchinson (the Millwall captain), Ryan Woods and Jake Cooper were towers of strength at the back for Rowett's side (on his birthday too) and of course: Molumby, who at only twenty years old appears to have a great future in the game ahead of him, was determined to ensure that there would be no way back for Forest tonight... and he more than played his part at both ends of the pitch tonight.

FT: Nottingham Forest 0 v Millwall 3

Saturday 7th March 2020

SkyBet EFL Championship

at St. Andrew's Stadium

Birmingham City (1) 1

Scott Hogan 6

Reading (0) 3

Matt Miazga 51, Yakou Meite 56, Judison Gomes 87

Attendance: 19, 525 (inc. 1,277 away fans)

"We have ten games to go... you never know what can happen". So said that nice Mr Pep Clotet himself, in his pre-match press meet and greet get together.
But still, though he's hardly likely to say: "Hey you guys! We've got 'nowt to come now that we're out of the cup, but keep putting bums on seats and turning out in good numbers, while letting the mathematical possibilities run their course"... stranger things have happened.
So dispense with all of the ingrained pessimism, buckle up, brace yourselves, hold on tight and lets see where this white knuckle ride goes. Even though I strongly suspect that everybody already knows the answer to that conundrum.

But, after all is said and done, prior to losing narrowly against a Champions League standard side in Leicester City on Wednesday night, the increasingly popular Spaniard oversaw an unbeaten run of thirteen games in all competitions, so he must be getting something right.
Alas, today proved to be a rocky ride, which after running smoothly for forty five minutes, in spite of some profligacy in front of Reading's goal, came to an abrupt halt a little over five minutes into the second half and end with a resounding bump.
And as of 4.50PM this afternoon, Blues are now on a two game beaten run and have slipped to sixteenth place in the table, even though it's been bloomin' ages since they actually lost a game in the Championship. Mind you, eight teams in the bottom half of the table all moved down at least one place today... obviously, today's visitors weren't amongst them.

No handshakes today... COVID-19 rules apply.

However, Birmingham enjoyed an entirely different kind of win yesterday, when it was announced that an independent panel had ruled that there was to be no case to answer, as regards the EFL wanting to compound last season's nine point deduction with the added interest of another points-snatch... which with Blues sitting (a safe-ish under the circumstances) nine points above the highest placed team in the relegation berths, could've entailed a catastrophic end to the current campaign.
But, thankfully, though it means that there is still a very real need to get a few more points on board, as a belt and braces type of precautionary measure, today's game hadn't quite been granted a 'must win' status.

However, with several games appearing just over the horizon, against teams who will be battling desperately for points to salvage something out of their own seasons, it would pay for Blues to stay focused and not let the ante slip again, like it did after half-time today, not even by the slightest of percentages.
Although to be fair to Reading, they must have necked a whole crate of electrolyte infused isotonic drinks at half time, because they were buzzing their tits off when they came back out after the interval and went on a rampage.

I'm not quite sure what kind of mid-afternoon refreshment the match officials partake in at St. Andrew's though, but it would seemingly include some kind of hallucinogenic substances of the variety that cause psychoactive side effects and a paranoid aversion towards anybody wearing a royal blue shirt.
Yes folks, there was another comedy referee performing out on the St. Andrew's pitch today, but his jaded material must've been aiming for a niche market, because most of his audience didn't find him even in the slightest bit amusing.

Would Blues have won today, san any of Andy Davies' inconsistencies and curious decision making? Probably not actually, given the intensity of the Royals second half display, but... when Blues were denied a fairly obvious penalty as Jude Bellingham was pulled down in the area, while the score was still 1-2 and then John Swift merely had a finger wagged at him for a second yellow card offence, i.e. kicking the ball away to delay a free-kick being taken, the exact same transgression that Blues: Ivan Sunjic had been cautioned for just a few minutes earlier, then I think that I am justified in saying, that these, and numerous other examples of 'errors' by the referee and his assistants, were key moments that did have a bearing on the complexion of the game.

Granted, Blues ought to have struck while the iron was hot and made made more of several gilt-edged chances that they had created during the first half, to put the game out of Reading's reach.
But while there is no guarantee that the hosts would've successfully pulled level from the spot-kick that Mr Davies waved away, or that they would've made good of the extra space that the Royals having gone a man down would've afforded them, the disproportionate amount of these sort of things that have gone against Blues this term, has gone off the Richter Scale now.

When the teams were announced prior to kick off, the visitors captain: Michael Morrison, received a heartfelt cheer from the St. Andrew's faithful, in lieu of the five years service that he had given to Birmingham, after originally joining Blues as an emergency loan signing in 2014, before he left for Reading at the end of last season, after Garry Monk offered him a one-year contract extension when he wanted two.
Earlier this season, when Blues won 2-3 at Reading, Morrison had been on the score sheet, with an own goal! So don't you going believing that daft lot at the back of the visitors seating this afternoon, who were singing: "Michael Morrison, he said you were shit!"
'Morro' seemed to be enjoying the battering that he was getting from Lukas Jutkiewicz today (it was a two-way thing) and will no doubt have a few aches and pains to remember his afternoon by.

In Yakou Meite, the visitors had a big, awkward to play against, physical presence of their own... and though there were those present who didn't entirely approve of the way that he puts himself about, he was one of those type of players that you love to hate when they're playing in the oppositions colours, but would afford cult hero status to, if he was bashing people about for your own teams cause.
To be fair to Meite he kept his antics within the boundaries of: 'firm but borderline fair'... well, most of the time.

Blues started the game well and had by far the better of the first half... and it looked as though they were on their way to a routine home win, when Matt Miazga made of mess dealing with Marc Roberts long ball forward towards Scott Hogan and his attempted header back to Rafael Cabral dropped kindly for Blues prolific striker who lifted it over the exposed Royals keeper.

George Puscas went close to levelling things up but he shot over the bar from an angle, before Blues picked up where they left off, as Hogan scooped the ball over at the other end, having stretched to get onto the end of Jutkiewicz's knock across the face of the visitors goal.
Jude Bellingham and Dan Crowley were chipping away at the visitors midriff, while Ivan Sunjic shot just past the right hand post and bulged the side netting.

Reading regrouped and Meite's hooked goal-bound shot was turned away by Lee Camp.
Hogan couldn't quite get the final touch onto Crowley's delivery to the back post, while Jutkiewicz and then Gary Gardner almost doubled Blues lead, but both headed the ball narrowly off target. Bellingham, weaved past two Reading challenges before forcing Cabral into a save, but still as half-time arrived, Blues were only the one solitary goal in front.
As the second half got underway, the home side continued to look for that elusive second goal, with Bellingham making himself some space on the left before crossing for Jutkiewicz who diverted his header beyond the reach of Cabral, but just off target.

Crash, bang, wallop!
Out of the blue, the shock troops from Reading arrived... and within the space of five minutes, they had drawn level, then taken the lead.
Andy Rinomhota squeezed a cross into Blues area from out on the right and Miazga moved towards the ball and connected with a sweet right foot volley to guide the ball inside the right hand upright.
Maybe this was the wake up call that Blues needed to up their game in the final third. Hmm... and maybe it wasn't too!
John Swift launched a long free kick forward, that Yakou Meite met on the edge of the six yard box and steered a header past Camp to give Reading the lead

Defending at set pieces and dealing with cumbersome opposition players would appear to be Monday morning's training drill priorities at Wast Hills.

Blues have a well earned reputation as being hard to beat... while several people have pointed out, quite rightly, that during their recent unbeaten run (ten in the league, thirteen in all competitions), they have become 'draw specialists', particularly at home, where they have only won once in the Championship, v. Nottingham Forest on February 1st, since they narrowly beat Luton Town 2-1, on a rain-soaked afternoon in October.

Carbal denied Gary Gardner who unleashed a twenty five yard pile-driver his way, before Bellingham was pulled down in the penalty area... an incident that was spotted quite clearly by at least 18,000 plus would be referee's but not the one carrying the whistle.

Amid a number of goalmouth scrambles, as Blues battled gamely for an equaliser and the Royals fought tooth and nail to repel them, the honours were about even in the pushing and shoving stakes, as the visitors made a string of last ditch challenges. And even when Jutkiewicz went to ground, it was as a result of a 'six and two-thirds' tussle with Miazga... so the referee can't be called out for that particular one.
But then, Mark Bowen's side broke free of the stranglehold that the home side appeared to have on them and with just three minutes remaining, Puscas ventured into Blues half and rolled the ball forward to Garath McCleary, who held it up until precisely the right moment, before threading a well weighted pass into the path of Judison Gomes, who motored forward through the left channel, before cutting inside before Roberts could close him down and curling a shot beyond the outstretched hand of Lee Camp, that nestled just inside the right hand post. Game over!
FT: Birmingham City 1 v Reading 0

Oh well, looks as though my 'Biscuitman Crumble" headline will have to wait until another time.
Blues travel to West Bromwich Albion next Saturday, before entertaining Hull City at St. Andrew's on Wednesday 18th March, the latter game is one that the ticket prices have been slashed for: to £10 for adults and £5 for concessions.
Reading are at home against Stoke City on Saturday before they travel to Derby County a week on Tuesday.
Even after all of this time, somebody shouted out at the end of the game: "Get rid of Pep! We should've kept Garry Monk!". You'd be hard-pushed to find a Sheffield Wednesday fan who'd disagree with that sentiment, after Monk's Owls side were battered 5-0 at Brentford this afternoon.

Saturday 14th March 2020
BetVictor Northern Premier League, South East Division
at the Sun Hat Villas Stadium, Ashby Avenue
Lincoln United (0) 0
Leek Town (2) 2
Rob Stevenson 3
Tim Grice 38
Attendance: 210
Point & hope picture gallery: Click HERE

Forty eight hours ago, Lincoln United announced that once this season finishes (assuming that it hasn't already done), they will be merging with Hykeham United, whence an amalgamation of both clubs will operate under the name of Lincoln United.
While the Whites have endured a season of woes and strife thus far, as they endeavour to claw themselves away from the relegation places at the foot of the North Premier League South East Division table, the mutually beneficial coming together of the two neighbouring clubs, seems to tick a lot of boxes as regards finding a solution to some of the off-field problems that have beset the Ashby Avenue based club.
So fingers crossed for them... they've always been a very friendly, accommodating and welcoming club whenever I've had the pleasure of visiting this corner of Lincoln.

Win a rare four pack of Andrex... just one pound a ticket!

Hykeham themselves currently sit at the top of the Lincolnshire League and play their home games at the Priory City of Lincoln City Academy Sports Centre, which is just a short distance away from United's ground, along Skellingthorpe Road, towards Lincoln city centre, from the turning into Ashby Avenue.
Today Hykeham they beat Wyberton 6-1 at home, in a Supplementary Cup game that was watched by a crowd of 47 spectators,

That was one of just five games, coming under the umbrella of the 'Lincs. League' auspices, that went ahead this afternoon, though I note that the ruling body have since suspended any further games that come under their governance for the foreseeable future, via an announcement in red capitals on their FA Full Time website... I would imagine that the vast majority, if not all of the nationwide non-league competitions will grind to a similar halt, over the next day or so.

Such drastic measures will decimate the remainder of the football season, but Que Sera...shit just got real. And regardless of what anybody, including Bill Shankly, may or may not ever have said, football is neither a matter of life and death, nor anything even remotely like more important than either of those two things, obviously!
Granted, it's more than just a game, to many people, for whom it is a passion, a past time and lifestyle choice that some of us, follow with a near obsessive dedication and fervour that borders on religious fanaticism, that definitely warrants being called an addiction... but there is far more at stake away from 'planet football' out there in that place called the 'real world', than a few silver trophies and bragging rights over rival clubs.
And besides: it's actually common knowledge that 'Shanks' was actually misquoted in the first place.

Anyway, in the current climate, it's maybe apt of me to provide a few health related observations pertaining to the public gathering that I attended this afternoon, for your perusal and consideration: the average combined four-sided length of a football pitch perimeter, including a margin between the touchlines and the surrounding fence, is approximately 388 yards, or roughly 325 metres, and today's total attendance was 210.
So even if the main stand seats weren't set back quite so far from the pitch (as they are at Ashby Avenue) and everybody was stood as near to the pitch as the rules would allow, we'd still all have had around at least five feet of wriggle room and breathing space apiece in this open air setting. Which to my way of thinking, doesn't exactly constitute a tight space environment, or a health risk.

But I'm no expert on such matters (and neither are you, so shurrup and listen to the advice that is being given to you by people in the know). In actual fact, I don't even have a University of Facebook medical degree to back up my pontificating, so without further ado... today's football match.

My honest (cross my heart and hope to die) and genuine reason for choosing to watch Lincoln United v Leek Town today was, I had originally planned to visit the Riseholme Campus this morning, to take in the EFL Youth Allaince fixture between Lincoln City and Mansfield Town, before watching West Bromwich Albion v Birmingham City in Lincoln United's clubhouse on the telly (tickets for the game were as rare as hen's teeth, rocking horse shit, hand sanitiser and even bog rolls, so I didn't manage to get one, despite going to great lengths in an attempt to find a spare) and then watch this Northern Premier League South East Division game as a grand finale to a whole day of football, football and more football, before driving home.

When the first two games were both announced as having been postponed a couple of days ago, I thought: "Y'know what...bugger it! I haven't been to Lincoln United in ages so why not!?"
You see, it's like this: currently there's a very interesting chain of events unfolding for the struggling Whites, which began when the club parted company with their manager Steve Housham and his assistant Nathan Jarman (both fairly big-hitters on the local circuit) and inevitably, as is the wont in non-league circles, a lot of footballers follow their manager out of the door rather than swearing allegiance to any given club, which of course led to a player exodus of sorts, that left United a bit short-handed.
However, in the meantime, Sam Wilkinson and Stuart Reddington, have returned to the fold, re-acquainting themselves with their former club and taking on the difficult task of leading/dragging* United away from the drop zone.

As things stand, Lincoln finished the afternoon in eighteenth place in what is a twenty team division. The two sides below them played against each other today and a fifteen minute Andre James hat-trick in the first half, along with an own goal, helped Market Drayton Town to a much needed away win at Wisbech Town, which moved them to two points and one league position above their hosts, and means they're now only seven points adrift of the Whites, who will be aware of the fact that they themselves have only won eight out of twenty nine of their own games so far this season, as they check nervously in their rear-view mirror, to see if Market Drayton are gaining any ground on them..

In the 'Chairman's Chat' column, featured in today's match programme; Ian Beaumont mentioned that the club would be limited to how many new signings they would be able to make and stated that there would probably be a few of the Whites Under 18 players stepping up to the first team. That's another fairly commonplace practice at this time of the season, at all manner of clubs outwith the confines of the professional game, where there are no contractual obligations to safeguard clubs from experiencing any kind of en masse walk-out, so to speak.
Either way, the print deadline for his notes must have come and gone earlier this week, because over the space of the last two days, Lincoln United have signed eight players on, the last time I looked. 'Sam and Reddo' aren't wasting any time and they obviously mean business. Good luck to them.

Today was always going to be an acid test for the new-look home side, because Leek Town are currently at the top of the division, having only lost twice all season... and the gulf in class between the two sides was glaring at the outset of the game, even though United did get to grips with their visitors towards the end of the first half and it was actually a far more level-pegging affair after the break, as Lincoln looked to be growing steadily into the game and imposing themselves more. Although they were unable to salvage a point, at least after the restart they never looked likely to succumb to a repeat of last weekend's 0-5 home defeat at the hands of Frickley Athletic, who are currently managed by Dave Frecklington, who'd previously had a two year spell in charge at Ashby Avenue between 2014 and 2016.

As the game got underway the indications looked ominous for the home side, as Leek went straight on the offensive looking for an early goal, with Rob Stevenson in particular proving to be a real handful as he terrorised the Lincoln defence from the flanks.

Unconverted chances fell to both Jacob Twyford and Matthew Bell as the Blues (wearing their change strip of green and black today) looked to cash in on their high tempo start.

But Lincoln went behind inside the third minute, when their captain Michael Jacklin headed the ball back towards Ross Woolley, but it escaped from the keepers grasp and Tim Grice was onto the loose ball in an instant... Jacklin tussled with the Leek number nine in an attempt to salvage the situation, but could only deflect an otherwise goal bound knock into the path of Stevenson, who was presented with the simplest of tasks, as he rolled the ball into a wide open goal.

Stevenson was all over the Lincoln back-line like a rash and continued to terrorise them as he provided the service for Billy Reeves and Grice, but neither of them could quite find a finishing touch.

Meanwhile Louis Keenan drilled a shot from the edge of the area, that Woolley did well to reach at full stretch and push around the post.

The hosts had rode their luck while they found their shape and some kind of rhythm, but effectively today marked this team's first outing together, so they were always going to need some time to gel.

As they regrouped and began to look more organised, it perhaps gave a few clues to the game plan that they'll need to adopt, to grind out a few results between now and the end of the campaign, but needs must and common sense rules apply. Points are United's priority right now... and against a lesser side than today's top drawer opposition, they would probably have held out for a draw.

Stevenson was still proving to be a damn pest for the Whites defence and once again he got forward and beat the last man in the thirty eighth minute, but had his heels clipped from behind, however having managed to stay upright and keep his run going, the match referee, one Jamie O'Connor, waved play on and sensibly applied the advantage rule, giving Stevenson free passage to deliver a cross into the six yard box, where an attempted clearing header only knocked the ball down towards Grice, who shot on the turn and bulged the net to double the visitors advantage.
It was quite amusing to overhear a Leek fan shout out: "Referee!! That's a bloody foul!", before changing his tune in an instant and heaping praise on Mr O'Connor: "Great advantage, well done referee!"

I heard a rumour (in fact I'll fess up, I started it) that Jamie only took up the whistle so that he'd have a cast-iron alibi for why he couldn't get across to the Proact Stadium to watch his crap local football team: Chesterfield, play every week.
Joking aside... it was good to see you again and have a catch up Mr Referee. Take care mate.
As the teams went in at half-time, Leek had a two goal cushion, while Stevenson probably already had his name engraved on the man of the match trophy... although it's only fair to point out that Louis Keenan had been covering a hell of a lot of ground filling the space behind the flying winger, that allowed him to operate with so much freedom.
HT: Whites 0 v Blues 2

Lincoln looked harder to break down after the interval, which bodes well for their remaining games... and clear cut chances were at more of a premium, which probably wouldn't have worried the visitors too much while-soever they were still sitting on a comfortable lead.

Woolley held onto the ball when Reeves shot from long range skidded through a seas of legs, before Stevenson lofted the ball over the bar from a difficult angle.

Grice and Stevenson combined in the Whites area, but the latter sliced his shot wide of the target.

Having given their visitors the freedom of Ashby Avenue and a virtual right to roam in the opening half a hour or so, Lincoln well and truly had their half of the pitch under a lock-down situation from hereon-in.

Reeves was making a few in-roads deep into United territory on the right, but he'll probably have a few bumps and bruises to show for his efforts in the morning, as his progress was being 'monitored very closely' and occasionally thwarted by some no nonsense, tried and tested, good old fashioned solid block-tackling.

Grice went close to grabbing his second of the afternoon, with what I was reliably informed would've been his 200th goal for this afternoon's visitors, but if they continue to play like they did in the first half today, I wouldn't imagine that it will be very long until that milestone is passed.
Of course, as clubs await Government and FA advice and possible sanctions, pertaining to the Coronavirus outbreak, he might have to wait until next season.

While the first-half wasn't quite all one way traffic, the over-riding majority of it had been played out in the Lincoln half of the field, but the second period was a far more even kind of scrap, played out more across the middle of the park... and in the air, more often than not, if truth be told.
Even so, it still provided an intriguing tactical battle, even though the game was now bereft of anything like the amount of goalmouth action that we'd seen earlier on.
In fact, after the break, it became the kind of fare that had got nil-nil written all over it... and basically that is exactly what happened, as Leek's first half prowess saw them over the finishing line, while Lincoln finished the game looking solid, compact, very well organised and extremely difficult to break down... all qualities that they're going to need in abundance, whenever football resumes (or carries on regardless in the NPL).

In the closing stages, Grice broke free on the left hand side of the Whites penalty area and shot across the face of the goal, but the ball flew narrowly past the far post, a fraction beyond the reach of Woolley.
On the subject of Woolley, I thought he did very well to put the mix-up early on to the back of his mind and stay focused for the remainder of the game and on the whole, he actually put in a decent shift all told.
FT: Lincoln United 0 v Leek Town 2

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