Blues display gets the juices running again

This was a game to get the pulse racing again after the insipid encounters that this team has served up in the last month. Unfortunately the rewards that the performance and effort should have come Blues way, were cruelly snatched away by our old friend ref Martin Atkinson. This man’s incompetence know no boundaries as he was conned by the Moroccan Chamakh who threw himself down and was rewarded with an equalizing penalty. The apparent cheat then feigned injury when Roger Johnson fairly headed the ball, made no contact with Chamakh who then rolled around like a stuck pig. That should have been the end of the apparent cheat. It was doubly galling when Blues defence lapsed and allowed the apparent cheat to get the winning goal.

Mr Atkinson witnessed Nasri kick Liam Ridgewell THREE times in an unsavoury incident and yet only showed him a yellow. Atkinson seems to have his own law book as kicking an opponent can only be punished with a red.

Yes, he sent of the London’s darling Jack Wilshere whose tackle on Zigic was worse that any dispensed against the Gunners in the last ten years. That was after 93 minutes and harly benefits Blues. Wenger of course, excuses his little darlings when they err but note Mr Wenger, that men get up after tackles like that, if they have flesh and bone that is less delicate than a bread stick.

The Match of the Day crowd hardly gave these unsavoury incidents a mention. Indeed they missed the Nasri assault completely. We already know that the BBC have no interest in the well being of Birmingham City and I for one have now banished the MOD crew from the SKY-plus M/c

Blues will take a lot from this game as the much criticised 4-5-1 began to work. Blues installed the giant Zigic in place of the injured Jerome. The Serb responded with a solid display, holding the ball up, winning the majority of headers and scoring a quality goal to give Blues the lead.

Blues had defended stoutly against Arsenal’s initial barrage and survived a Squillaci header when an offside flag came to our rescue. Keith Fahey’s cross and Zigic’s far post header was exquisite.
Blues find themselves one place above the relegation spots after this game and that is why the fans were so upset after the last two displays. It doesn’t require a degree to work out that if you don’t beat teams in the bottom four then you don’t get much from teams in the top four.

The next three games are now mega important. We cannot fail to beat Blackpool again; we need a continuing Cup run and defeat at the Hall of Memory does not bare thinking about.

Full time: Arsenal 2 Blues 1

Blues: Ben Foster, Stephen Carr, Lee Bowyer (Garry O’Connor, 80), Roger Johnson, Liam Ridgewell, Seb Larsson, Barry Ferguson, Scott Dann, Keith Fahey (David Murphy, 76), Nikola Zigic, Alexander Hleb
Subs not used: Maik Taylor, Kevin Phillips, Matt Derbyshire, Michel, Martin Jiranek.

Bookings: Bowyer (53), Carr (72).

Goals: Zigic (32)

Arsenal: Lukasz Fabianski, Sebastien Squillaci, Johan Djourou, Gael Clichy, Emmanuel Eboue, Abou Diaby, Samir Nasri, Alex Song, Jack Wilshere, Andrey Arshavin (Tomas Rosicky, 71), Marouane Chamakh (Nicklas Bendtner,79).

Subs not used: Wojciech Szczesny, Kieran Gibbs, Theo Walcott, Denilson, Carlos Vela, Nicklas Bendtner.

Bookings: Nasri (43), Eboue (76)

Sendings off: Jack Wilshere (90 +3)

Goals: Nasri (41), Chamakh (47)

Referee: Martin Atkinson.(Shocking)

Attendance: 60,070

By Alan Watton

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