Birmingham 1 Aston Villa 1:THIS WAS the only result that guaranteed Birmingham City and Aston Villa would finish a pulsating game outside the relegation zone, but both clubs were left to rue their failure to take a bigger step clear of the bottom three. Birmingham should have doubled their lead after Roger Johnson put them ahead at the start of the second half and Villa struck the crossbar a third time after James Collins had equalised.
It was that sort of derby, as chances came and went at both ends in a match that ended with a police cordon formed around the pitch, in order to prevent a repeat of the ugly scenes that tarnished Birmingham’s victory in the League Cup last month. While the St Andrew’s board will have been relieved to see the supporters behave themselves this time, it must have been alarming for Carson Yeung’s regime to see swathes of empty seats.
Only 22,287 turned up – the lowest crowd for a Premier League fixture between these teams and Birmingham’s second lowest home gate in the top flight this season. But those who did attend could have no complaints about the entertainment.
Villa started and finished much the stronger but Birmingham were in control between those two spells and they could have put the game beyond the visitors after Johnson stabbed home in the 49th minute. Matt Derbyshire, replacing the injured Cameron Jerome up front, was denied by Brad Friedel after breaking clear on the right and 60 seconds later Craig Gardner sliced a volley wide.
It was doubtful whether Villa, who have taken only 15 points from a possible 51 under Gerard Houllier and who sit 17th in the table, a place below Birmingham, would have had the wherewithal to recover from two goals down. Birmingham’s profligacy was punished in the 72nd minute when Collins turned the ball home via a significant deflection off Liam Ridgewell.
The Birmingham goalkeeper, Ben Foster, who had a mixed afternoon and looked shaky whenever he had the ball at his feet, will take his share of the blame for the equaliser after his poor clearance led to further errors that included Keith Fahey losing the ball and Gardner losing out to Kyle Walker before Marc Albrighton’s cross found Collins.
“That was unbelievable that we could get ourselves in a fankle like that,” Alex McLeish said. “Everything that could go wrong with that goal did.” McLeish also criticised the referee Mark Clattenburg’s decision not to award a penalty when David Murphy went down in an untidy challenge from Albrighton, although Villa had their fair share of bad luck too. John Carew, making a first appearance for six weeks, headed on to the top of the bar in the eighth minute; Ciaran Clark found the same spot with a curling cross later in the first half; and Nathan Delfouneso’s ferocious drive struck the woodwork via Foster’s fingertips late on.
That last chance came in a period when Birmingham’s hitherto impressive midfield ran out of energy. Villa grew in confidence from the moment Collins scored and they could have had a second within three minutes, when Foster smothered Stewart Downing’s effort. Richard Dunne also had a header cleared off the line by Ridgewell, who is likely to have an extended run at centre-half after Scott Dann was ruled out for the rest of the season with a torn hamstring.
Birmingham might have pinched victory in stoppage time, when the substitute Nikola Zigic beat Friedel to Foster’s punt but his header drifted inches wide.
