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Blues v Southampton - my match report

The only certainty with Blues is the uncertainty of it all.

After our 4-0 defeat of Blackburn in the Cup, Blues were down to the barebones with many key players missing. In come the fringe or “squad” players as they’re now called. What happens when these players get a chance to shine is one of two things: they look out of place, out of their depth and try to hide

Or

They shine brightly and give the manager a selection headache.

This week we’ve seen both. Blues were ruthlessly ripped apart by a resurgent Spurs side who quickly found a weakness in our left side and scored at will, leaving Blues for dead.

On Saturday we hosted Southampton. Southampton are one of those benchmark teams for me. They have a solid defence and good artillery and often upset the big guns. They play well as a unit and have a strong work ethic. When we earned promotion I looked at Southampton and hoped that theirs was the sort of level Blues could attain under Bruce.

Southampton had a strong line up unlike Blues makeshift defence and midfield which saw Kenna at left back, Cunningham back on the right of centre, Purse to his left and Tebily on the right. Hughes was back in the starting XI with Clemence and Dunn was on the left of the field with DJ in his more comfortable right wing role. The now familiar and blossoming pairing of Forssell and Morrison completed the line up. The injuries are so crippling that Bruce had to put Cisse on the bench despite his own physical problems.

The match saw Southampton have a shot within about 10 seconds which was thankfully wide. Blues appeared to be out of sorts and possibly still shaken after the midweek rout. Southampton took full advantage pressing forward in numbers and feeding Beattie who beat Purse to head just off target. Minutes later Blues were guilty of ball watching as Southampton won a corner and Omerod pounced on a parried Higginbottom shot.

1-0

Blues dug deep and took the game to the visitors. Morrison looking lively managed to shoot just over but was also guilty of failing to spot an unmarked Clemence. Dunn took great delight in taking on players as he created chances for the strikers who were ably supported by Bryan Hughes.

At the back the old dogs of Kenna and Cunningham made sure Purse was always receiving instructions and Tebily did well to snuff out threatening runs on his wing.

Purse started off looking a little nervous but he soon found his rhythm making good defending headers, playing up close to Beattie and tackling sooner rather than later. In fact, he did so good a job in man marking that later in the game Beattie moved over to the far left to try and expose Tebily.

Blues continued to press for an equaliser and the self belief started to show. Blues won a corner which was taken right-footed by Bryan Hughes into the box. Confusion reigns as to the goal-scorer but it appeared to be a headed goal by Stephen Clemence although many fans thought Forssell got the final touch and TV replays show a Southampton defender had the final say.

1-1 after 16 minutes

After this Blues showed steel which was best represented by Dunn’s performance which seemed to lift the team and the very flat crowd. Late in the first half Blues dominated possession but were kept out by some fine saves from Antii Neimi, including and excellent tip over from a stinging long range shot by Morrison.

Unfortunately both sides appeared to have had Oveltine for half time drinks and the first 10 to 15 minutes of the second half were devoid of entertainment. Southampton did make some half hearted probes into the final third but the Blues defence mopped up what Taylor dropped. I’m not sure if our ‘keeper was having bad day or if he was unsettled by another change to the back four line up but he seemed unable to communicate which often resulted in goalmouth scrambles which could have been punished.

That man Kenna was clearly enjoying his football and was involved in Blues’ second having set up from start to finish scoring with a sweet right foot after a good pass from Morrison. The crowd finally woke up and the noise reached fever pitch just minutes later when Prutton elbowed Kenna as they challenged for the ball. Kenna went off for stitches as Prutton and his team mates protested about the sending off. What they had to say is anyones guess but all players know that jumping for a ball with an elbow leading is enough for a card.

Both sides were down to 10 men but Blues (finally) had the crowd behind them as a very loud “Keep Right On” reminded everyone that crowd participation was permissible.

Kenna took several minutes to receive treatment (still better than the 4 hours waiting at the Acky, eh?) as Southampton and Blues both tried to take advantage of the other sides lack of a man. Once back to full strength Blues looked to kill off the visitors but Forssell, Hughes, Dunn and Morrison both missed by inches or found the woodwork or Neimi's gloves.

The last 10 minutes was pretty much one way traffic as Southampton fought back and the best Blues could muster was the occasional counter-attack. As the game neared it’s climax Southampton went all out for the equaliser and were almost rewarded when Taylor once again fumbled. A late corner saw Neimi come forward but Blues, forever insisting on having all men defending, didn’t take advantage of an empty net.

A decent game for the neutrals as the pundits would put it. For the Blues it was 3 points well earned considering the over spilling treatment room and the midweek debacle.

Blues went back up to 8th place, over their visitors and a team from Witton.

posted by kwacky at 9:55 am