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BIRMINGHAM 1 - 1 FT ASTON VILLA

احدث اجدد واروع واجمل واشيك BIRMINGHAM 1 - 1 FT ASTON VILLA


13:55: An exciting game, a draw was probably the correct result. Both teams were guilty of some loose work in front of goal, but if each can maintain that level of performance then they shouldn't find themselves in the bottom three come May. Villa move out of the relegation zone to 17th, Birmingham stay one place above them. Over and out from me, thanks for your company. Why not join Ed Ballard who's about to tackle the fearsome prospect of Liverpool v Everton?

FULL TIME
Birmingham City 1 Aston Villa 1

90+1 min: Oh crikey, someone's thrown some kind of smoke bomb onto the side of the pitch. It's not halting play. That's the spirit. An ambitious long ball from a Birmingham free kick reaches Zigic. His header beats Friedel, who had come a long way to claim it, and drops just the wrong side of the post.

90 min: A disappointing cross from Fahey signals the end of a spell of Birmingham pressure. Three added minutes will be played.

89 min: Gardner plays in Bentley 30 yards out, but his shot is almost entirely wrong and well off target. Bentley is awarded the man of the match moments later and applauds the crowd, looking a touch surprised. He's a good addition for Birmingham but needs to sort out his decision making which has been woeful at times today.

87 min: Around 100 police officers have lined up in front of and around the away end. Let's see how effective they are at preventing the "ugly scenes" we witnessed after the League Cup game.

85 min: Four times. Delfouneso hits the bar for Villa. Great, fearless run, scorching strike which Foster got a tiny touch on to push onto the bar. Breathless stuff. Collins has been booked for a late challenge after the corner came over, and Lee Bowyer has replaced Matt Derbyshire for Birmingham.

83 min: Corner to Villa. Poor cross from Bannan, who collects the poor header away and plays in Albrighton with a reverse pass. His hanging cross to the far post is headed goalwards by Dunne and cleared off the line by Ridgewell! Now that's what I call atonment. Collins' follow up from three yards out is wide. Anything on target would have made it 1-2.

81 min: The free kick is taken by Bentley, curling away from goal and out for a goal kick. Wasted.

80 min: Albrighton's high challenge gives away a free kick just outside the box. And there's a streaker on the pitch! Alan Parry does the boring "we won't spoil your Sunday by showing you". Come on, Alan, who do you think we are?

79 min: Goalmouth chaos! Ferguson, Gardner and Ridgewell all have little bites at the ball in the box, Villa are defending for their lives. Eventually Bentley has a shot from distance which poses no danger to Friedel.

78 min: A long ball towards Zigic is nodded towards Gardner. His low cross almost falls for Derbyshire but superb defending from Dunne prevents danger and gives Birmingham a corner, which comes to nothing. This match is both topsy and turvy, as well as featuring action which switches from end to end.

77 min: Walker once again shows the naive side to his game, getting needlessly confused with Friedel as he collected the ball close to goal. He clears frantically for a throw.

76 min: Agbonlahor steams forward and picks out Delfouneso in the box. He lays it off adeptly to Downing whose strike is well saved by Foster. Zigic on for Hleb for Birmingham.

Goal73 min: GOAL!!! Birmingham City 1 Aston Villa 1 (OG Ridgewell)
Great work from Walker on the touchline who plays it back to Albrighton. Delfouneso helps it on to Collins whose hard shot is heading wide, but deflected past Foster by Liam Ridgewell. WE'VE GOT A GAME ON OUR HANDS NOW!

70 min: "A DOUBLE CHANGE" says Alan Parry, with palpable excitement. It's Barry Bannan on for Nigel Reo-Coker and Nathan Delfouneso on for John Carew.

Twitter68 min: A lovely stat from Opta's Twitter feed: "Roger Johnson is the sixth Birmingham defender or midfielder to score a Premier League goal since a striker last did (Cameron Jerome on Nov 9)" That's not a great advert for Birmingham City's strikers. But that's not really what Opta is for.

66 min: Carew's having a stinker. His lay-off to Kyle Walker is overcooked and the chance is gone.

65 min: Downing aims for the near post with a low shot. It's held well by Foster. Villa's players on the far post are mentally removing Stewart from their Christmas card list. It's ok, Stewart, it's a long time until Christmas, they'll probably forget.

64 min: Very soft free kick awarded to Villa, and Carr is booked, unjustly, for what was a good tackle. Villa free kick near the corner flag. Foster gets a fingertip on it as it flies towards the far post, and it's out for a corner.

63 min: "You do feel the psychology of beating Villa in the League Cup here..." says Don Goodman. That's an odd thing to say about something intagible.

61 min: Free kick to Villa. Dead centre, approx 32 yards out. Downing's effort is high and wide.

60 min: Carr, getting forward superbly again, pulls it back for Gardner. He has a good chance, but it's on the volley and charged down by Dunne.

59 min: Poor clearance from Ben Foster, but Birmingham get it away from the danger area with some committed defending. At the other end Hleb finds Derbyshire. He gets an excellent low shot towards the far corner but Friedel pulls off a fantastic save.

56 min: Free kick to Villa just outside the box. Petrov aims for the top corner but it's just over. Relpays show that Johnson handled two minutes earlier, and the ball came frighteningly close to the net.

53 min: Albrighton's long cross is beyond Carew. On the other side Clark collects and his cross deflects off Johnson and just wide of the far post. Agbonlahor, had he been alert to that, could have had a tap in.

52 min: My 1-0 prediction is looking delightful right about now. Birmingham love sitting on a narrow lead. Do you disagree? What do you think the final score be? Are the Birmingham fans correct in their song to Gerard Houllier: "you're getting sacked in the morning?" Why not email me your views here?

51 min: Villa go on the attack, but Foster hangs on to a dangerous high ball under pressure.

GoalGOAL!!! Birmingham 1 Aston Villa 0 (Johnson)
49 min: Collins and Reo-Coker jointly foul Hleb and Birmingham have a free kick 30 yards out. It's to Ferguson who puts in a low, hard shot. No danger, but it's deflected through to Murphy who helps the ball towards Johnson. His snap finish makes it 1-0. Scrappy!

47 min: Some slightly pathetic play from Downing there who wastes space in front of him and turns back towards his own half. His eventual attempt to play in Carew is rubbish, easily intercepted by the Birmingham defence.

46 min: Villa begin the second half with a goal kick. No, not really, it's a kick off. They lose the ball immediately, but Birmingham's long ball is out for a throw.

HALF TIME

45+2 min: Carr fouls Albrighton near the touchline, halfway between the corner and the area. There's a push in the box as the ball is delivered and Clattenberg blows for half time just afterwards. A great half, anyone's guess who's going to win it but Birmingham have certainly had the best of it, despite Villa hitting the bar three times. More of the same, please.

45+1 min: A lovely long ball from Fahey picks out Bentley on the right. His volleyed cross is poor.

45 min: Two mintues of added time will be played. Clark's long throw for Carew isn't reached by the big man.

44 min: Albrighton's shot at the other end is just wide. A little more accuracy here and we'd be looking at a thrilling 3-4 scoreline at half time.

43 min: Carr bombs down towards the touchline again and picks out Hleb whose low show it deflected away for a corner by Collins. It was going wide anyway but the big man with the strawberry blonde hair wasn't to know that. Birmingham make no use of the corner.

41 min: Heavy touch from Carew to nullify an increasingly rare Villa attack, putting an attempted lay off to Agbonlahor way out of the England player's reach.

38 min: "HABALLLL!" say the Birmingham supporters, wanting a penalty for a ball that struck Kyle Walker on the shoulder / midriff area. Moments later Albrighton looks to have had a little tug at Murphy, but Clattenberg isn't interested. From the Villa players' reaction I suspect Murphy made a meal of that.

37 min: Fahey breaks at speed and plays in Derbyshire in plenty of space but he runs it down a blind alley and the chance has gone.

36 min: Stephen Carr is a surprisingly refined footballer. His delicate chip plays in Fahey who's made a good run forward. His dangerous cross isn't converted but Walker is forced into a rushed and somewhat uncertain clearance.

32 min: A Birmingham free kick finds Roger Johnson unmarked on the wide edge of the six yard box. He gets a header across goal but there's no-one there to apply the finishing touch. Birmingham had men forward, but Johnson opted to aim for the penalty spot, behind where they were expecting the ball.

31 min: David Bentley tries a bold run in between two Villa defenders but is crowded out. Villa clear for a throw, somewhat unnecessarily. Bentley has them panicking.

29 min: Corner to Villa. Massively overhit, but Dunne done well and heads it back towards goal. It's headed clear of the line by a Birmingham defender.

28 min: Lovely move from Birmingham. Carr gets a difficult ball to Hleb on the right wing who pulls it back for Derbyshire in the box. He lays it off to Ferguson who gets a shot on target, but it's held by Brad Friedel.

26 min: Matt Derbyshire looks in ankle-based trouble. He was pulled off the pitch for treatment, attempted the "brave little soldier" run back on to shake it off, but pulled up immediately. He's on, and hobbling, at the moment, but Birmingham's striker subs are warming up.

23 min: Villa hit the bar part III. This time it's a mishit cross from Clark. What a blistering opening quarter to the game! This has been like a football detox after the stupor of West Ham v Arsenal last night.

22 min: There are two sides to Kyle Walker. He has tremendous pace and a lot of skill on the ball, but he can get found out defensively. In the Championship his pace was enough to cover his mistakes, probably not so at this level. He dallies over a high ball and Derbushire pressures him in to slipping over. He gets a low cross into the six yard box which is criminally missed by the onrushing Hleb.

21 min: Kyle Walker is taking his superb form from his loan spell at QPR into the Premier League. He gets another great cross in, having burst down the right on the overlap. This time Carew rises to head at the far post and slams the ball on to the bar.

20 min: Bentley, so far, is adding a touch of class to this Birmingham team. St Andrews hasn't seen the likes of him, his unmderhit backheels and well-tended hair, for a long time.

17 min: Birmingham beginning to assert themselves here, increasingly looking like the more motivated and steely team. Especially in midfield, where they're first to everything at the moment.

14 min: Derbyshire plays a one-two with Hleb before hitting an atrocious shot into the stand.

13 min: Stephen Carr puts good pressure on Agbonlahor, forcing him into an unworkable shot as he approaches the box.

12 min: David Bentley has started brightly for Birmingham, haring down the right flank at regular intervals. On this occasion he's stopped in his tracks by Reo-Coker who has tracked back well, but he looks to have the beating of left back Ciaran Clark.

9 min: Villa hit the bar! Walker, the roving full back on the overlap, stands up a great ball for Agbonlahor on the far post. His header is goalbound, but at a manageable height. Carew flicks it on, but it's marginally too high and clips the bar before heading out for a goal kick.

7 min: Dunne heads a Villa corner wide.

6 min: A nicely worked short corner and an excellent feint gives Bentley a chance to cross. His perfect ball reaches Johnson who heads just over. It's been an open and exciting start to the game.

4 min: Dunne scythes down Bentley as the loanee attempts to reach the byline and the Villa defender is booked. The free kick is cleared to Gardner whose long shot comes close, but is safely over the bar.

3 min: More confision at the back for Birmingham as Johnson and Foster almost get themselves into a "your ball", "no your ball!" tangle. Foster clears and offers some stern words to his defender.

2 min: Carew's long shot fizzes just wide. Great start from Villa.

1 min: Birmingham begin, and pass the ball back to Ben Foster immediately. What a charming way to begin a match. Foster almost has his Peter Enckelman moment by dallying too long on the ball, his fluffed clearance reaches Agbonlahor, but he misses the target from criminally close range. A let-off for the home side.

11:58: Let's get down to the serious business of making some terrible predictions. I am saying 1-0 to Birmingham and two red cards. Care to disagree? Or just want to congratulate me for making such a bold guess? Email me here.

11:55: It's Alan Parry and Don Goodman on commentary duties for the first televised game of the day. "This is the start of six hour of live football," he says, sounding a little bit sick at the prospect.

11:50: Richard Keys says that Sky are showing three games today "back to back to back". My colleague Jonathan Liew points out that this is impossible unless one of these games has two backs and no front. Wise words.

11:45: Here are the teams:

Birmingham (4-5-1): Foster; Carr, Johnson, Ridgewell, Murphy; Bentley, Ferguson, Hleb, Gardner, Fahey; Derbyshire.
Subs: Taylor, Bowyer, Phillips, Zigic, Beausejour, Mutch, Jiranek.

Aston Villa (4-4-2): Friedel; Walker, Dunne, Collins, Clark; Albrighton, Petrov, Reo-Coker, Downing; Carew, Agbonlahor.
Subs: Marshall, Pires, Delfouneso, Cuellar, Bannan, Hogg, Baker.

Referee: Mark Clattenburg (Tyne & Wear)

Reading through that Birmingham team fills me with a nameless dread. That is not a side which will put fear into the hearts of Premier League opponents. Perhaps David Bentley can cut through the monotony somewhat, and Alexander Hleb can begin to show the form which earned him a move to Barcelona not so long ago. Villa aren't much better, but at least in Agbonlahor and Downing they have a couple of players capable of producing something exciting.

11:40: Good morning friends and welcome to Devastating Derby Domination Day, as no-one is calling it. First up it's off to the Midlands for the second city derby, officially (in my mind) the least glamorous of all our treasured locally-determined grudge matches.

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Still, that shouldn't dim your enthusiasm for Birmingham v Villa. Sky are in danger of breaking their magical hype machine already, billing this as "the most important derby for years" (in Birmingham). They are perhaps not exaggerating. Villa are second bottom, which is surely a worry at this stage in the season. Birmingham are sitting slightly prettier in 16th which, to be fair, is about where you'd expect them to be.

Villa miss Ashley Young and and Emile Heskey through suspension, while David Bentley could make his debut for his new temporary club - City.

But don't let that put you off, let's all settle down for some early afternoon "tasty" challenges and an awful lot of red cards. Teams to follow.

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