Huddersfield Town 0-0 Birmingham City: Heroes, villains & player ratings

Birmingham City made it seven games without a win and six without scoring a goal following the 0-0 draw with Huddersfield Town on Wednesday evening.

It wasn’t a game that you’ll be racing to the club shop to get on DVD anytime soon. Both teams had half chances, with the home side having the better but a point a piece was probably the fair result on reflection.

Carlos Coberan’s Terriers very nearly snatched it in stoppage time when Fraizer Campbell struck the post from range but luckily from a Birmingham perspective, it clipped the outside rather than the inside.

The result stopped the three match losing streak for Lee Bowyer’s side and on paper a point and a clean sheet away from home against a side in the play-off places isn’t half bad. But, firing another blank comes once again as the biggest cause for concern.

Heroes

Defence

Lee Bowyer has addressed the recent defensive problems over the last week or so and looks to have once again steadied the ship.

The back-line now look like the one that started the season so positively and are quite clearly showing that they are the strength of this team.

Dion Sanderson has solidified his spot in the three and has hardly put a foot wrong since his introduction and Marc Roberts looks much more comfortable alongside him and George Friend.

The entire defence, in truth, looked really solid on the night and limited the Terriers to shots from range. For all the faults of the team, these lot deserve credit.

Birmingham fans

They haven’t witnessed their side win a game of football since 10th September and had pre-sold over 1,100 tickets for the game on Wednesday with many more purchasing theirs on the day.

It was a bloody rubbish game of football in truth but the Bluenoses were loud and proud from the off as they always are. After a torrid recent run and an even worse last few years, you can do nothing but tip your hat to the fans who continue to follow in such numbers.

Villains

Strikers

Same old same old for Blues. Six whole games without scoring a goal. Well over 550 minutes of football since they last found the net. You have to go back further than that to find the time any Birmingham player last found the net from open play.

Don’t get this twisted, this isn’t all down to the strikers. Giving them half a chance would have been a start tonight. There were half-chances but none that you’d really argue were clear-cut.

The entire team needs to do more. But a striker’s job is to score goals and none have done that now for what feels like a lifetime.

Football

There’s a phrase that gets banded about on a well known football show on Sky - “Football is always the winner.”

Football was far from the winner tonight and for those hardy lot that managed to sit through the game without drifting off, we salute you.

Player ratings

Birmingham City (3-5-2): Sarkic 7; Sanderson 7, Roberts 7, Friend 7; Graham 6, Pedersen 6, Gardner 6, McGree 6, Sunjic 6; Jutkiewicz 6 (70; Deeney N/A), Chong 6

Next up

Birmingham return to St Andrew’s on Saturday 23rd October to take on Swansea City in a 15:00 kick-off. The Swans beat Blues’ rivals West Brom 2-1 on Wednesday evening.