St Andrew’s, home of Birmingham City based just on the outskirts of Birmingham city centre, believe it or not… Nicknamed the “Blues” after playing in red… just kidding, Blue! 1st February 2020 and Birmingham were at home to Nottingham Forest. Nottingham Forest fighting for automatic promotion to the Premier League for the first time in 21 years whereas Birmingham stuck at the lower end of mid table.
I arrived at Nottingham train station and now for Birmingham New Street. £13 return? If you’re reading this and want to know how to save money on trains? Final Answer: “Railcard!” I arrived at Birmingham New Street and now for the 25 minute walk to the ground. Birmingham isn’t a City I have a good knowledge of having not visited very often but I must say “Very nice!” Arriving at the ground and the wait for the ticket office… zzzzzz… £30 to watch this championship clash! Deal! Sat pretty close to the away section, this could get tasty!
Kick Off! Forest starting the better with Birmingham fans already becoming frustrated, however, a mistake from forest’s keeper Brice Samba gave Birmingham’s Lukas Jutkiewicz a guilt edge chance to take the lead but he couldn’t get the ball out of his feet quick enough and the ball was cleared by Forest. “We’re Birmingham we’re Birmingham we’re Birmingham CITY!” Fine voice from the Birmingham City fans now!
18 minutes gone and a Joe Lolley header set Tiago Silva free on the left hand side for Forest. He drove into the box, cut inside and shot at goal… and he found the net and sent the Forest fans into dreamland!! Forest continued to dominate possession in the first half but couldn’t find the second goal, you could say that Forest had magic all around the pitch eh Forest fans? “We are Brummies, Yes we are!” began to echo around the area I was sat.
Birmingham offered little in the match and looked in grave danger as a foul by the keeper Lee Camp gave Forest a penalty. The man sat next to me said “The manager’s trying to get sacked!” Why would any manager want to lose his job? I guess the pay off would be nice? Lewis Grabban stepped up… and OH DEAR! A poor penalty to say the least. Straight after the penalty and Birmingham seemed to wake up, 2 minutes after the penalty miss the ball was put in to the Forest box at the far post and was met by Jutkiewicz who headed across goal and met by Scott Hogan 4 yards out… He’s scored on his Debut!!! 1-1! And that’s how it finished at the break.
Second Half, Forest continued to dominate the match, but a header from Jutkiewicz nearly gave Birmingham the lead. 53 minutes gone and Lewis Grabban had beaten the offside trap from a misplaced shot… He’s hit the bar!!! Goal Kick! Big chance there for Forest. The game started to become an end to end affair. Grabban had another chance… cleared off the line! Forest looked the more likely out of the 2, I was certain that there was another goal in this and I believed it would be Forest. 74 minutes on the clock and Birmingham have a corner. Ball in flicked towards goal, Kristian Pedersen was there… and the ball rolled over the line and Birmingham had the lead!! 2-1! The Birmingham fans sat around me began to charge towards the Forest fans in delight. Forest tried and tried but would ultimately fail to equalise, a big win for Birmingham and a damaging defeat for Forest.
FT: Birmingham City 2-1 Nottingham Forest
Ratings
- Atmosphere: 6/10 – A fairly OK atmosphere from both sets of fans, I thought Forest edged the atmosphere with more singing but a good one overall.
- The Ground: 7/10 – It’s a nice ground, definitely fit for Premier League football.
- Expense: 6/10 – £30 is ok I suppose in this day and age and it was a decent game and I was happy I ticked the ground off.
- Overall Experience: 8/10 – I enjoyed the match and thought I had picked a good fixture to attend, got to see Birmingham City Centre for the first time in ages, overall very pleased with the day as a whole.
27/40