By Todd Grainger
December 29 2005

On tuesday morning i was dreading writing up the match report for the blues, thinking of a heavy defeat but after the performance and result of last night i cannot wait!! After only 5 minutes it looked the same old story for the home faithfull`s when Ruud van Nistelrooy jabbed it past the helpless Maik Taylor , but a suprise was on the cards for the Blues when 13 minutes later when left-back Jamie Clapham scored his first ever goal for the club to equalize the proceedings, 8 minutes after the restart wonderkid Wayne Rooney restored there lead when Alan Smith fed the ball into the middle for Rooney to take in his stride, before firing a low left-footed shot past Maik Taylor, to make it 2-1 to the visitors, Walter Pandiani came on to make way for U21 international Jermaine Pennant, after being on the field for only 3 minutes Pandiani was un-marked at the far post when he calmly slotted home for the blues on 78 minutes, the blues had few and far between chances with the remaining 12 minutes and hung on for a vital 3 points.


Fergie says blues deserved a draw :-

"Birmingham showed great spirit. If they want to survive, they will have to do that. A lot of teams lift their game when Manchester United come to town.

"We had some good chances but Birmingham worked very hard for their point. A draw was a fair result.

"It is disappointing to draw after twice leading. The defending for the second goal in particular was very poor. We can't accept that kind of defending.

"In fairness, we had a lot of chances to finish it off and I had a worry within myself at 2-1 when we didn't get the third goal that we could suffer for it."

Bruce Delighted at comback:-

"We played really well at Tottenham at the weekend and you can see a little bit of confidence coming back into the team," continued the Blues boss.

"There have been a few harsh words said after Manchester City a couple of weeks ago but I've had a great response since.

"We haven't quite had the results that we'd liked but I think today we've witnessed an excellent game and a really good performance that I was really, really pleased with.

"There has been a lot written that there was not enough spirit and desire but they have answered that tonight."