Birmingham City 4 - 1 Tottenham Hotspur

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Saturday Mar 01 2008 03:00

Mikael Forssell has not been blessed with much luck in recent seasons, but the former Chelsea striker returned to form with his first hat-trick in three seasons as he master-minded the demolition of below-par Tottenham.

Carling Cup winners Spurs suffered a hangover as they had seemingly failed to recover from their Wembley celebrations and they were never in contention against a Blues side which produced their best win of the season to boost their prospects of avoiding relegation.

It was their first win since Boxing Day and the first in nine games as they trampled Tottenham into defeat.

In the process Birmingham produced their first double over Spurs since the 1975-76 season and only their second at home since Alex McLeish took charge.

But it was Forssell, who has suffered a series of serious leg injuries over the last few seasons, who reproduced some of his best finishing to consign the visitors to a heavy defeat.

Spurs paid the penalty for trying to protect their team in preparation for their UEFA Cup game in midweek.

They started without the likes of Jonathan Woodgate, Ledley King, Robbie Keane, Jermaine Jenas and Aaron Lennon.

The plan quickly back-fired when Birmingham stormed into a sixth minute lead following a left-wing corner from Gary McSheffrey on his recall to the side.Liam Ridgewell knocked on the ball to James McFadden who put over across which the alert Forssell headed home as the Tottenham defence was guilty of ball-watching.

Spurs never recovered from this shock set-back and they could consider themselves unlucky not to equalise when the casual Dimitar Berbatov smashed a curling shot against the post.

With Steed Malbranque attempting to get Spurs back into the game Birmingham's shaky defence had a few anxious moments but the game was sealed early in the second half when Seb Larsson scored direct from a free-kick.Didier Zokora was the guilty player when he fouled David Murphy. Larsson curled his shot around Tottenham's defensive wall and into the top near corner of the net, well out of the reach of Paul Robinson.

Four minutes later Forssell, who had earlier been foiled from scoring by a brilliant save from Robinson, made no mistake after 58 minutes when he scored from a tight angle.

Larsson's cross was deflected by Zokora forcing Robinson to push the ball out to the feet of Forssell, who rammed it back into the net.

Tottenham were now all at sea and McFadden slipped a pass into the path of Forssell, who had no difficulty completing his well deserved hat-trick with a right-footed shot past Robinson.

Substitute Jenas popped up with a last-minute goal for Spurs, but it was only a token effort for a side living on the glory of their Wembley win last weekend.

  • 90
    Full time at St. Andrews and Birmingham deservedly take the three points.
  • 90
    Birmingham look to have taken three the points now as the game goes into injury time.
  • 89
    GOAL! BIRMINGHAM CITY 4 - 1 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR (JENAS) Jermaine Jenas grabs a consolation for Spurs from close range.
  • 87
    Birmingham are showboating now, subs Cameron Jerome and Zarate both combine to walk the ball around the Tottenham players and still manage to keep the ball.
  • 86
    Substitute Mauro Zarate almost made it 5-0 moments ago with a superb run and shot but Paul Robinson did well to get down to his right and turn his shot wide.
  • 84
    Cameron Jerome and Mauro Zarate come onto replace James McFadden and Mikael Forssell.
  • 81
    GOAL! BIRMINGHAM 4 - 0 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR (FORSSELL) Mikael Forssell scores his first club hat-rick to put the game well beyond Spurs.
  • 78
    Tom Huddlestone strikes a long range effort way over the bar and stands with his head in his hands to completely sum up his side's afternoon.
  • 76
    Tottenham have stepped up a gear and are putting the pressure on Birmingham. The home side survived though as a floated corner fell to Darren Bent who headed poorly over the bar.
  • 74
    A brilliant save by Maik Taylor to keep his side three goals up from a clever Berbatov effort, like I said before I don't think its going to be Tottenham's day unfortunately.
  • 72
    Chris Gunter replaces Didier Zokora.
  • 70
    Birmingham continue to push forward this time it was McFadden down the left hand side, but his dangerous cross was met by Liam Ridgewell's safe head.
  • 68
    Stuart Parnaby replaces Gary McSheffrey.
  • 65
    It doesn't look like it's going to be Spurs' day today, Jenas played a clever ball to Robbie Keane to his left, with Keane cutting inside and curling a shot to the far post only for Maik Taylor to be right behind it with safe hands.
  • 63
    Birmingham are keeping possession of the ball with great confidence and are not taking their foot off the gas. There could be more goals in this game.
  • 62
    The game is as good as over and Tottenham's Carling Cup hangover begins.
  • 59
    GOAL! BIRMINGHAM CITY 3 - 0 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR (FORSSELL) Mikael Forssell smashes the ball into the back of the net from the tightest of angles to bag a brace and put his team three goals to the good.
  • 55
    GOAL! BIRMINGHAM CITY 2 - 0 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR (GOAL) Seb Larsson curls in a free kick from the left side of the box to put Birmingham 2-0 up.
  • 52
    Alan Hutton did well to get down the right once more, striding past Murphy and McSheffrey the Scotsman's cross disappointingly didn't even get past the first man and Liam Ridgewell cleared to safety.
  • 49
    Didier Zokora sloppily gave the ball away to James McFadden about twenty five yards out with the Scot driving a blazing shot unluckily straight at Paul Robinson.
  • 48
    A terrific save by Paul Robinson to keep Spurs still in the game, a save right out of the top draw from Robinson after he denied Mikael Forssell from just 6 yards out.
  • 46
    Tottenham make a double half time substitution, Robbie Keane and Jermaine Jenas both come on to replace Steed Malbranque and Teemu Tainio.
  • 46
    Birmingham City get the game back underway at St. Andrews.
  • 45
    The half time whistle goes and Birmingham lead at the break through a Mikael Forssell goal.
  • 44
    Tottenham are surging forward in desperation of grabbing an equaliser before the half time interval. They definately look threatening but they may have to wait until the second half to get back into the game.
  • 43
    Tom Huddlestone completely wasted a free kick in a decent position and sent it straight onto the head of Damien Johnson at the near post who cleared the ball from danger.
  • 40
    James McFadden received his final warning from Lee Probert for a late challenge on Pascal Chimbonda who unsurprisingly made a meal of the tackle and thoroughly exaggerated his injury. Momentarily prior to getting up and running back up with play.
  • 38
    Jamie O'Hara just can't stop shooting. This time he tried vigorously to get the ball onto his better left foot and eventually found a yard to pull the trigger but his drilled shot was easily saved by Maik Taylor who got down comfortably.
  • 35
    Best chance of the game so far here at St. Andrews and it fell to Spurs. Steed Malbranque should have done alot better as the ball was sqaured to him by O'Hara, but Radhi Jaidi did well to put the midfielder off balance.
  • 32
    Another chance for the away side, this time it was O'Hara who saw an opportunity to shoot as the ball bounced out of the area but the ball was on his wrong foot and it flew over the bar.
  • 30
    Juane Ramos' side have more than definately upped their game with a distinct increase in work rate, Berbatov is getting more and more involved in the game and Birmingham are finding it difficult to deal with him.
  • 27
    Tottenham won a free kick in a good position for a ball into the area, but O'Hara's cross into the box failed to be attacked with intent by Pascal Chimbonda and Dimitar Berbatov.
  • 25
    Alan Hutton made one of his pumping runs forward from fullback down the right hand side, he managed to get the better of fellow countryman David Murphy but his decent cross into the penalty area was caught by comfortably by Maik Taylor.
  • 22
    Darren Bent is caught inches offside with a very late flag from the linesman after a precise ball through from Berbatov, he would have been through on goal but the linesman's flag was up.
  • 20
    Tottenham have eventually woke up twenty minutes into the game and look threatening going forward despite missing Lennon and Keane.
  • 17
    Contrary to Berbatov's seemingly disinterest so far, he effortlessly picked up the ball around twenty five yards out and struck a superb shot from just outisde the box and smashed his shot directly off the post. Birmingham survive the backlash.
  • 14
    Jamie O'Hara looked to take the game by the scruff of the neck moments ago as he authoritatively picked up the ball on the half way line and drove forward with intent, he found a yard and pulled the trigger but his shot missed the left hand upright.
  • 13
    Tottenham under pressure at the back with Alan Hutton almost turning the ball into his own net with a header out for a corner, Paul Robinson was motionless but Spurs escaped an embarrassing moment.
  • 11
    Dimitar Berbatov has been completely missing so far for Spurs, despite an early long range effort that went wide of the mark the Bulgarian has been totally ineffective in the opening 11 minutes of the game.
  • 9
    Seb Larsson was lucky to get away without recieving the first booking of the game after he clumsily tripped Jamie O'Hara in the middle of park.
  • 7
    GOAL!! BIRMINGHAM CITY 1 - 0 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR (FORSSELL) Mikael Forssell puts his side ahead after just seven minutes with a free header just inside the six yard box after Liam Ridgewell knocked on a McFadden corner.
  • 5
    Birmingham hit Spurs on the counter attack and forced the Carling Cup winners onto their back foot, with James McFadden causing Alan Hutton a problem but Didier Zokora was their to clean up inside his own penalty area.
  • 4
    Tottenham have started the brighter side here, with Dimitar Berbatov going close early on with a long range effort.
  • 3
    A little tweak to the Spurs formation with Tom Huddlestone taking up a more central midfield role with Didier Zokora looking to be occupying a centre half position alongside Younes Kaboul.
  • 2
    The home fans here at St. Andrews are showing their support to last weekends red card victim Martin Taylor all around the ground.
  • 1
    Referee Lee Probert gets the game underway here at a bright but windy St. Andrews in Birmingham.
  • 0
    The referee today is Lee Probert (Wiltshire).
  • 0
    Juande Ramos has ringed the changes from the team that brought an end to Spurs' nine year wait for silverware in the Carling Cup final. Woodgate, Keane, Jenas, King and Lennon are all replaced by Kaboul, Bent, O'Hara, Huddlestone and Tainio.
  • 0
    Alex McLeish makes two changes to the side that drew against Arsenal last weekend, Martin Taylor starts his three match ban and is replaced by Radhi Jaidi at the back, and the injured Olivier Kapo is replaced by Gary McSheffrey.
  • 0
    Tottenham Hotspur Line-up: Robinson, Hutton, Zokora, Kaboul, Chimbonda, Malbranque, O'Hara, Tainio, Huddlestone, Berbatov, Bent
  • 0
    Birmingham City Line-up: Maik Taylor, Kelly, Jaidi, Ridgewell, Murphy, Larsson, Johnson, Muamba, McSheffrey, McFadden, Forssell

Statistics

Birmingham City
Shots on target 10
Shots off target 3
Shots off bar/post 0
Fouls 14
Offsides 0
Corners 5

Tottenham Hotspur
Shots on target 10
Shots off target 8
Shots off bar/post 1
Fouls 10
Offsides 3
Corners 6

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