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The ref has blown his whistle for full time.
Jamie Cureton is replaced by Jamie Guy.
Goal!! Birmingham have scored with Nicklas Bendtner putting it in the back of the net.
Kemal Izzet is being taken off, John White has come on in his place.
It's red. He's off. Cameron Jerome has been sent off.
Colchester are replacing Richard Garcia with Chris Iwelumo.
Mikael Forssell is being taken off, Cameron Jerome has come on in his place.
Dudley Campbell is being taken off, Sebastian Larsson has come on in his place.
Stephen Clemence is replaced by Nicklas Bendtner.
Goal!! Colchester have scored with Richard Garcia putting it in the back of the net.
The second half is under way with the score currently at 1 v 0.
Half time whistle is blown by K Stroud
Goal!! Dudley Campbell scores for Birmingham.
David Dunn is booked for unsporting behaviour.
It's 3pm on Saturday, August 5th, the match has kicked off.
Nicklas Bendtner has quickly become Birmingham City's new hero with his face-saving winning goal - just 24 hours after joining the Blues on loan from Arsenal. It wasn't very difficult to see why he is so highly-rated by Arsene Wenger. He has pace, determination and as demonstrated an eye for a goal. Bendtner's 79th minute effort eased a great deal of pressure on Birmingham and in particular manager Steve Bruce, who has virtually rebuilt the side from that which was relegated from the Premiership in May. Only a few minutes previously Birmingham had been reduced to ten players after Cameron Jerome was sent off only five minutes after replacing Mikael Forssell for a foul on Colchester's skipper, Karl Duguid. But Bendtner came racing to Birmingham's rescue as the fans were rapidly becoming frustrated with the performance of the home side. Sebastian Larsson, another on-loan recruit from Arsenal, provided the pass from which newcomer Stephen Kelly produced the cross to Bendtner. The Dane coolly controlled the ball before rifling his shot past Aidan Davison. It was a cruel blow to the U's who had battled back from going down to a 30th minute goal from DJ Campbell to equalise six minutes into the second half through Richard Garcia. As expected, Colchester played with a great deal of enthusiasm for the opening 30 minutes but then wilted under Birmingham's positive pressure only to bounce back following the equaliser. Kevin Watson was the cornerstone of the U's performance. They are going to find life difficult in the Championship with a side little changed from that which won promotion but gained a lot of heart from this performance. There is little doubt that their best spell came in the first half when some telling passes form George Elokobi often caught Birmingham off-guard. Better finishing on the part of newcomer Jamie Cureton and Garcia might well have made the game more interesting in this spell. But Garcia certainly brought the match to life with his 51st minute equaliser which left Birmingham shell-shocked. The sending off of Jerome dropped a huge cloud over St Andrew's which was only lifted by 19-year-old Bendtner when he produced the sharp-shooting which gave Birmingham the three points.
Corners
Fouls
Goal attempts
Shots off target
Offsides
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