• Date: Sat 18 August 2007
  • Venue: St Andrews Stadium
  • Ref: Halsey, M
  • Attendance: 24,961

Birmingham City vs West Ham United

Team Lineups

Birmingham City

Colin Doyle
Stuart Parnaby
Stephen Kelly
Radhi Jaidi
Liam Ridgewell
Olivier Kapo
Fabrice Muamba (Mat Sadler, 80)
Sebastian Larsson
Mehdi Nafti (Cameron Jerome, 75)
Garry O'Connor
Mikael Forssell (Gary McSheffrey, 65)

West Ham United

Robert Green
Jonathan Spector (Danny Gabbidon, 86)
Matthew Upson
Anton Ferdinand
George McCartney
Matthew Etherington
Mark Noble
Kieron Dyer
Hayden Mullins
Craig Bellamy
Bobby Zamora


Live Text Commentary
Full time
 

This time it is the end! The final whistle goes and West Ham have won 3 points at St Andrew's, and City keeper Doyle wont be happy with his part in the penalty, bringing down Bellamy when he was going nowhere.

90

Everyone thinks the game is over, but the referee seems to have fooled everyone, and as the crowd leaves, Birmingham take a free-kick and carry on.

88

Green comes out and punches away the danger for West Ham.

87

Sebastian Larsson drills a shot from long range, but his effort goes jsut wide of the West Ham goal.

86
Substitution
 

Danny Gabbidon comes on for Jonathan Spector

86

Bellamy's shot is caught in goal by Doyle, and time is running out for City.

84

Gary McSheffrey shoots direct from a free-kick and Green does well and tips the ball round the post.

82

George McCartney tries to keep the ball in the corner but he is tackled and the home fans get behind their team.

80

Birmingham are trying to squeeze pressure on the Hammers, but West Ham still on top and should be looking to start closing this game up.

79
Substitution
 

Fabrice Muamba is replaced by Mathew Sadler for Birmingham.

77

Matthew Etherington has a free-kick but his cross from the right doesn't create any trouble in the danger area.

75
Yellow Card
 

Olivier Kapo is booked for a foul on George McCartney.

75
Substitution
 

Mehdi Nafti is replaced by Cameron Jerome.

74

Going into the final quarter of an hour, and Birmingham will need to do something major if they are to get back in this game.

70

Sebastian Larsson shot from distance is blocked by Matthew Upson

70
Goal
 

Noble scores from the spot, and despite the way the penalty came around, West Ham do deserve their lead.

68
Yellow Card
 

Liam Ridgewell is booked for a foul on Bellamy.

68

Bellamy goes down in the box after a challenge from Colin Doyle, there seems to be minimal contact but the referee decides that it is enough to award a penalty.

65
Substitution
 

Mikael Forssell is replaced by Gary McSheffrey as Birmingham look to change things around.

65

Despite not hitting the target as often as they should be, West Ham are certainly the team on top with the chances they are creating.

63

Zamora receives the ball from an Aton Ferdinand cross, but the West Ham striker puts his effort over the bar.

61

Noble fouls Fabrice Muamba and City are awarded a free-kick, the crowd seem a bit restless at the lack of genuine goal mouth chances in this game so far.

58

Approaching the hour mark of this game, and perhaps Steve Bruce and Alan Curbishley will start thinking about substitutions to influence this game.

55
Yellow Card
 

Nafti is booked for a foul on Craig Bellamy.

55

A fair opening ten minutes in this second half, both teams looking a bit more open than they did in the first.

52

Noble shows great skill and gets the ball to Bellamy, but he fires his shot wide, Noble has certainly been impressive so far.

49

Aton Ferdinand is down, he seems a bit dazed, Hammers fans will be hoping he can run this off.

48

A Zamora chance from the edge of the box after an Etherington corner, but the effort goes over the bar.

47

Mullins fires in a shot 20 yards out, but Radhi Jaidi does well and gets himself in the way to block.

Second half
 

The game restarts, and there were signs in the first half that this game can certainly produce some moments of quality in the second 45.

Half time
 

The referee blows his whistle and both teams go into the break having not created many chances of note, though West Ham will still be thinking of the penalty thay could have had after a foul on Dyer early on.

45

Radhi Jaidi has a great shot from 12 yards, but the effort is well saved by Robert Green.

45
Yellow Card
 

Jonathan Spector is booked after a foul on Sebastian Larsson.

43

Noble puts in a good inawinging corner, but Colin Doyle comes out and claims well.

42

Referee Halsey has awarded alot of free-kicks this half, but in a game of few chances, it creates a possiblity of either side creating something from a set piece.

39

Comming into the final five minutes of this first half, and both sides will not want to lose a goal now after keeping things so tight.

36

Both sides have certainly uped their performances in the game, and chances are starting to come, there's hope yet for the St Andrew's faithful.

35
Yellow Card
 

Stuart Parnaby is booked for a foul on George McCartney.

34

Fabrice Muamba, after a good counter attack, is in space, but he takes an age to control the ball and cant make anything out of the chance.

31

Noble has the chance to shoot from a free-kick, but his shot hits the wall.

31

Half an hour gone and neither side has had much to shout about, the fans are hoping that this changes very quickly.

29

Zamora looks like he goes to shoot from the free-kick, but he cleverly slips the ball to Noble, but Nafti spots the danger and gets the tackle in.

26

Birmingham though, counter-attack, and with a dangerous ball put into the box, Mikael Forssell just cant quite reach it and a good passage of play there.

25

Noble has a free-kick from long range, it goes under the wall and hits the post!

23

Bellamy and Zamara between them have alot of pace, and the Hammers should be looking to perhaps utilise this, but at the moment, that hasn't been happining.

20

Neither side haven't been able to find that killer instinct yet, both sides are stringing together some good passes, but neither team has yet been able to find that final ball.

17

Matthew Upson will be looking to impress today as he plays against his former club, and so far he, along with his team mates, have kept out Birmingham.

14

Parnaby has a good effort from 20 yards after he found some space, unfortuantely for the game, that has been the best chance so far.

10

The crowd are quiet and the game has yet to really get going, but all it takes is one moment of magic to change a game.

7

Dyer goes down in the box after a good ball in from Bellamy, but the referee waves play on.

6
Yellow Card
 

Hayden Mullins is booked for a foul on Sebastian Larsson

5

Neither side has been able to create an early chance as the game starts in a relatively slow tempo.

2

A couple of milestones in today's game, Parnaby makes his 100th career appearance while Zamora makes his 300th!

Kickoff
 

Mark Halsey is the man in charge today at St Andrew's, and both teams will be looking to register their first win of the Premiership campaign.

Awaiting Kickoff
 

Dyer makes his debut for the Hammers but Scott Parker and Lucas Neill are out as West Ham begin with: Green, Spector, Ferdinand, Upson, McCartney, Dyer, Noble, Mullins, Etherington, Bellamy, Zamora

Awaiting Kickoff
 

Olivier Kapo shakes off an injury and starts, but Queudrue, Johnson,Taylor, Saddler and Schmitz are out as Birmingham start with: Doyle, Parnaby, Jaidi, Ridgewell, Kelly, Larsson, Muamba, Nafti, Kapo, O'Connor, Forssell