Source: Telegraph
Birmingham City 1 West Ham United 0: match report
The prelude to this match had more intrigue, plots and subplots than a week in Westminster. [LNB]In the blue corner, Birmingham City continue their good form in spite of the fact that their new Chinese owners are in the midst of a ongoing war of words with their former chairmen, Davids Sullivan and Gold, who in turn tabled an offer for West Ham this week. [LNB]Birmingham City 0 Stoke City 0: match reportBirmingham City v Stoke City previewIn the claret corner, West Ham were hoping to stay focussed despite the dual background distractions of a potential takeover and Dean Ashton's retirement, all on Gianfranco Zola's 50th Premier League game in charge; and in the end it was Lee Bowyer who sent his former side into relegation zone, and on the day he faced Keiron Dyer as an opponent for the time since their fight in 2005. [LNB]Blimey, it was close run thing though. Even if the match was dying out when West Ham finally got their act together, Zola's side made it die hard, with such a sustained onslaught on the Birmingham goal that it seemed almost inconceivable that they would not score. That they didn't was down to Scott Dann and Roger Johnson, Birmingham's centre-backs, who were once again superb. [LNB]Had West Ham done so, Birmingham would have had only themselves to blame. Much of the the season so far has been spent with backs-to-the-wall, but this time they enjoyed all of the offensive possession, and they had been given more chances to score than a cashed-up university student in Freshers' week. [LNB]Cameron Jerome should have had a brace, for starters, but he headed a good cross from Barry Ferguson over from inside six yards seconds before the break. Worse, he failed to put the game to bed at the end, when he shot wide in a one-on-one with Green. Christian Benitez found the net, but the linesman's flag had swished up, signalling the offside. [LNB]A speculative effort from Alessandro Diamanti came as a shot across the Birmingham bows five minutes into the second half, and it must have registered, for almost immediately Larsson pounced on Junior Stanislas in midfield, the ball spilled and Jerome found Benitez in the area. The striker offloaded to Bowyer as the West Ham defence descended on him, and the midfielder calmly sidefooted past Green. [LNB]West Ham countered, and Scott Parker was fouled on the break, but the referee demanded play-on, leaving the apoplectic West Ham captain flopping on the floor like a grounded fish as rage sent his body into spasms. Goodness knows what would have happened if Ridgewell had scored moments later, but the defender, practically standing inside the goal, managed to put the ball over the bar. [LNB]Would West Ham punish him? They came damn close. Dyer came on, and immediately hit the post, then Diamanti tickled a free-kick just over, the highly strung Italian tearing an enormous gash in the front of his shirt in frustration. The curtain came down in a haze of last-ditch tackles, with Birmingham incredibly now four points from fourth place. [LNB]
