Arsenal versus Birmingham City – Carling Cup Final: First half Review (Part 2)
In the 16th minute of the match, Arsenal almost paid a heavy price for slack defending as http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Keith-Fahey-c20526 tested Wojech Szczesny’s goal mouth awareness inside Arsenal’s penalty area. The Polish shot stopper didn’t disappoint as he comfortably dealt
with the Birmingham City midfielder’s curled shot.
In the 20th minute, Andrey Arshavin went on a solo run towards http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Liam-Ridgewell-c22240 with ease but he skewed his eventual shot well wide off the mark as the ball ended up nearer to the corner flag rather
than the Blues’ goal.
In the 22nd minute, Arsenal was on the back once again as confusion between http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Laurent-Koscielny-c21742 almost allowed Gardener to sneak in behind the Gunners back four line. However, the Swiss center back, Djourou took responsibility
of the situation and fired the ball away with a well hit clearance as the score line remained at 0-0.
In the 25th minute, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Stephen-Carr-c34141 rose above his peers to head the ball away for the Blues as Arsenal failed to force
a breakthrough.
In the 27th minute, Birmingham tried to play in Nikola Zigic with a first time cross but Laurent Koscielny was on hand to save the Gunners with a well timed header as the referee pointed towards a Birmingham City corner kick. It was http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Barry-Ferguson-c7311
who rose above Clichy to head the ball on but the vital touch was provided by Zigic who headed the ball past Szczesny to give Birmingham a crucial one goal lead in the Carling Cup final at Wembley stadium. It was a well hit header by the ex-Valencia target
man as Arsenal were left shell shocked by their weak defensive display from the corner kick.
In the 31st minute of the match, Birmingham looked dangerous on the counter attack once again as http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lee-Bowyer-c21864 went past Koscielny but his whipped in cross went to waste as none of the Birmingham’s strikers anticipated the flight of the ball in time
to make contact with it.
In the 34th minute of the first half, Nikola Zigic had a brilliant chance to add to Birmingham’s one goal lead as he was played in by Craig Gardener. However, the Serbian forward failed to get the better of Szczesny this time as the young goalkeeper
palmed the bulky center forward’s shot away.
In the 38th minute of the match, Arsenal finally scored their equalizer. The move came about after a fantastic shot on goal by Jack Wilshire. Unluckily the Englishman’s shot struck the cross bar. However, the rebound fell to Arshavin who played
the ball into Robin Van Persie. The Dutch striker produced a fine finish as the score line reached, 1-1 at the Wembley stadium.
In the 41st minute of the match, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sebastian-Larsson-c32733 became the first player to get booked by referee Mike Dean. The Swedish midfielder was shown the yellow card as a result of his un-sportsman like conduct with the match officials after they awarded
Arsenal a free kick.
The Gunners ended the half strongly as it was http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Samir-Nasri-c32360 who unleashed an extremely vicious shot towards Birmingham’s goal but the ex-Manchester United goalkeeper Ben Foster dealt with it adeptly as the first half came to a close with the score line at
1-1.
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