English Premier League: Match Review: Aston Villa versus Birmingham City – Part 1
Birmingham’s line up: Foster, Carr, Johnson, Dann, Ridgewell, Larsson, Gardner, Ferguson, Fahey, Hleb, Zigic. Subs: Taylor, Bowyer, Phillips, Jerome, Michel, Parnaby and Beausejour
Aston Villa’s line up: Friedel, Luke Young, Dunne, Collins, Clark, Downing, Reo-Coker, Sidwell, Warnock, Ashley Young, Heskey. Subs: Guzan, Ireland, Carew, Delfouneso, Cuellar, Bannan and Lichaj.
Villa looked to play route one football for most of the first half as they knocked long balls to Emile Heskey. The striker was isolated at times in attack but he tried his best to make something out of the passes that were thrown his way.
Birmingham had a good spell of possession in from the 30th minute to the 34th minute as Hleb and co tried to penetrate the miserly Villa defence.
However it was Villa who cleared the ball in the end as the attack came to a halt. Despite the fact that Villa opened the match with much more ambition it was Birmingham who controlled much of the ball once the game had settled down. Zigic
played in attack for Birmingham but the Blues were careful in their use of the striker whose main ability has often been seen as heading the ball.
At the 36th minute mark, Birmingham had a genuine appeal for a hand ball inside the Aston Villa penalty area but the referee waved their protests away. From the replays it was confirmed that Reo Coker had handled
the ball while trying to control it in the penalty area. In the 38th minute of the match, Nikola Zigic was given a yellow card for elbowing Aston Villa’s defender Collins.
The centre back was left on the floor due to the impact to his head but he recovered in time to resume his defensive duties. Right before the end of the first half, Stephen Warnock was shown a yellow card by the referee for his dangerous
challenge on Alexander Hleb. The first half eventually came to a conclusion with the score line at 0-0. It was a frustrating first half for both the sides which was dominated in terms of possession by Birmingham City. There were a total of three yellow cards
in the first half two for Birmingham and one for Villa as Zigic, Gardiner and Warnock all were booked by the referee.
Birmingham resumed their dominance as the second half got under way as Kevin Fahey burst into action down the left hand side of midfield. However the midfielders shot was a piece of cake for Brad Friedel who caught it comfortably in the
Villa goal. In the 54thminute of the second half, Birmingham got a free kick through which they drifted a ball into the Aston Villa penalty area. Despite the fact that they had plenty of men inside the danger area, Birmingham failed to connect with
the free kick as Richard Dunne cleared the ball in the end. Villa’s first proper shot on target came in the 56th minute as Reo Coker’s shot was well handled by Ben Foster inside the Birmingham goal.
In the 57th minute of the match, Emile Heskey had a glorious opportunity to head his team into the lead but the English centre forward headed the ball wide of the mark. In the 58th minute,
Villa made their first change of the match as Barry Bannan came on to replace Steve Sidwell in the Aston Villa midfield area. After making their first substitution of the match, Aston Villa came back into the game strongly as they tried to take control of
the ball more often than not.
Birmingham City responded with the change of their own as Hleb was brought off, the ex-Arsenal midfielder was replaced by Cameron Jerome.
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