Match Preview – Birmingham City v Blackpool Championship Play Off 2nd Leg
Birmingham City v Blackpool
Birmingham City and Blackpool are set to do battle again for the right to face West Ham United in the play off final at Wembley stadium on 19th May. Blackpool hold a slender 1 goal advantage from the first leg and they should be bringing a bigger lead to the 2nd leg in all honesty with the amount of ball they had and chances they wasted. So will they rue those missed chances in what could be a wild Wednesday night at St Andrews with a sell out crowd sure to be at their vocal best and loud enough to intimidate any opponent into submission. Birmingham City will need to play a lot better than they did in the first game to ge the desired result in fact they really couldn’t play as bad as they did in that game so if they are to turn things around something that is not beyond the realms of probality the players need put in a performance we know they can. Blackpool will be no pushovers you can be sure that manager Holloway will have his team up for the game but will have a bit of a dilemma to contend with has to whether to go for another to kill the tie off or to sit back and try to defend the 1-0 lead all will become clearer come 7.45pm.
St Andrews
We are in for one hell of a night whoever the winners are and the scene is set for a night game under the floodlights with a sell out crowd bringit on roaring on the teams lets hope for the atmosphere that can only be generated at a packed passionate St Andrews
Birmingham City Manager Chris Hughton will have no choice but to go for the win tonight so at least his team selection should be an attacking one with no new injuries to report from friday night’s game. Stephen Carr, Keith Fahey, Steven Caldwell and Boaz Myhill all still remain sidelined but we could see a return to the startng line up for Nikola Zigic alongside Marlon king in a more attacking formation.
“I do have options in the squad and I have already decided my side,” added Hughton.
“It’s about the performance on the day and I know if we play well enough, then we are capable of beating anybody in this division.”
“I don’t think it will be particularly the formation that will win or lose us the game, it will be the performance.”
Blackpool also could have the same squad to choose from with only Ian Evatt picking up a knock but expected to be fit for the return game. Boss Ian Holloway could make a few changes to the starting line up with a more cautious line up after being beaten 3-0 on their last visit to St Andrews but you can be sure he will know what is expected to progress
Goalkeeper Matt Gilks said
“We’re going to St Andrew’s now wanting to win another game, that’s the way we’re looking at it,” he admitted.
“To go down there one in front already is good but we’re not going to lie on that. We’ll go down there with a game plan. If we play like we did in the first leg then we’ve got a great chance.”
Head to Head stats @ Birmingham
Birmingham City Won 24 … Blackpool won 11 … Drawn 8.
Possible Teams :
Birmingham City : Doyle, Murphy, Ibanez, Davies, Ramage, Burke, Mutch, Spector, Townsend, Zigic, King
Blackpool : Gilks, Evatt, Eardley, Crainey, Ferguson,Angle, Dobbie, Ince, Phillips(M), Taylor-Fletcher
Referee : Chris Foy
Prediction : Birmingham City 3 … Blackpool 1 
By Blues Brother (Member of birminghamcityforum.co.uk )
Match Preview – Blackpool v Birmingham City Championship Play Off 1st Leg
Blackpool v Birmingham City
Blackpool and Birmingham City come face to face in this Championship Play Off 1st leg tie to see who can gain the advantage going into the 2nd leg in 5 days time and so enhance their chances of an immediate return to the Premier league. Birmingham City hold the advantage on head to heads this season winning 1 with the other drawn but like we all know that stands for nothing in these sorts of games, it’s all about nerve and whom can handle the pressure best. Play off’s are renowned to favour the in form team but it’s hard to pick between the two teams who is the “inform” team with Blackpool unbeaten in their last 7 games and Birmingham unbeaten in their last 9. With only 1 point separating them after 46 league games we could be set for an interesting game with both sides always likely to score goals while at the same time vulnerable to concede so it could be a very entertaining game with both sides wanting the advantage for the return leg at St Andrews. Both Ian Holloway and Chris Hughton know what is required to get a team promoted from the Championship having both achieved that in recent years, so both should be able handle the pressure cooker of the Play Off’s where tactics could play a major part in who progresses to face either Cardiff or West Ham in the Play Off final at Wembley on 19th may and the bright lights of the Premier League .
Bloomfield Road
Blackpool manager Ian Holloway will have a near full strength squad to pick from with only former Manchester utd Centre Half Craig Cathcart miss after suffering a heart scare.Roman Bedner played 70 mins in the reserves on Tuesday and looks set to return to the squad for the game, Holloway will be looking to get some sort of advantage but knows how hard the game will be saying .
“There are a lot of big teams who aren’t in the play-offs but we will give it our best shot, we will try to win every single half of football we can,” he said.
“Now let’s go and take on a really good side in Birmingham. It will be interesting to see which way it goes.
Birmingham City Boss Chris Hughton finds himself in a similar position to Holloway in that he too can welcome back a few that have missed recent games through injury they include Stephen Carr, Jonathan Spector, so Hughton will be able to field a full strength team for the first time in recent weeks. The rested players from the recent win over Championship winners will also be back in contention for a return to the starting line-up for a game that will be the Blues 61st this season.
Keeper Colin Doyle commented
“I think there has to be an advantage, that’s why they do it like that,” he said. “We beat Blackpool 3-0 here (at St. Andrew’s) and drew away when Ziggy scored in the last minute. It’s going to be tough but the lads have got to go in it with no fear and relish it. We’ve played 60 games now which is a lot of games but it’s not really affected us. Hopefully we’ll have three more games.”
Head to Head stats @ Blackpool
Blackpool Won 26 … Birmingham Won 8 … Drawn 10
Possible Teams :
Blackpool : Gilks, Crainey, Eardley, Evatt, Baptiste, Ferguson, Phillips M, Angle, Dobbie, Ince, Taylor Fletcher
Birmingham City : Doyle, Murphy, Ibanez, Davies, Ramage, Fahey, Burke, Ndaw, Mutch, Elliott, King
Referee : Mark Halsey
Prediction : Blackpool 2 … Birmingham City 2
By Blues Brother (Member of birminghamcityforum.co.uk )
