Birmingham City   1   Tottenham Hotspur    1      (Half-time score : 0-0)

25  Hart

  2  Carr    
14  Johnson    
  6  Ridgwell 
15  Dann

  7  Larsson  (18  Fahey 58)
12  Ferguson
  4  Bowyer        (17  Michel 65)
16  McFadden     

11  Benitez
12  Jerome

Unused subs: 
  1  Taylor
20  Queudrue
27  Vignal
22  Johnson
33  Gardner

  1  Gomes

22  Corluka
26  King  (c)
20  Dawson
  3  Bale

14  Modric
12  Palacios     
  6  Huddlestone
  5  Bentley (  8  Jenas 89)

18  Defoe          (10  Keane 78)
15  Crouch

Unused subs: 
27  Alnwick
  2  Hutton
19  Bassong
21  Kranjcar
25  Rose

Ridgwell 90+1

    
Johnson (dissent)  55 
Bowyer (foul) 62  
McFadden (foul) 83
Carr (foul) 88
Michel (foul) 89

     
Palacios (foul)  60
Defoe (handball)  75


 

Birmingham had the opening chance when the ball was played back to Bowyer, who scuffed his shot into the ground from just inside the area.  Then a cross from the right found Luka Modric, who took the ball down and hit a quick shot that flew inches wide of Joe Hart's right hand post with the goalkeeper left standing.

An even better opening should have seen Birmingham take the lead, when Benitez turned Dawson well on the edge of the D and only had Gomes to beat, but hit a shot straight at the Spurs keeper in the middle of the goal, with little power behind it.

Bentley showed what he can do on the half hour, with a couple of step-overs and a shot to the near post that Hart push aside for a corner, although a minute or so later, Palacios was in a similar position on the right of the box and blazed way over the bar.

The last quarter of an hour of the game saw some corners for each side, which failed to find an attacking head and the game fizzled out into the half-time interval.

The second half saw Tottenham start on  the attack, with the ball moving regularly towards the home goal.  Bentley struck a drive in at the near post following Bale's long cross from the left, causing Hart to fumble and pounce on the loose ball before Defoe.  Spurs almost had a good break when Bentley won two tackles, one on halfway and the other on the right wing, giving him possession to play in Corluka, but his prod to his left only found the sideline. 

Palacios lost the bal in attack, but then got back to win it and fed Modric, whose pass through the Brummie defence found Defoe.  Jermain took the ball across the edge of the box from the right and couldn't get a shot off, so left it for Peter Crouch, who could only shoot wide under pressure.  With 55 minutes gone, Bentley bent a cross towards the near post and Defoe just missed it for a defender to head the ball away for a corner.  From that, Bentley pulled the ball back for Hud to have a shot on the volley from outside the area and it may have been arrowing into the net, had it not hit Roger Johnson on the way.

Child referee Attwell made a schoolboy error, when he gave a free-kick against Palacios for a foul on Bowyer as he went through to the edge of the box, when the Spurs midfielder didn't touch him.  Not only that, but he gave a yellow card for the offence too.  Luckily, McFadden hit the wall with the free-kick to bring some justice to the situation. 

Gareth Bale continued his fine form with a run and cross from the left that Crouch stooped to flick on and Defoe was directly behind him in the middle of the goal to half-volley in from 10 yards out.  It was a goal that came when Spurs were dominating, but were finding it hard to break down the dogged Birmingham defence, but Bale's good wide play and Crouch getting his knees dirty to glance the ball on at the near post caused confusion in the home team's defence to allow Defoe the space to shoot home.

Birmingham responded by putting Benitez through and looking suspiciously offside, he was allowed to go on and shoot at goal, but Michael Dawson threw a great block to take the ball out for a corner off his side, despite the shouts for handball.  Dann's header from the corner went wide and Ferguson tried a couple of shots that didn't trouble Gomes, leaving Spurs to defend, although they kept giving Birmingham the ball, notably when Crouch passed it back towards his own goal and McFadden had a shot that was powerful, but off target.

Jermain's involvement was curtailed by his replacement by Robbie Keane, just after the referee had booked the scorer for handball on the halfway line.

McFadden came very close to conceding a penalty when he brought down Bentley as he raced past him, but it was just outside the area and he got a yellow card and Spurs got a free-kick.  Bale took it from the right hand corner of the area and it hit the wall and went off for a corner.  From that, Tottenham worked it short and Modric almost got away in the area, until a tackle brought another corner.  That came to nothing and the last ten minutes were a bit backs to the wall, with some desperate defending and not being able to get the ball clear.

It all crumbled when the fourth official showed five added minutes to play.  A long cross from the right went over everyone and it was picked up by McFadden outside the corner of the area.  His deep cross saw Jerome climb between King and Bale to head back across goal to the far post, where Ridgwell ran in to volley in unmarked from close range.

Inspired by the late goal, Birmingham moved forward and slung more crosses into the Tottenham box, while at the other end Jenas shot well over the top and Palacios almost found Keane with a well judged pass, but it had just a little too much weight on it, leaving the Irishman unable to collect it.

The final whistle brought great cheers from the home support, perhaps indicating that they knew they had got away with it today, with Spurs, once more, unable to capitalise on the chances they made.

the polyphant