Birmingham City v Plymouth Argyle

[Mighty T.A.L.]

Birmingham will be eyeing a league double over Ian Holloway's visitors after claiming a 1-0 win at Home Park at the beginning of November.

Manager Steve Bruce has no fresh injury worries, though Blues are still without Damien Johnson (broken jaw), David Dunn (hamstring) and Mikael Forssell (knee).

Argyle have injury doubts over left-back Lee Hodges (knee) and right-back Paul Connolly (hamstring) following the 1-0 home win over Luton on Tuesday night.

Centre-back Mat Doumbe (knee) will come back into contention after missing four matches.

Source: http://home.skysports.com

[kennethlindheim]

Birmingham:

1 Maik Taylor
2 Stephen Kelly
24 Radhi Jaidi
5 Matthew Upson
3 Mathew Sadler
7 Sebastian Larsson
12 Mehdi Nafti
6 Stephen Clemence
28 Gary McSheffrey
27 Nicklas Bendtner
10 Cameron Jerome

Subs
13 Colin Doyle
4 Martin Taylor
26 Fabrice Muamba
17 Neil Danns
14 DJ Campbell

Plymouth

23 Luke McCormick
18 Gary Sawyer
19 Marcel Seip
13 Mathias Doumbe
14 Tony Capaldi
7 David Norris
32 Bojan Djordjic
15 Paul Wotton
8 Akos Buzsaky
29 Luke Summerfield
10 Barry Hayles

Subs
1 Romain Larrieu
6 Hasney Aljofree
4 Lilian Nalis
30 Dan Gosling
21 Cherno Samba

[kennethlindheim]

1:0 Nicklas Bendtner (21)

[kennethlindheim]

2:0 Matthew Upson (30)

[kennethlindheim]

3:0 Gary McSheffrey (41)

[kennethlindheim]

3-0 Half-time!

[kennethlindheim]

3-0 Full-time!

[2Slick]

Birmingham City 3
Bendtner 21, Upson 29, McSheffrey 42

Argyle 0

I NEVER felt more like singing the Blues?

It has been a long time coming but, for the first time in nearly a year, Argyle trudged off a pitch, chasteningly beaten by more than a single goal.

First-half goals by on-loan Arsenal striker Nick Bendtner, former Gunner Matthew Upson and Gary McSheffrey gave Steve Bruce's side an interval lead which did not accurately reflect Argyle's enterprising early contribution to the contest.

For all their penetration, however, they were, for a second time this season, unable to find a way past Northern Ireland international goalkeeper Maik Taylor, and the Blues' superior finishing deservedly proved the difference between two sides separated by a few points and places - that and a few tens of millions in readies.

The second half was actually more lop-sided than the first, despite the Argyle shut-out, as the Championship's new leaders dominated the game without overextending themselves. For the first time in a long time, the Pilgrims were baited, hooked and dangled on someone's rod.

Argyle manager Ian Holloway had been forced into two personnel changes to his starting 11, with both of his full-backs that began, but did not end, Tuesday's 1-0 Home Park victory over Luton having succumbed to injury.

Right-back Paul Connolly, who tore a hamstring in setting up Bojan Djordjic's winning goal, was replaced by fit-again Mathias Kouo-Doumbe, while ex-City player Tony Capaldi regained his left-back position at the expense of the hapless Lee Hodges.

Otherwise, Holloway retained faith the line-up that had snapped a five-game winless streak four days earlier, with Barry Hayles the one out-and-out forward. Neither Nick Chadwick nor Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, both midweek injury victims, travelled, so Cherno Samba was the Pilgrims' only attacking option on the bench.

He took his place alongside young youth-team product Dan Gosling, not 17 until next February and, up until now, without a sniff of a first-team opportunity. With Gary Sawyer and Luke Summerfield - son of former Blue Kevin - in the initial 11, there can be little doubting Holloway's faith in youth.

Birmingham's first defeat in nine matches at Southampton on Wednesday prompted manager Steve Bruce into three changes to his first eleven, with England defender Upson making his first start for the best part of a year after a World Cup denying knee injury.

He was promoted from the bench, in place of Martin Taylor, as were midfielder Mehdi Nafti and striker Cameron Jerome, for Neil Danns and Fabrice Muamba respectively.

Argyle took up where they had left off when these two teams had met previously this season, at Home Park just a few weeks ago, by taking the game to their hosts.

They mitigated against their tendency to start hesitatingly by laying siege to the Blues' goal early on. Summerfield's smartly taken free-kick caught Sebastian Larsson napping and allowed Djordjic to initiate an attack that saw goalbound shots from Paul Wotton and David Norris blocked.

It took a full ten minutes for the home side to begin to look like the home side but the Pilgrims were comfortable in catching City's eager players in their offside snare, with goalkeeper Luke McCormick alive to the danger when the trap was sprung.

Wotton was soon at it again afterwards with Taylor, who had almost single-handedly defied the Pilgrims at Home Park, stretching low to turn away a rasping drive from the Argyle skipper after some fine interplay involving Capaldi, Djordjic and Akos Buzsaky.

As they had done in the earlier encounter this season, Birmingham took the lead against the run of play although the goal was made in north London: on-loan Arsenal striker Bendtner was picked out by his Ashburton Grove team-mate Larsson's raking cross from the right and finished with real quality, taking the ball around goalkeeper Luke McCormick and slotting home despite a goal-line lunge from Marcel Seip.

It says something about the gulf that exists between the higher reaches of the Premiership and the rest when two of Arsene Wenger's fringe players are good enough to propel one of the better second-tier sides towards the Premiership. With a third Gunner, Muamba, on the bench, the situation says something about the haves and have-nots in the Championship, too.

Eight minutes later, the Blue Gunners went further in front when McSheffrey won a corner which he took. Stephen Clemence's powerful, unopposed, header was athletically cleared off the goal-line by Capaldi but, unfortunately, the ball hit McCormick and bounced back towards the goal with Upson quickest to the breakdown.

The quick one-two had Argyle gasping, but not altogether floored, and they responded to the body blow with some good counter-punching, Norris extending Taylor with a left-foot shot after cutting in from the right.

Doumbe and centre-back Saywer swapped positions before Birmingham netted their third three minutes before the break. Larsson was again the provider, expertly cutting the ball across the penalty area to find McSheffrey, whose shot took a huge deflection to beat McCormick.

McCormick denied Bendtner just before the interval when he plucked out of the air the Danish international striker's attempted chip over him.

With little more than pride to play for, the Pilgrims showed two changes when they re-emerged. Wide men Djordjic and Buzsaky (who had needed extensive treatment for an injury towards the end of the first half) were withdrawn in favour of Samba and Hasney Aljofree, with the latter taking his place at left-back in a more rigid 4-4-2 formation.

Although it was probably not the intention, the two combined straight away as Aljofree crossed for Samba. The last time that happened, Samba headed his first goal in English football; this time, his shot failed to trouble Taylor.

The same could not be said for Bendtner's next effort, which took a deflection and had McCormick scrambling across his goal and grateful to see it slip slightly wide.

The narrow miss whetted Birmingham's appetite for more and it took successive goal-line clearances by Tony Capaldi, from a header by Radhi Jaidi, and Wotton - likewise, Bendtner - to preserve the three-goal margin. Worse sides would have collapsed.

Holloway sent on Nalis in what looked more like a damage-limitation exercise, than a move to claw back the deficit, and the move undoubtedly worked, although the Pilgrims needed to utilise every ounce of team-spirit and individual commitment to keep out the Blues' quick thrusts.

Taylor made sure that a spirited late Argyle revival did not garner even a consolation, thwarting Hayles and Samba with a double block, and then pawing away Norris's shot from distance. Norris was later booked and will miss next Saturday's visit of Hull to Home Park.

In truth, though, better home-side finishing, especially from Larsson, or worse goalkeeping might have given the Blues a greater margin of victory, and no-one would have been able to argue with such an outcome.

Argyle now have seen, first hand, the standard, at least, they must attain. If they learn from it, this humbling defeat will not have been without its merits.

Birmingham City (4-4-2): 1 Maik Taylor; 2 Stephen Kelly, 24 Radhi Jaidi, 5 Matthew Upson, 3 Mat Sadler; 6 Stephen Clemence (capt, 17 Neil Danns 83), 7 Sebastian Larsson; 27 Nick Bendtner (14 Dudley Campbell 77), 28 Gary McSheffrey. Substitutes: 4 Martin Taylor, 13 Colin Doyle (gk), 26 Fabrice Muamba.

Argyle (4-4-2): 23 Luke McCormick; 13 Mathias Kouo-Doumbe, 19 Marcel Seip, 18 Gary Sawyer (4 Lilian Nalis 61), 14 Tony Capaldi; 7 David Norris, 29 Luke Summerfield, 15 Paul Wotton (capt), 32 Bojan Djordjic (6 Hasney Aljofree half-time); 8 Akos Buzsaky (21 Cherno Samba half-time), 10 Barry Hayles. Substitutes (not used): 1 Romain Larrieu (gk), 30 Dan Gosling.

Booked: Hayles 57, Aljofree 75, Norris 85.

Referee: Richard Beeby (Northamptonshire).

Attendance: 22,592 (2,700 away est.).

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