Win moves Birmingham City step closer to promotion

4:57pm Saturday 18th April 2009

By Anthony Matthews

Watford’s eight-match unbeaten run at Vicarage Road came to an end this afternoon when Birmingham City took another step closer to a return to the Premiership with a 1-0 victory.

It is now one win in eight for the Hornets after substitute Cameron Jerome scored the only goal of the game two minutes after coming off the bench, courtesy of a shot that took a cruel deflection off Ross Jenkins.

The Blues deserved the win on the back of their first-half dominance, but the home side came into the game more after the break and came close to making the breakthrough themselves on a couple of occasions.

Brendan Rodgers made just the one change from the 2-0 defeat at Norwich City, with Jack Cork returning at the expense of Jon Harley. However, the Watford boss also opted to change to a 4-3-3 formation, with Danny Rose pushing up from central midfield and Tommy Smith and Jobi McAnuff providing the support for Will Hoskins from out wide.

The afternoon began with a minute’s applause in memory of former player and Watford boss Mike Keen, but it was the visitors who sought to make the early running.

The home side though, soon looked to find their attacking feet, although Blues skipper Damien Johnson was the first player to have a shot, but his mis-hit attempt from the edge of the area was blocked.

Scott Loach was the first keeper into action in the ninth minute when he had to dive to his left to hold a right-footed James McFadden shot after Jay DeMerit had just lost out in a battle for the ball with Gary O’Connor on the edge of the Watford box.

The visitors were dominating possession at this point and they almost made the breakthrough in the 12th minute when Lee Bowyer found O’Connor, who got in between two Hornets defenders, but stabbed the ball wide of Loach’s right-hand post.

Mike Williamson was then forced to head behind to prevent O’Connor getting his head to a deep Fahey cross after a superb long pass from David Murphy had split the Watford rearguard.

O’Connor had another opening soon after, but on this occasion he placed a left-footed effort from the same side of the area too close to Loach following another decent pass in the area behind Adrian Mariappa.

Fahey was the next to chance his arm – and again the Watford stopper was equal to it – after Stephen Carr had anticipated Lloyd Doyley’s attempted pass to McAnuff and broke forward to the edge of the 18-yard box.

Loach showed more clean hands again in the 21st minute to hold a 20-yard left-footed drive from Sebastian Larsson, and then Williamson made a good interception on the edge of his own area to prevent Bowyer latching onto McFadden’s through ball and having a clear route to goal.

But having been firmly on the back foot for the opening 24 minutes, Watford nearly took the lead with their first attempt – and from the most unlikeliest of sources.

Doyley latched on to a stray pass around 30 yards out, took one step inside and then hit a right-footed drive that had Colin Doyle scrambling across his goal as the ball went not too far wide of his right-hand post.

But the pattern of the match was soon restored, with Bowyer seeing a piledriver blocked before Loach again made a smart stop to keep out Fahey’s follow-up.

Smith had a promising opening for the home side in the 29th minute when Jenkins swept the ball out to him on the right side of the area, but, after cutting inside and beating Murphy, he dragged a left-footed shot well wide of the target.

A better opportunity soon followed when Hoskins and Smith combined to neat effect from a Loach clearance, with the former doing well to dig out a cross from the right side of the 18-yard box which McAnuff clipped goalwards at the near post and Doyle decided not to take any risks and tipped the ball over.

The next chance also fell the Hornets’ way in the 38th minute, when a Doyley cross found Smith in some space towards the right side of the area, but his first-time effort was straight at Doyle.

But Loach, who was having an excellent afternoon, was soon called upon again when Larsson worked a neat give-and-go with Bowyer before hitting a right-footed shot from the same side of the area that the keeper blocked behind with his legs. If that wasn’t good enough, the England Under-21 international then produced another fine stop to deny Bowyer.

Franck Queudrue and Larsson both saw efforts blocked, while O’Connor headed over, as the visitors took their first-half attempt count to 15 as the half drew to a close, but Watford held firm to ensure it remained 0-0 at the break.

The Watford boss opted to make a change at the interval, with Grzegorz Rasiak introduced at the expense of Hoskins to give the Hornets a more physical edge up front. Furthermore, Rose and Smith also swapped positions, with the latter now providing the central attacking support.

It didn’t take the changes long to have an impact as, in the 49th minute, Rasiak produced a fine cross from the right and Rose flung an outstretched leg at the ball to send it just the wrong side of Doyle’s right-hand upright. Then, three minutes later, Rasiak wasn’t quite able to reach a Smith cut-back after the Hornets’ top scorer had done very well to reach the by-line.

Buoyed by these openings, Watford continued to look to take the game to the visitors, but just short of the hour-mark Rodgers decided to make a second change, with Harley coming on for Rose.

The Hornets still had to be on their guard at the back though, with Mariappa doing well to head behind and prevent O’Connor from getting on the end of a deep Larsson cross.

But the home side went close again in the 63rd when Rasiak did very well to get his head around a McAnuff cross from the right and direct the ball down towards the bottom right-hand corner and force Doyle into a smart stop. DeMerit then beat the Blues keeper to the resultant corner, but his header went up in the air and dropped behind.

Watford old boy Kevin Phillips entered the fray as a 64th-minute replacement for Larsson, and then Jerome for O’Connor seven minutes later. The change paid off within two minutes.

Bowyer played the ball to the former Cardiff City striker on the left side of the area and, after toying with DeMerit, he hit a right-footed shot that took a wicked deflection off Jenkins’ heel and gave Loach no chance as the ball went into the right corner of the net to give the Blues a 1-0 lead.

Alex McLeish played his final hand with six minutes remaining, with Queudrue making way for Djimi Traore.

The home side tried to lift themselves in the closing stages, but, a couple of corners aside, they created little and slipped to a second successive defeat.

Watford: Loach; Mariappa, DeMerit, M Williamson, Doyley; Jenkins, Rose (Harley, 59), Cork; Smith, Hoskins (Rasiak, 46), McAnuff. Not used: Lee, Cauna and Stepanov.

Birmingham City: Doyle; Carr, Jaidi, Queudrue (Traore, 84), Murphy; Larsson (Phillips, 64), Bowyer, Johnson, Fahey; O’Connor (Jerome, 71), McFadden. Not used: Bouazza and Lyness.