Tims 92

Birmingham City

St Andrews

Ground No. 38

Visited - Sunday 25th April 2004
Result - Birmingham City 2-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Competition - FA Barclaycard Premier League
Attendance - 29,494

Prior to this game we had played Middlesbrough, and if we had lost we would have been relegated, we went on to win that match 2-0, but it was the same situation for this game, lose and we're down. Of course we were all but down anyway, although there was still a realistic possibility we could stay up, but chances were it wasn’t going to happen, but still we were hanging on in there, refusing to die.

With the Birmingham City board deciding to charge a ridiculous £38 for the game, a lot of Wolves fans had boycotted it, so we had a slightly smaller following than usual, although there was still 2000 wolves there singing their hearts out. With the usual threat of violence in a derby game (and just at St Andrews anyway), we set off for the short journey from Wolverhampton to Birmingham feeling slightly cautious about what would await us once at the ground.

Because of the early kick off there wasn’t really much time to do anything prior to the game starting, so it was a case of leaving New Street and making our way directly to the ground. It must have been the hottest day of the year so far, which wasn’t especially good when there’s a fair amount of walking to be done, but we made it to the ground with time to spare, and went straight in, going through some rigorous security checks from the stewards.

St Andrews stands at the top of a hill, so it is quite visible for a way around, although with the layout of the away entrances there wasn’t really a chance to see the rest of the ground from close up, but once inside the most evident thing was the small Main Stand to our right. The three modern sides are all good looking, imposing stands, but if this last side could be continued around in a similar style to the Kop opposite, then it would be very impressive, although with talk of a new ground for Birmingham, this looks unlikely to be happening now.

As for the inside of the ground, I wasn’t the only one to comment on how much of a prison it looks like. There was no lighting, and little natural light reaching the concourse, and with the walls decorated in two shades of grey, it didn’t help to portray a nice image for the away fan. Its surprising really, because the stand hasn’t been built on the cheap, not by any means, it just seems to be an area that they have really overlooked.

The game started off well, we scored after about 10 minutes, with a stunning drive by Colin Cameron from the edge of the area. Blues soon got back into it though, when Forssell and Morrison scored within quick succession to give them a half time lead.

The second half was an interesting affair, with neither team looking especially brilliant. We managed to score from a free kick, which was deflected off the line only to land at Carl Corts feet for him to knock it past the goalkeeper with ease. After that we were really going for it, although this let Birmingham back in it with a few counter attacks, and despite us having 5 strikers on at the end of 90 minutes neither net could be breached, and it ended in a draw, which wasn’t particularly helpful to either of us.

Throughout the game the atmosphere was indifferent, going from silent to vociferous, the reduced number of travelling fans and early start didn’t really help, but it certainly could have been better.

Once the game was finished we set off back to the city centre, and thankfully didn’t see any trouble, although the police segregation of the crowd could have been better. There were fences from the away entrances that kept the two sets of supporters separate, but these ran out after a short while, where both sets of fans mixed, but it was highlighting who were the away fans and home fans, which wasn’t brilliant, but it didn't matter, as said, there was no sign of trouble all day, so the police did their job.

Overall it was a good day, nice to come away from a ground with something, although it just put off the inevitable. On a subsequent visit to the ground to take pictures, you can tell that it really is a great ground and one that I’ll enjoy going to again.