Vertu Trophy draw (now with Poll)

Well up bright and sprightly this morning despite not getting home till after 1....

Cracking performance, resolute in the first half putting bodies on the line nullifying much of the Birmingham attack with the back line immense, especially Halliday who was booked early doors, marshalled by the superb Smallwood and some real shithousery in taking an age taking dead balls, frustrating their fan base and players, I feel, alike. Genuinely feel we didn't deserve to go in at the break losing, especially from some block from Davies to deny a certain goal. Spoiler, Wright what a bloody stupid free kick to give away.

Second half, out the blocks from the off with lovely football right across the middle again fantastically orchestrated by MOTM Smallwood. Deserved equaliser, though the challenge on Stanfield was imo a penalty though not as much as the handball by Sheps. Really pushed on from the equaliser but tiredness was our undoing in the end.

Credit to the fans who were loud and proud throughout , with a mix of humour and some naughtiness.

Anything like last night though to the end of the season and promotion will be ours

 

I thought he said he had a tight calf?

 

Nice post BD41(how long have you been 41?). Like you (and countless others) I am pleased with that performance. We gave that a real go but this squad knows no other way. Up until the end of 2024 I felt real frustration of no progress and another year in this horrible division but we now have a proper squad that is capable of moving up and also progressing. If we miss out this season I feel we can continue to progress and I haven't felt that for some time.

 

Very much resonates my feelings . There does appear to be a good team ethic and progression on and off the field. I look forward to games now ( Bromley away booked next week) and it is not gloomy like under much of Rupps tenure. I went last night expecting a competitive statement from our boys but that performance exceeded my expectations.

As for the 41, going on 11 years.

 

He did in the post match interview. .

As @Bigrod says it’s unlikely to be a bad injury. I got cramp recently and the “ hurt” lasted 48 hrs. I wonder if it’s a similar thing?

 

And how did that help last night? They knew he was cup-tied and they knew the only available striker would be Kavanagh.

Recruitment has let us down. Lets hope it doesn't cost us a promotion place as well.

 

On a side note, nice apology from Rom on X about the tackle and not meaning to injure there player which got some decent replies from there fans

 

Got back at half two, wife dropped my lad off at Brighouse station at 7 where he went to Leeds and then to Durham, goes to straight to his lecture and half the course don't turn up lol. Glad i don't have to do Birmingham again though, horrible place to navigate. Never been before to the city and i can see i haven't missed anything.

 

So in summary, we put in a battling performance, every play can hold their heads up high and if we play like that weekly we will get out of this division.

But how triggered are the Birmingham lot? £45m spent to scrape your way to an EFL trophy final and they are going on like they have qualified for the Champions League. I'm yet to see anyone who is actually bothered we lost last night, everyone I have spoken too are just proud of the effort and are focused on Saturday. Yes a trip to Wembley would have been nice but it was never seen as anything other than a bonus at best.

 

Had to walk back through their fans to get to the car, the amount of abuse my lad got was funny to him, his laughing just wound them up but also quite sad grown men with kids swearing right in his face. It's the pizza piss pot trophy you set of ball bags with god awful accents.

 

I certainly didn't see that second half performance coming the way the first half went.

Very proud of the whole team last night. Showed some good composure and a real togetherness.

I wonder if Brum are a little like Walsall-a bit naff without a decent striker as, after Stansfield went off, they were all over the place. BTW it was a clear penalty to them when Rom clattered into him. But hey ho you win some and you lose some.

And our goal was a piece of really good neat football. Hope that lifts Bobby up another notch in his belief in what he can actually achieve.

Hope that VP is rocking on Saturday and that we take last nights performance and use it to spur us on.

As has been said earlier we could possibly now be the strongest team in the division and I can't see us getting beaten many times between now and the end of the season.

 

Worst side of social media coming out too from his post and others. The amount of Birmingham fans making fire references is disgusting over the last 12 hours or so. I cant believe how much they are going overboard, winning a pizza cup game with their championship level side against a L2 side with no strikers, and now loads of tragedy bating online. There's been a few City fans saying there was a middle aged Birmingham fan in the side stand closest to the City fans who kept getting his lighter out when Pointon scored. Just disgusting this crap is still going on in this day and age, and its not even the younger lot from the looks of the accounts.

 

Brum fans are coming across as a right set of self entitled bastards. I hope each of those posts are reported to the club to follow up with the police.

 

It's nice to get to Wembley and I'm a bit disappointed to be not going. However, I think back to 2013 when we probably had the best team in the division. The following season's results probably back this up yet because of the number of games we played, we only managed promotion through the POs. Promotion is our aim now and another game in April is not needed.

 

These people need rooting out and a lifetime ban imposed plus prosecuting

 

Was thinking that all the way through the first half.

They went to all that effort with lights and fire and the announcer and their crowd sat down like it was a library. Could only hear our fans.