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VIEW MATCH REPORT

Saturday 21 Jan 2006
Birmingham 5-0 Portsmouth (The Biggest Blues game for years)
Birmingham survival hopes given massive boost with 5-0 drubbing of Portsmouth

Make no mistake, this is the biggest result of the day and it is Bruce, not Harry or Mc Claren whos job looks safer tonight. Many Blues fans realised that if we lost this one we would most likely be going down........

Birmingham took an early lead which settled the nerves at st. Andrews, when Mario Melchiot crossed for Jiri Jarosik to head home and soon after Jermaine Pennant's drilled finish doubled the advantage.

Early into the second half Matthew Upson made the game safe for the Blues when he powered home a header from Pennant's corner.

Fit again Mikael Forssell struck a late penalty and majestic David Dunn ran through to rub salt into Pompey's wounds and delight Blues fans across the globe.

The Blues were definetly the better side on the day and deserved all the points for a spirited and committed effort. Portsmouth will need even more money by the looks of it

The crowd at St Andrews may have been fraught all season, by the Blues lack of form, but todays match really was a must win game and Jarosik soon calmed the collective nerves.

Pennant played a lovely ball down the right to Melchiot and his high cross dropped just over Jamie Ashdown and on to Jarosik's head for the Czech midfielder to confidently nod home.

From then on, Birmingham began to dictate the play and Pompey spent much of their time chasing shadows as they struggled to stamp any authority on the game.

Ashdown pulled off a wonder save with his left hand to stop Chris Sutton scoring, while in a rare counter attack, Portsmouth's Matthew Taylor sent a left-foot volley wide from 30 yards.

But the visitors could not live with Pennant's sudden bursts of pace and intelligent link-up play and he got a deserved goal before the break.

Emile Heskey flicked on a Kenny Cunningham pass and Pennant took the ball into the box and drilled low past Ashdown, a fine finish as he was falling over at the time.

Things quickly got worse for Pompey after the break too, despite the quick introduction of Emmanuel Olisadebe for Vincent Pericard.

An inswinging Pennant corner from the right was met firmly and unmarked by Upson, who powered his header past Ashdown and into the net.

Mwaruwari tried to provide for Pompey but his was a lost cause, the Zimbabwean lashing a couple of efforts wide and being thwarted by another fine Maik Taylor save.

Heskey got a standing ovation for his performance and Forssell only had to wait 11 minutes for a goal, bagging a penalty after Noe Pamarot brought him down.

Fellow sub Dunn made it even worse for the visitors when he ran through unchallenged to slot in after a clever Sutton pass.

Maybe the blues can now invest some money to stay up they should have a whip round. Because eon todays performance they will stay up////