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A Cold Night In Coleshill – Birmingham Senior Cup Match Reflections
Birmingham City’s Development Squad won their Birmingham Senior Cup semi-final tie against Coleshill on penalties following a 0-0 draw. A cold night saw both teams draw a blank and it took sudden death spot kicks to seperate the two. Blues will now face West Bromwich Albion or Nuneaton in the Final.
First off, I’m going to admit that on 90 minutes I decided I’d had enough; the coat I was wearing wasn’t thick enough, my fingers were frozen and there was the promise of a curry on Coleshill High Street. I didn’t stick around for extra time and penalties – it was cold and in truth, a poor game.
The pitch at Pack Meadow was a leveller – ironic as the pitch is far from level in itself – and it was hard for either side to pass the ball around with any zip on the deck. That being said, there were flashes of skill from both sides with Tom Weale of Coleshill looking impressive along with their burly number 9 while Viv Solomon-Otabor showed an electric turn of pace on the Blues right.
However, bearing in mind six players in the first XI (Townsend, Hancox, Adams, Brown, Bell and Johnstone) have experience of playing football at Conference or above I was disappointed with the amount of quality on offer from Blues. Hancox looked rusty and overweight; Brown showed nice touches but couldn’t dictate play in the manner I’d expect from a player of his skill and I saw nothing of the promise that Adams has shown while on loan at Lincoln.
Chances were few and far between; Truslove missed a sitter of a header from four yards out when scoring would probably have been easier in the first half and Denny Johnstone had a chance from close range in the second half but most of the time it was long range efforts which would either fly into the keepers arms or sail high and wide over the bar. Coleshill didn’t create much either but they did hit the post in the second half and as the 90 minutes drew to a close looked more likely like scoring.
Johnstone was very isolated in the lone striker up front; Solomon and Bell tried to support down the flanks but were both closed down rapidly by a Coleshill defence determined to press Blues whenever they had the ball. In the middle Truslove, Brown and Adams struggled to get a foot on the ball and while there were some promising moments when Blues broke in the second half invariably passes would be played behind forward players or blind alleys would be ran into. Harding and Fry were steadier in central defence but neither stood out as being outstanding; Cogley on the right tried gamely but was given the run around by the Coleshill left winger and Hancox lacked composure on the Blues left.
Normally I like to be positive about the chances of youth players but the truth is I couldn’t see much evidence why the club would be offering new contracts to any of the players whose deals expire in June; my hope is that the cold weather and the pitch were bigger factors in the poor showing than the amount of talent some of these players can offer. Blues really do need some of their youth prospects to kick on to help flesh out the squad next year and on this evidence of this game alone I don’t think any of them could be called into action in the Championship.
The biggest positive to take from the game is the result; Coleshill who are unbeaten in months threw everything at Blues late into the second half and couldn’t find a way through and when the crunch came Blues held their nerve and got through on penalties. It means Blues go into the final with a chance of silverware for the development squad – and another 90 minutes to impress in a one-off game outside the Development Squad league.
Tags: Amarii Bell, Charlee Adams, Denny Johnstone, Development Squad, James Fry, Josh Dacres-Cogley, Liam Truslove, Mitch Hancox, Nick Townsend, Reece Brown, Viv Solomon-Otabor, Wes Harding
17 Responses to “A Cold Night In Coleshill – Birmingham Senior Cup Match Reflections”
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Poor game, poor quality but in the final , my place of work is only up the road from the ground so a visit to one or two Pubs on the high street before going was the most pleasent part of the evening .. I remember playing Coleshill a few years ago when we beat them 6-1 and it was not quite as exiting but a final to play against the baggies hopefully !! Kro
As a Coleshill resident (and coach of the Coleshill Town u8’s) and lifelong blues fan it was a great night.
Having my nipper as mascot put the icing on the cake (he was the lad with the coleshill and blues kit on at once).
Was set to cheer everything! But in fact there was little to cheer. But give credit to Coleshill who are having the best form and league position ever for matching the Blues side in every department
best part for me was how many young coleshill lads and lasses turned out to support BOTH Teams – that is another generation of fans on the way (even if most went home at 90mins – freezing !)..
Phil
I love us playing in Coleshll – Pack Meadow is a cracking little ground and I thought that Coleshll acquitted themselves well. Hopefully your unbeaten run will continue and you’ll end the season strongly!
Dan – this review isn’t complete – how was the curry?
Let me guess: Dan had a starter of onion bhaji followed by chicken jalfrezi, peshwari naan, side order of tarka dal and a basmati rice. Plus three pints of Kingfisher.
Just a Chicken Naga Morichi main with fried rice, two pints of cobra. I like it HOT.
In case you’re wondering…
Chicken Naga Morichi £7.50
Fresh chicken cooked with spices, with a unique blend of naga (very hot chilli) chosen to create a sensationally talked about dish. A very hot dish.
Just what the doctor ordered yer D ?? Kro
Went to the game, 120 minutes of tedium which was a shame as the goodish turnout deerved better. Thought Coleshill were unlucky when the hit the post and then forced a good save from Townsend. I thought Charlee Adams looked good in the first half, dictating play for Blues but tended to fade second half. VSO has pace to burn but so did their winger who came on as a substitute second half. I’d like to play Nuneaton in the final, see how we can get on with Liam Daish’s young charges.
Where’s the final being played at?
Not decided yet
A cold night indeed, for those of us that stuck it out to the end. Being Coleshill born & bred and a BCFC ST holder I was slightly torn, but in the end probably a fair result given the quality of the play, the pitch was definitely a factor. I thought the Final was at The Bescot, that’s certainly what was floating around last night. Where did you end up Dan? plenty to chose from in Coleshill!
In the Rajrani
Packwood and rilley gone out on loan… Must be looking again for one or two more to bring in must mr rowett! Kro
Why?
I doubt we’ll bring in more than one new face if any at all.
I am a Coleshillian who grew up in that lovely town until 23 when I emigrated to Canada. As a kid I used to support Coleshill Town when they played on the upper field right in the centre of town. The big game was always against Coleshill Hall who played at the local mental health facility. My dad was a barber in Coleshill who supported Birmingham City and I became a Bluenose when I was about eight. Dan, you had lots of choice with the many curry houses in town – that was different from when I lived there. BUT we have lots of pubs as it was a stop off place for coaches from York to London. Still visit regularly and have friends there from cricket days.
Where did you get the curry from? Sounds great.