Often Partisan

Do You Remember When… Phillips scored 2 to beat the Wolves?

With it being international week and football news being quieter than the proverbial church mouse, I thought it would be nice to reminisce about games from time gone by. I don’t really want to do the obvious ones like the Carling Cup Final or Brugge away but more games that are a little bit less obvious but were special in their own way and develop it into an occasional series. The first one I wanted to talk about was the February 10 2010 meeting between Blues and Wolves.

As many regular readers will know, I take my young daughter with me to watch Blues matches. As any parent will tell you, it’s difficult at first to get them engaged in watching the football and as any Blues parent will tell you, it’s doubly difficult convincing them that staying to the end if worthwhile, even if we’re losing. Whilst I can understand why people leave early – especially when the football is crap – it’s not always made sense. The first game of the season was a case in point, when I ended up sitting next to a bloke on the bus who’d left five minutes before the final whistle and consequently hadn’t seen Zigic’s equaliser – only to end up on the same bus as a bunch of us who had.

So there we were in the paddock, on a cold and frosty February day. Wolves took the lead through Kevin Doyle just before half time, and as the second half progressed you could see people thinking about beating the rush and leaving. My nipper was upset – she’s like me, she hates losing – and she didn’t want to stay until the end because she didn’t want to see us lose. Despite not thinking it was going to happen, I clearly remember telling her that there was time left in the game and Blues might just be able to equalise – it was only 1-0 and the game wasn’t dead yet.

Just after the hour mark, McLeish brought on Kevin Phillips. Now most Wolves fans will tell you that they hate KP – he’s got that happy knack of scoring past them – and from the Sky Fanzone video you can see that the Wolves fan on there wasn’t chuffed with the substitution.

Well, you all know what happened. With ten minutes to go, Keith Fahey crossed it in, Craig Gardner headed it back across goal and there pops up Phillips to volley it home to equalise. Blues get their tails up, and on 85 a Stephen Carr surge down the right (showing that despite his age that he’s as fit as a butcher’s dog) ended with the full-back crossing it to KP, who chested it and smashed it home for the winner.

Cue delirium in the stadium – a comeback win against our canine friends from Wolvo.

What I remember most about that game is walking out afterwards with a beaming five-year-old, happy that for just once Blues had repaid my faith and conviction in convincing her that we should stay to the bitter end. For that, I thank Super Kevin Phillips.

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23 Responses to “Do You Remember When… Phillips scored 2 to beat the Wolves?”

  • prewarblue says:

    You mentioned this game as sticking in your memory,,,,,,one or two stand out in what remains of my memory.
    Blues being booed off the pitch having just won 4-0 at St Andrews,,,,,,previous 2 home games had been won 6-1 and 6-2,,,,,,with more chances to score than either of the preceding games !,,,,,,the crowd had been chanting for 6 from the kick off.
    Blues 5 Fulham 4.,,,,,,halftime we went in 4-0 nil up,,,,,,15 min into second half, it was 4-4, and for the last 30 neither team played with a defence,,,,,all out attack from both sides with more missed chances than could be counted,,,,,,cant remeber if it was Francis or Bob Hatton who got the winner, only that it was scrambled into the net at the [then ] Railway End
    Francis4 Bolton 0 Dont need to say anymore
    Leicester 2 Blues 6,,,,,,Again dont need to say much,except this game was the main match on the tv,,,,why ?,,,,,only game not to have been frozen off !!,,,,,[ and it was bloody cold at Filbert St as well ]

  • kentucky blue says:

    I remember a game late 70’s or early 80’s v chelsea, we were 5-2 down lots of fans already gone then we scored 2 the ground filled up right at the end again, i think we hit the woodwork right at the death. Does anyone remember this match?

  • Agent McLeish says:

    Best comeback ever was at home against Man City in Dec 1997. I remember it like it was yesterday and watching it again makes the hairs on my neck stand up. Man City, so we thought, scored the ‘winner’ in injury time. The Man City fans were delerious, they thought they’d won the game! There was then a max exodus of Blues fans leaving what they thought was a lost cause until the comeback of comebacks happened. Up steps Forster to equalise, I’d have taken the draw there and then, surely the impossible couldn’t happen? Then bursting through from midfield came our warrior extreme Sir Martin O’Connor to cooly smash the ball into the Man City net for the most unexpected winner. All three goals came in injury time http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJu7d2d2WtE
    Beat that one!

    • BluesinJapan says:

      I was there for that one, and in my memory of the game I always remember us hitting the bar in that injury time too from a Jon McCarthy volley. I’m never sure if I just imagine it in that frantic last 3 minutes or if it actually happened.
      Does anyone else who went to the game remember it?!

      It is pretty quiet with international week, but the site doesn’t seem to have written anything about Leroy Lita signing. I’d have thought that was pretty significant and would be interested to see what others thought, I’m guessing he goes straight into the first team squad.

  • swissjonny says:

    Does anyone recall the 5-1 thumping of Man Utd at St Andrews?Jimmy Calderwood scoring a free kick for the 5th from just inside the halfway line If my memory is right we beat Liverpool 3-2 at Anfield the same season.Nothing to do with great comebacks but prewarblue got me all nostalgic talking about the win at Leicester.Star Soccer,the Davenports ad,Hugh Johns…..Ill get my coat.

  • Paul Carter - The Voice Of Reason says:

    Best one of recent times

    Filth 2 Blues 2

    ‘Stern John In The Last Minute’

    How gutted were they but how happy were we :)

  • Blueboy88 says:

    10th Anniversary this week 16th Sept 2002
    Birmingham 3 Villa 0

    Steve Bruce who has been there & done it all , later described it as the greatest atmosphere he had ever witnessed in a football ground…!!

    Best night ever…………..

  • bluesfeak says:

    Villa 0 Blues 2 ….. same season as above I went to both games but the away game just edges it slightly cuz it was on their patch and looking at 40.000 odd Vile fans looking gloomy and distraught= Pricless!!!…lol…completely lost my voice the next day for nearly a week!! haha

    • Bluenosejohn says:

      Best description of the game at Vile Park that year came from one of their fans that it was a nightmare night where if a Blues fan could have made a check list of everything they wanted to see this was it and he was spot on. From memory we had a win on merit at the Scum’s pit; opposition having one player sent off for a disgraceful over the top challenge; the captain sent off for a head butt on Robbie Savage which has become even more enjoyable over the years and please can you do it again but make proper contact this time; a second goal due to the cowardice of the goal keeper when faced with a rampant Horse; pitch invasions from the Vile fans; and the players being disowned by their own manager Graham Taylor who in fairness found their general conduct distasteful on the day with Mr Dublin giving a less than half hearted apology to the Vile fans the next day. Danny Baker wrote in the Times after it was a proper revert back to when all local Derby’s were conducted with all out passion.

      • bluesfeak says:

        Excellent IMHO that game made al otherl local derbys look medioce…even Rangers v Celtic!!
        Best part of the game is when the Horse scored..after taking round the keeper and goal at his mercy he still didnt put it into the net till the last second..haha..itwas like he was teasing the vile players into thinking they could make a goal live clearence…absolute class and a legent too!!

        • Bluenosejohn says:

          Baker’s comments not bad from a Millwall fan. All they have as rivals are a bunch of over rated jerks who play in pink and baby blue whose arrogant fans just live on past and often imagined glories……

  • prewarblue says:

    2 games I do remember,,,,,,my father took me [in the faint hope of converting me to the dark side ] they lost both ! ,,,,,0-1 scored after 10 min [own goal ] and winning 2-0 with 5 min to go !,,,,,went down 2-3 against Hull,,,,,,,never took me again, said I was a “Bleedin Jinx” and got really upset as I laughed all the way home !! lol

  • johnwolf says:

    Can anyone remember the last goal that won a championship or an FA cup final?

  • Bluenosesol says:

    FA Cup Replay versus Arsenal 1968. Blues fans poured out of the ground as Arsenal scored in the 90th minute. Blues went on to score two goals in injury time to win 2-1 in front of over 50,000 fans.

  • Iggy says:

    kentucky blue

    the 4-5 against Chelsea was in 1977/78. At one stage it was 2-2, although Blues had been behind at least once. In the 2nd half Chelsea, led by winger Clive Walker, surged to a 2-5 lead which was undeserved as Blues hadn’t played that badly. The ground was emptying at 4.30 when Blues, attacking the Railway end, inexplicably scored two. The first was an instinctive TF chest and volley close to the penalty spot. Bertschin got the fourth with a header following a great floated cross from the right wing (Gary Jones?) one minute later.

    There was a chance for a fifth, but I recall it being saved and a strange set of emotions as I fought my way back to get the 58 Coventry Road bus. In the years that followed, the Blues v Chelsea games at St Andrews became marred by too much violence

    • Bluenosesol says:

      The Chelsea feuds were pretty nasty well before 77. I can recall an occasion in about 1968, when the Chelsea mob turned up well in advance of kick off and amassed approx 1000 fans on the Tilton. As the Blues fans arrived, they congregated at the Cattel Road end and once they had sufficient numbers, they charged the Chelsea fans and a mighty terrace brawl ensued. The police had to interverne to shepherd the Chelsea fans to the opposite end of the ground. If i recall, I believe that this issue occured following a similar event at Stamford Bridge, where the Blues fans had claimed to have “taken” the Shed End. Strange really because many fans of a certain age pine for the cmaradery of the standing terraces, whilst at the same time being grateful for the relative safety that the seating has provided.

    • kentucky blue says:

      Thanks Iggy for the info


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