Filed under: Birmingham, Bolton, Premier League, Football, Match Reports
Kevin Phillips rolled back the years with one of the most crucial goals of his distinguished career to ease the relegation tension at St Andrew's.The veteran striker celebrated his first Premier League start of the campaign to help underpin a crucial home victory for the Carling Cup winners.
And Craig Gardner added the vital second goal to give Alex McLeish's side their first win since defeating Arsenal at Wembley and only their fifth home win of the season.
Phillips may be approaching his 38th birthday in July, but his goalscoring instincts remain as sharp as ever and he justified the faith shown in him by McLeish.
Nerves at the club have been shredding at an alarming rate since drinking the Carling Cup champagne, but Phillips's clinical finish proved too strong for Jussi Jaaskelainen and eased the tension in just the fourth minute.
Gardner understands precisely what the locals are going through as a self-confessed Birmingham fan and the euphoria that greeted the second goal, which cannoned off the far post before finding the target was like Wembley all over again. At times the tension was unbearable as Ben Foster again underlined his claims to be England's first-choice goalkeeper with a series of excellent saves.
He was involved in a running duel with Daniel Sturridge and the third of three wonderful stops, low to his left, one-handed to divert the on-loan Chelsea striker's effort beyond the far post was of the highest quality.
The best was saved until last and Gretar Steinsson will struggle to work out how the England goalkeeper forced his close-range header over the crossbar three minutes from time.
When Foster was eventually defeated 20 minutes from time, anxiety at St Andrew's rose another notch as Bolton rallied in an attempt to maintain their record of not losing to a side in the bottom half of the table all season.
Owen Coyle constantly tries to distance himself and his current side from the more direct approach of previous managers Sam Allardyce and Gary Megson, but there was little that was subtle in their reply.
Jaaskelainen's punt to the edge of the area was chested into the path of Johan Elmander and the Swedish striker produced an emphatic volley, but it was not enough to prevent Bolton enduring their eighth away defeat in their last nine games.
REACTION:
McLeish said his side had no choice but to win:
"We felt we had to win it. I don't like the phrase must win, because what happens if you don't, do you throw the towel in and give up?
"It was a big, big result for us and the fact that everyone knows it can be a big, big result puts extra pressure on them."
On the performance of Foster:
"He was brilliant. He is not going to keep everything out for us during the season, but he helped us get two points we might have lost."
On how Foster rates alongside Joe Hart:
"There is an excellent competition going on between the pair. Joe is the man in possession at the moment, but Ben has come in and carried on from where Joe left off for us."
On the display of Phillips:
"He was absolutely brilliant. He was fantastic. We did speak about him going out on loan in January. There were several Championship clubs that wanted him and a Premier League club.
"We had a chat at the time about getting more minutes for him on the pitch with us and maybe I could have used him more in the first half of the season.
"We did what we thought was right at the time and for the right reasons. Maybe I could have used him more. He is a genius in the box.
"I have been saying since the start of the season that technically he is our best striker. He is still a top forward. You just wonder about his legs, but he scored his goal, lasted 90 minutes and brought other people into the game."
On the injury to Stephen Carr:
"It disrupted us and it was an enforced change. He knows his body and hopefully he has been canny. If he had stayed on, maybe his hamstring could have exploded, but he came off as a precaution and we are waiting on the doctors to see how he is."
On the relegation battle:
"I have been saying all season that it is tight. When we have been 12th and 13th in the table, I have never said we are out of it. All the teams up to 11th cannot relax."
Coyle felt it was an injustice for his team to leave St Andrew's with no reward:
"We feel very hard done by to be leaving with nothing, after all the effort we put in to get something from the game."
On the performance of Foster:
"He kept us out with some very big saves, which is why he is there. It was like the Alamo at times in the second half.
"We had our most offensive side on the field for the last 15 minutes and he showed why he is an international goalkeeper."
On the overall performance of his side:
"Birmingham started far better than we did and they had the best of the first 20 minutes of the game. After that it took two or three outstanding saves from Foster to keep out Sturridge."
"At the start of the second half we were sluggish too and that was disasppointing because it cost us another goal."
On what he wants from the remainder of the season:
"We want to make sure that the season just does not peter out. We want a big finish and that is our target."
WHAT IT MEANS:
McLeish might hate the phrase "must win" but this was one of those occasions. Birmingham have been facing up to the possibility of being the side that wins the Carling Cup and gets relegated, but this eases the concerns. Their trip to face Blackburn Rovers next weekend is equally crucial and victory at Ewood Park would be massive. Bolton want their first top-ten finish since 2007 and still have that within them, but they have to find a solution to their fragile nature away from home.
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Source: http://www.fanhouse.co.uk/2011/04/02/birmingham-2-bolton-1-kevin-phillips-eases-relegation-fears-at/
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