QPR 1:0 Birmingham
I came to the game in a positive mood. I guess I wasn’t going to be beaten seeing as it was my birthday and the players came out with the same attitude. I just sensed Birmingham were there for the taking and felt if we went for it, we’d find success.
In all honesty Birmingham showed why they were top of the table. They started really, really well. Some of their football and movement was very good and they fashioned out two excellent chances which yielded two wonderful saves by Radek Cerny in the opening five-minutes.
But after that, we heeded the warning and they never really penetrated us again in the same way. James McFadden showed his class and was a real handful when he was on the ball, but even then, he didn’t really do anything effective apart from looking pleasing on the eye.
It was a terrific performance by Damiano Tomassi on his debut. You really couldn’t have asked for any more from the lad. It was his first competitive football for a long time, so one would expect some rust, but despite a couple of sloppy passes his experience and quality shone through. I loved how he picked and chose his moments to press the play and surprisingly really high up the park at times too. But it was the manner he read the game and intercepted passes with such ease and his passing was exceptionally disguised and clever at times… done in a way that meant we would be more effective and likely to retain the ball.
But, he was pipped only by the current player of the year. I never thought I would say it but at present, Damien Stewart is leading the way big time. It was another colossal performance from him and his progress this season has been immense. I still think the deficiencies in his game are there, but he’s fitter, fresher and able to keep his focus more and with that he’s added maturity and consistency to his performances. Long may this continue and well done to him for his impressive form this year.
I was also delighted for Samuel Di Carmine. What a way to open your account. It was a stunning strike and worthy of winning the game. As soon as the ball came under his control I shouted “hit it” and the interesting thing about him is he has his critics, but up until now, he’s never really had a proper opportunity to have a shot at goal. We’ve seen him scuff a few half chances from wide positions, but he’s never had a clean effort yet in terms of service. Here, we saw the first sign that when the opportunity presented itself, he can hit the back of the net.
I hope there’s more to come, but I was pleased with how many free-kicks he won against the Birmingham defence too. It’s important to relieve pressure off the defence, and he did that intelligently at times even if he went looking for it and was even more crucial when we were down to ten-men.
In terms of our tactics, we looked more composed with ten men in the second-half because we had to think a little more about what we were doing when we got the ball in order to keep possession and not be wasteful and we did that really well. I loved that we went 4-3-2 once Mikele Leigertwood was sent off and I’ve always felt that’s the best way to play with 10. It gave much better passing triangles and angles all over the pitch and allowed us to maintain a more natural shape and possession.
The only issue we had late on, which was understandable, is that when Hogan Ephraim was up front on his own he started to drop too deep into the midfield and give Birmingham too much time on the ball. But this is nit-picking. It was a performance that showed tremendous character and desire to get the result and we deserved to win for our courage alone.
In the meantime, despite Birmingham feeling they didn’t play to their usual standards, after about 9 minutes of play I turned around to Sam and Leonie and said they’d played better in that time than in the whole 90 minutes a couple of weeks ago when they beat us 1-0. So I liked a lot of what I saw, but we’ve proven that even if we haven’t been at our best, or in our best form, that we can rattle these bigger teams and be solid against them when it matters and all that’s required is continuity, maturity and consistency in order to be up there at the end of the season.
All in all, a terrific result on a surreal and freezing evening. I was absolutely delighted with the win!
