Our trip to St Andrews - 'a small town in Villa!'

St Andrews' Reception.

The Birmingham City match was one of the away matches that we had planned to go to from looking at the fixtures as soon as they came out. It's was one of those big grounds that I hadn't been to and from Redhill in Surrey it is quite easy to get to. While I was expecting to drive, a last minute good deed by my wife to baby sit for another family meant that we were left with the train option. Not a bad way to travel I thought as I could write up the match report on the journey back rather than having to drive. 

Stephen and Robert are on their way!

So off we set at 10am to catch a train up to Victoria station and then a fast Virgin train from Euston to Waterloo. As usual it was standing room only on the first train but reserved seats would be great for the bigger journey from London to Birmingham New Street. There were no journey problems apart from having to decipher which of the 20 tickets I had needed to be shown to the guards, as none of them would work on the underground barriers!

I suppose dad can tag along.

Pick up a fast train at Euston.

Dad is keen to show everyone his AFCB away shirt.

So we were in Birmingham by 1pm and headed for the Bull Ring and the food halls. Then it was off to the game and working out how to get there was made easier by knowing that Moor Street station was on the way. Before long we picked up a few Birmingham supporters heading the same way and started chatting about Zigic's lack of goals and comparing his performances to our biggest signing Tokelo Rantie, who is also having a tough time in front of goal. I did ask if the lads would not get too upset if they lost today, but they seemed confident that Birmingham would do the double over Bournemouth, after their good win at Millwall. Perhaps they did not know what was about to hit their team - a bit more than a seaside storm!

Robert holds back the bull in front of Birmingham's Bull Ring shopping centre.

While Robert and Stephen marvelled at the strange looking Selfridge building in town and mirrored passage ways in the city centre, we were soon at the gates to St Andrews. We headed to the main reception and gawped in the windows before spying the club shop up the hill. "It's tiny," said Robert. Yes, I think AFCB supporters have come to many away games and can see that we have one of the best club shops around now.  

Bournemouth coaches - we guess the away entrance must be here. Stephen leads the way.

After a bit of confusion we found our way to where the away supporters gathered at the Gil Merrick entrance and after a quick body search we were in St Andrews. The stadium looked very tidy indeed with three big two tier stands and the smaller, older Main stand to our left. It was not long before our fans were singing "Your ground too big for you, your ground too big for you!" That was quickly followed by my favourite: "You're just a small town in Villa, small town in Villa, you're just a small town in Villa!" It was all in good humour.

Everything is very blue!

The big score board - excellent.

Banter launched we enjoyed watching the Birmingham mascots and Armed forces charity mascot warm up on the side lines. We then had AFCB coming out to our right to warm up while Birmingham's team appeared from the left corner. The ground slowly filled up and after taking lots of snaps the game kicked off. As you can guess we were buzzing from the start as soon as Ritchie put us one-nil up. The speed of the attack and the bewilderment on Lee Clark and Birmingham players' faces was a joy to behold. We could tell from very early on that this was likely to be three points in the bag because the football Bournemouth were playing would not have looked out of place in the Premier League, and that is no disrespect to Birmingham because they were giving it their best, even if their supporters didn't always think so. Three-nil at half time was not lucky. AFCB were totally in charge. 

While the second half showed our supporters that there is still more work to be done with Birmingham getting a reaction and a Mecheda double restoring a little pride for the Blues, it had been a great performance and another three points on the road towards what is becoming an impressive total. While some Bournemouth fans shouted to Lee Clark that he was "getting sacked in the morning", I don't ever like to hear that. I think the spirit his Birmingham side in the second half was excellent and proved that they are still fully behind their manager. They simply met a better team that is playing some inspired football at the moment. I enjoyed talking to Birmingham fans and if AFCB don't go up it will be good to go back there next season, so I wish Lee Clark and his players the best for the remaining games.

The mascot's are out.

A difficult job getting the home crowd going.

This is about as close as the mascot's dare come to the away fans.

All the chat leaving the ground was whether AFCB could be in the shake up for the play-offs having seen the points close to Reading to just five. In a way I didn't even want to think about it so as not to jinx the club's progress. But it's hard not to want the team to just keep playing in this kind of form and if that makes them one of the best six teams in the division then they will have earned their place there. Whatever the outcome, watching AFCB on the road is as good as ever at the moment and the singing is tremendous. Can't wait for the next one. UTCIAD!

Match Highlights

Eddie Howe leads his team off after giving us another great away day. Thanks lads!