Monk work must mean the end to ‘Blunder Years’ saga
ANOTHER joyful season finale to write into Birmingham City’s history books. day, but for a quarter-hour spell at the start, largely devoid of the pant-wetting tension normally associated with such occasions as Blues eased to a 3-1 win against Fulham to secure their Championship status.
There was none of the heart-stopping drama of the Macron Miracle against Bolton in 2014, thank heavens, not much of the ‘dare-not-makea-mistake’ nervousness of Ashton Gate against Bristol City in 2017.
Instead this was an assertive stride towards dictating your own destiny. An impressive one too.
One fitting enough to be a conclusion to this particular chapter of the aforementioned club annals.
Yes, delight at the outcome and, yes, a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon spent in the St Andrew’s sunshine – but also much, much more resolve that ‘The Blunder Years – from Gary to Garry’ have ended. Time to turn over a new leaf. And if Blues can do that with the certainty with which they turned over Fulham, things really could take a change for the better.
The biggest crowd for three years gave everything to their team and their team responded.
Fans and players in harmony, a welcome reminder of how powerful a force that combination can be. That relationship fed itself on Sunday.
Lukas Jutkiewicz gave Fulham defenders Tim Ream and Denis Odoi a working over, David Davis and Maikel Kieftenbeld snapped around midfield taking time away from Tom Cairney and Kevin McDonald.
And more than anyone, Jacques Maghoma, protective face-mask and all, hassled and harried his opponents to distraction.
The DR Congo international turned in an exceptional performance, as did young Wes Harding, who provided the assist for Jutkiewicz’s 15th-minute opening strike.
Indeed, the goals aside, one Harding contribution produced the biggest cheer of the day. Midway through the first half Fulham had finally managed to isolate the youngster and teen sensation Ryan Sessegnon.
There were scouts from Juventus, Dortmund and across Europe in attendance, no doubt to watch Fulham’s gilded 17-year-old.
What they saw was Harding show the winger a clean pair of studs and comfortably beat him to a pass forward.
It’s difficult to know who deserves more credit for Harding’s emergence, the player himself or Garry Monk for bravely picking him in the first place.
And then, of course, there was Harlee Dean’s first goal in a Birmingham shirt. An excellent downward header just before half-time, which put Blues 2-0 up. St Andrew’s erupted, clutching at the knowledge Blues now had plenty of breathing space.
If the first half had been a commanding taking of the initiative, the second was a composed seeing out of the game. Fulham pressed, Blues remained steadfast and broke when the opportunity arose.
Cairney threatened a nervy finish with a goal five minutes from the end, but Blues and their supporters – and Che Adams – would not be denied. The back door was left open and Adams piled through.
That gave Monk the opportunity to hand Paul Robinson a 175th Blues appearance with which to bring the curtain down on his long playing career. Maghoma was lauded off the field, Robinson celebrated on to it. All was at one in the world as the day reached the happiest of conclusions.
What is key now, though, is that the same can be said for this chapter in Birmingham’s history.