Blunder-ful for Declan
HORROR-STRUCK Declan Rudd held his head in his hands after the biggest howler of his career.
The Preston keeper somehow allowed an over-hit pass from Maikel Kieftenbeld roll between his legs, reviving memories of Peter Enckelman’s famous blunder for Aston Villa at the same end 16 years ago.
There was no one near to challenge Rudd as he attempted to collect the softly-rolling ball.
Astonished players were heading back to the centre circle to receive the expected goal-kick when the fans’ cheers alerted them to the fluke goal.
Celebrations came for Kieftenbeld, whose misplaced chip in the opening seconds of the second half inadvertently gifted Birmingham the breakthrough they needed.
Rudd, meanwhile, will have nightmares for years.
The home side took full advantage with further goals from Jacques Maghoma (above) and Che Adams, neither of which Rudd could do much about.
Preston boss Alex Neil said of Rudd: “We are not going to make a scapegoat of him. He has made a mistake and it has cost us the first goal but we could maybe have gone on to repair it, which we didn’t do.
“There is a lot more that went wrong other than that mistake. It was a really bad day at the office for us.
“As a professional player you know you have made an error and you have to let it go. He has to put it to the back of his mind and move on.”
There was little to suggest that Birmingham were about to produce their biggest win since March in a tightly fought first half which they dominated. In fact, Preston could claim to have come the closest to an opener, with a spectacular overhead kick from Louis Moult pushed out by Lee Camp.
Rudd’s intervention turned out to be critical. Tails up, Birmingham blitzed Preston.
First a low drive from Maghoma, as the home side extended their unbeaten home record to 15 League games.
Then Kieftenbeld set Adams free, the striker brushed off Darnell
Fisher’s challenge and his finish was far too clinical for shell-shocked Rudd.
Birmingham boss Garry Monk said: “I still haven’t seen it. I walked away, under my breath cursing Kiefter’s pass.
“It was funny because we were watching the Leeds v Sheffield United game before and there was a keeper error and we said we never get those kind of goals and we did. But the goal didn’t change the outcome.”