The Centre Circle

It was a sunny bright Easter Sunday at St Andrews where Birmingham entertained Liverpool. It appeared that both teams were too busy enjoying the sunshine as the action was very sluggish for the first half hour with hardly an attempt of note on or off target. Finally, both teams showed signs of life, Torres shooting high & wide & Maxi Rodriguez was very unlucky as his effort from Torres’ centre was touched onto the bar by Joe Hart. Then Reina misjudged a Birmingham corner and the ball deflected off McFadden’s shoulder onto the roof of the net.

Immediately at the start of the second half Liverpool took the lead, Gerrard received the ball from a corner, he cut back inside Bowyer and unleashed a shot past Hart into the far corner. However Birmingham have been a tough nut to crack this season and they soon levelled, through some non-existent Liverpool defending. McFadden’s cutback was met by an unmarked Ridgewell at the far post and he bundled the ball home. Then, to the disbelief from the Liverpool fans, Fernando Torres was replaced by Ngog to a chorus of boos from those from those who travelled down from Merseyside. Surely Benitez wasn’t holding Torres back for the upcoming Benfica game, was he? The action was now end to end as Torres’ replacement  headed narrowly past the post, then Bowyer volleyed wide when he should have done better. Minutes later, Ngog missed again, shooting wide from nine yards. Liverpool kept trying for a winner; a late effort from Gerrard didn’t dip enough to go in and Rodriguez’s volley whizzed over. Birmingham had the last chance of the match but Kevin Phillip’s shot was held by Pepe Reina. So only a draw for Liverpool, just not good enough for Benitez and his team in their forlorn chase for 4th place in the league.

At Craven Cottage there was another quiet start between Fulham & Wigan, although it was Wigan doing more of the pressing and it was the visitors who deservedly got the breakthrough after 35 minutes. Mario Melchiot’s cross was headed back by Moreno and Jason Scotland’s effort beat Schwartzer in the Fulham goal at the near post, his first ever Premiership goal after a difficult first season in the top division. Just before the half-time whistle Fulham nearly equalised, Damian Duff’s cross defected of Figueroa and Kirkland did well to keep the ball out of the net.

As at St Andrews, there was an early goal at the start of the second half. Gera nicked the ball off Scharner and his cross was met by substitute Okaka who’s shot found the Wigan net. Ten minutes later, Fulham completed a turnaround in the match as Brede Hangeland headed in off the post from six yards out from a Duff corner. At the other end Aaron Hughes conceded a corner From a Wigan corner Moses nodded narrowly over. It was to be their last realistic chance. Fulham had a late shout for a penalty when Dempsey went down in a challenge from Bramble, but the Fulham fans need not have worried that the referee Mark Clattenburg did not award one. The whistle soon went for the end of the game, and three points were in the bag for a Fulham side who continue to win against all comers at home.