Swansea

2

Gomez 2 Jaidi 45(og)

Birmingham

3

Bent M 42 Phillips 74,79
(HT 2 - 1)
Kickoff: 19:45
Att: 16956
Super-sub Kev's brace sinks Swans
Kevin Phillips' second-half brace stole all three points for Birmingham in a thrilling 3-2 win over Swansea at the Liberty Stadium on Friday.
 
Phillips: Came off bench to bag a brace
Phillips: Came off bench to bag a brace
 

Swansea

  13 Konstantopoulos
  16 Monk
  21 Bessone
  22 Rangel
  2 Williams A
  7 Britton **
  8 Pratley
  11 Gower
  6 Bodde *
yellow card 15 Gomez
  18 Pintado ***

On The Bench

  1 de Vries
  5 Tate
  23 Bauza * (36)
  9 Scotland ** (72)
  Brandy *** (80)

Birmingham

  1 Maik Taylor
  2 Hunt
  20 Queudrue
  15 Jaïdi
  6 Ridgewell
  26 Carsley
  Nafti **
  7 Larsson
yellow card 23 Bent M
  16 McFadden ***
  Owusu-Abeyie *

On The Bench

  13 Doyle
  3 Murphy
  Agustien ** (67)
  9 Phillips * (65)
  10 Jerome *** (80)

Phillips, a second-half substitute, made it 2-2 on 74 and then five minutes later rifled in a 20-yard screamer to seal the victory which sees Blues move to within three points of Wolves at the top of the Championship table.

Swansea had gone in ahead at the break thanks to a Jordi Gomez strike and an own goal from Radhi Jaidi while Marcus Bent scored the visitors' first.

Birmingham manager Alex McLeish made two changes to the side that beat Charlton last weekend with Mehdi Nafti replacing Phillips and Quincy Owusu-Abeyie coming in for the suspended Nigel Quashie.

Swansea manager Roberto Martinez picked Gorka Pintado ahead of Jason Scotland, who dropped to the bench after playing for Trinidad and Tobago in midweek.

McLeish's side got off to the worst possible start when they went behind after two minutes.

Federico Bessone surged down the left before crossing to Gomez who stabbed the ball past goalkeeper Maik Taylor from close range for his fifth league goal of the season.

Taylor then had the woodwork to thank for keeping Pintado out after the Spaniard's header hit a post after 23 minutes.

The Swans' efforts suffered a blow after 36 minutes when star midfielder Ferrie Bodde had to be carried off with an injury.

Birmingham then hit back through Bent with a close-range header from Nicky Hunt's cross with three minutes of the first half remaining.

But the hosts regained the lead in injury-time when Jaidi deflected an Angel Rangel cross into his own goal.

Swansea started the second period well and nearly increased their lead after 56 minutes but Mark Gower's 18-yard shot was blocked by Liam Ridgewell in the box.

Bent then sent a free-kick into the Swansea box where Sebastian Larsson headed straight at Dimitrios Konstantopoulos.

McLeish then brought on Phillips as he looked to give his side a more attacking edge and the striker made an immediate impact by levelling the scores after 74 minutes.

James McFadden, who played for Scotland against Argentina barely 48 hours ago, broke down the left and delivered a pin-point cross into the box where Phillips nodded home to pick up his seventh of the season.

Phillips' eighth of the campaign came five minutes later when he picked up a Bent pass to hammer home from 20 yards.

Martinez called on Scotland as Swansea piled on the pressure in search of an equaliser.

The Trinidad and Tobago striker could not repeat the impression Phillips had made for Birmingham though, and City closed the game out to secure the vital win.




Team News:

prewarblue : "...Not the best game by far i,ve watched but hey the points count is up again no matter how,3 more for safety,thought that once again that the team was not on the same wave length,was suprised that Carr had such a bad time,..."   view full comment

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reza78 (Manchester United) : "...Manchester United will sell Vidic to Real Madrid in the summer with Karim Benzema coming to Old Trafford. Smalling will be the new star defender! Also, Frank Ribery will join Real and David Silva to United. ..."   view full rumour

   

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