"Today we had quite a few who played below their best."It was a poor match all round and the only players to emerge with credit were in Blackburn colours. Substitutes not used: Moore, Chaplow, Earnshaw.Birmingham City (4-4-2): Taylor; Tebily (Lazaridis, 37), Cunningham, Upson, Clapham; Johnson, Clemence, Diao (Anderton, 68), Gray (Blake, 68); Pandiani, Heskey. Substitutes not used: Vaesen (gk), Morrison.Referee: S Dunn (Bristol).Booked: Albion: Wallwork. Birmingham: Diao.Man of the match: Horsfield.Attendance: 25,749.* The West Bromwich Albion chairman, Jeremy Peace, has confirmed that Kanu will leave in the summer if the club is relegated.
The Nigeria international, who moved from Arsenal last July on a free transfer, has a clause in his contract that allows him to leave in the event of relegation.. Nice pitch, shame about the football. Maybe the praise they got went to their heads because what we saw today and in the second half at Crystal Palace was unacceptable. Both stemmed from a refusal to allow Birmingham City the luxury of assuming that any ball played into their territory, however innocuous it may have seemed, would not be hunted down.Nine minutes after half-time, with the ball apparently going "dead" from Martin Albrechtsen's pass, Zolta Gera raced 20 yards in pursuit. The Hungarian slid into an advertising hoarding but leapt to his feet to win a corner off Stan Lazaridis. From the kick, Neil Clement headed his first goal since August.Midway through the second half, Gera's long clearance looked to offer Kenny Cunningham the simple task of passing back to Maik Taylor. A willingness to chase lost causes is a prerequisite for clubs threatened by relegation - and West Bromwich Albion clambered off the bottom of the Premiership by taking the injunction literally at The Hawthorns yesterday. In a victory which finally tarnished Steve Bruce's unbeaten record in top-flight derbies at the 11th time of asking, Albion's two goals had one thing in common.
"I've never publicly criticised my side but I won't accept that."Bruce added: "Two weeks ago we gave our best performance of the season when we beat Liverpool. "No excuses - they wanted it more than us," said a seething Birmingham manager. But Geoff Horsfield had other ideas, hustling his former Birmingham team-mate off the ball and feeding Jonathan Greening, whose cross was side-footed home by Kevin Campbell.The win avenged Albion's embarrassing 4-0 defeat at St Andrew's and left Bruce as dismayed as his old Manchester United colleague Bryan Robson had been that December day. Substitutes not used: Cudicini (gk), Huth.Booked: Chelsea Cole, Makelele.Referee: M Halsey (Lancashire).Man of the match: Cole.Attendance: 24,506..