9' Ronaldo presses deep and after about 8 crossovers wins a corner (okay, maybe I exaggerated that a bit). Rossi mishits an opportunity for a flick on from the corner. 10' Nice possession play from Man Utd with Park, Ronaldo, Richardson, Rossi, and Saha all getting touches but then no shot comes from it. 11' City playing lots of balls to Heskey as a target. Jarosik shoots Heskey's flick wide of Howard's net.
13' Rossi with a nice move in traffic to win a ball back to Richardson but then Richardson plays it back to him in an offside position. 14' Park draws a foul along the touch line trying to turn Johnson. Richardson free kick headed wide for a throw. Game is settling into about 70% possession for ManUtd while City tries to hit on the counter. 15' Jarosik appeals for a corner (or a penalty?) as he and Wes Brown meet in the box near the end line but it's a GK. 16' O'Sheak gives the ball away poorly and Brown takes down Clemence in transition but Mark Halsey sees nothing wrong (surprised?). 17' Richardson's cross for Saha near post is cleared for a corner. Jarosik clears.
19' Howard's first touch in 10+ minutes is to play a backpass around to the other centre back. ManUtd fans singing their 12 days of Christmas song. 20' Saha misses a backpost header from 3 yards after a fantastic cross from Fletcher
22' Ball allowed to drop to Heskey's feet in the area but makes a poor first touch. Rossi's been quiet after a bright 10-12 minutes up front. 25' Howard plays two more backpasses. Hopefully he's staying warm back there on what looks like a frigid night in the Midlands. 26' Jarosik fouled by Richardson in his own half. Maik Taylor's 80 yard free kick headed on by Heskey and easily gobbled up by Howard. 27' Birmingham midfield is starting to get a little more possession now and the last two ManUtd offensive forays have been hopeful long balls for Rossi which he couldn't get on the end of. 28' Park gets the best of Johnson on the left and is pulled down. Damien Johnson is cautioned for a professional foul. 29' FK from 19 yards taken by Ronaldo. Off the wall and cleared.
30' Jarosik with a great 40 yard run but gets wrong footed 8 yards out and doesn't even get a shot on goal. 31' Heskey turns Silvestre near the touchline and Silvestre is booked for a professional foul. Pennant's free kick headed over (the imaginary goal on top of the regular goal) by Heskey.
Re: Cooper Is it unusual for clubs to let the player to be loaned out to make the pick as to which club to be loaned out to?
35' Rossi triple teamed at the top of the arc but he somehow lays a ball back for Fletcher whose shot is blocked down. Halsey letting a lot of contact go in midfield otherwise there'd be no flow to this game now. 36' Park with a nifty move to create space 25 yards out but his shot is wide of the net. 37' Heskey with a great flick for Jarosik. Howard saves VERY WELL from 10 yards. But Heskey was offside on the flick so the save was not necessary (but it was good to see he was awake). 38' Howard cleans up (Martin) Taylor's header which just overshot Heskey.
40' Rossi forces Taylor to punch a Fletcher cross rather than catch it. Saha cross cleared by Martin Taylor for a corner. 41' Park corner cleared for a throw. Rossi shows some creativity and speed to lose a few defenders but his 30 yard shot doesn't have the power to trouble Taylor. 42' Horrible bounce off of Neville leaves Heskey free 10 yards out. Howard with a big save at full stretch to keep Birmingham off the score sheet.
It was a hard low shot and Timmy got down quick to cover his near post. However, the save he just made on Heskey (a typical Howard catlike reflex save) was much bigger IMHO, especially since City has been building momentum for the last 10-15 minutes.
Commentators speculating that ManUtd has about 60million pounds of talent sitting on the subs bench tonight. 45' Nicky Butt suffers a little knock as we head to first half stoppage. 45+1' Rossi with a lovely layoff for Park leads to a transition to Saha who wastes his 20 yard shot straight into Maik Taylor's chest. Half time and all to play for. ManUtd looked strong in the first 20 minutes or so and particularly Rossi. But Rossi has faded somewhat as Birmingham's midfield has had more possession. Heskey and Dunn have both had good scoring chances for City but were denied by Howard. ManUtd's best chance was Rossi's shot off the crossbar in the opening minutes. If I had to make a prediction right now, I'd say that City wins this one 1-0 but it'll be interesting to see what subs SAF makes in the 2nd half.
Man, you've got to love Setanta with a real half-time show. Pundits giving actual game analysis and everything! Eat your heart out FSC.
Halftime result in the other CC game: [result]Wigan leads 2-0 at halftime[/result] Rossi off for Rooney at halftime.
Ok night for Rossi though he should have finished the one chance he had. Rooney is more of a creator of his own goals and ManU need that right now. I think Rooney for OShea would have been better Saha goal!!
Okay, maybe it wasn't as easy as all that, he did a decent job to lift the ball over a diving, stranded Maik Taylor but it was an easy goal created by poor defending by the City centre backs (and a I nice low cross from Ronaldo)