Birmingham City 0-0 Queens Park Rangers: Blues held at home for second game running

Birmingham City were held to a draw for the second successive home game as lowly Queens Park Rangers battled hard to maintain this season’s improved away form.

But they could not find a way past QPR keeper Asmir Begovic, while Birmingham stopper John Ruddy was in equally good form.

The real standout moment of the night, however, was former West Bromwich Albion midfielder Sam Field’s astonishing acrobatic clearance to prevent his team-mate Steve Cook from scoring an embarrassing first-half own goal.

QPR’s point, on the back of away wins at Cardiff and Middlesbrough, perhaps made up for the unhappy evening they suffered in the second city on their last visit to St Andrew’s 11 months ago, which turned out to be a fateful night for them.

Then under Michael Beale, the then high-flying Hoops would have gone top of the second tier if they had won.

Instead, Blues’ 2-0 win, sparked by an outstanding overhead-kick from on-loan Arsenal defender Auston Trusty, sent them on a nosedive down the Championship table, hastened by Beale’s high-profile departure to Rangers, unchecked by new boss Neil Critchley and ended only by the two late season wins under Ainsworth which kept them up.

The one thing that appears to be different to last season is their comparative defensive meanness.

Since being battered 4-0 at Watford in their season opener, QPR have only conceded eight goals in seven league games – and this was their second successive away clean sheet.

No way past Ruddy and Begovic

Despite a lot of early menace down the right from on-loan Jay Stansfield, the closest Birmingham came before the break was a frantic scramble which culminated in a remarkable goal-line clearance from Field, who hooked Cook’s attempted clearance out from underneath his own bar.

Stansfield also dangerously bobbed and weaved his way into a number of other potential openings, but the ball did not bounce kindly enough thanks to the close intervention of some gutsy last-ditch QPR defending.

The closest either side came to a goal before the break came when Paul Smyth cut in from right for the visitors and unleashed a low left-foot shot which forced a save from the solid Ruddy.

With Blues disrupted by a late first-half hamstring injury for Keshi Anderson, it was the same pattern after the break as the two 36-year-old custodians vied to outdo each other.

Begovic made important saves from Scott Hogan and the lively Stansfield, while Ruddy perhaps outshone him when he got down sharply to keep out Lyndon Dykes’ header from substitute Albert Adomah’s right-wing cross, reacting with a brilliant tumbling save.

But while Blues have still not lost a home Championship match this season and ended a run of two straight away defeats at Watford and Preston, they will surely be the more disappointed of the two sides.

Who’s next?

Birmingham are on the road next Saturday when they go to Norwich, while QPR host Coventry City.

Birmingham City boss John Eustace told BBC Radio WM:

“Overall, a point is a fair result and John Ruddy saved us with an outstanding save there at the end.

“It was important that we were competitive and had some good chances.

“But QPR were always a threat and we had to stay alert – and we limited them to only a few chances.”

QPR boss Gareth Ainsworth:

“I’d have taken a point before the game, although you always want all three.

“But Birmingham are a good team and John Eustace is a good manager and it’s a tough place to get something.

“We almost got in trouble a couple of times then, but for John Ruddy making a fantastic save at the end there from Lyndon Dykes we might even have come away with something. But we’re probably the happier side at the end.”