Birmingham City comfortably beat Shamrock Rovers 4-0 in a
friendly match at the Tallaght Stadium on Monday night. Goals from Lee Novak,
Nicola Zigic, Callum Reilly and Matt Green gave the English Championship side
the victory.
The first meaningful chance of the game came in the 9th
minute. Shamrock Rovers captain Pat Sullivan gave the ball straight to Lee
Novak, who passed it to Chris Burke. Burke played it to his left to Nicola Zigic
on the left edge of the area. Zigic tried to curl a right footed shot into the
corner of the net but the ball went just wide.
Birmingham City took the lead in the 18th minute.
Zigic played a fine ball into the Rovers area. Lee Novak raced in behind the home
defence and slotted the ball into the corner of the net past substitute
goalkeeper Richard Brush, who came on for the injured Barry Murphy.
The Hoops created their first chance soon after. Billy
Dennehy crossed from the left. New signing Eamon Zayed met it with his head but
he couldn't keep his effort on target and the ball ended up wide of the post.
Zayed had another chance in the 32nd minute. Karl
Sheppard crossed from the right. The ball eventually broke to Rover's number 27
in the box and he tried a snapshot which Darren Randolph did well to push away
for a corner.
Zigic doubled the visitors lead in the 35th
minute. Callum Reilly played it to his
left to the Serbian striker who found himself in space. He curled a right foot
shot which hit the post before finding its way into the net.
Lee Clarke's side went 3 up just before half-time. Chris
Burke and Lee Novak were both involved in the move before Callum Reilly picked
up possession on the edge of the area. Reilly's shot took a deflection off Shane
Robinson before hitting the back of the net.
Trevor Crolly's team had an opportunity to pull one back
early in the second half. Mark Quigley played it to his right to Sheppard who
tried to pull it back for Zayed in the box but Johnathan Spector was in the way
to clear it away for a corner.
Substitute Matt Green made it 4-0 to Birmingham City in the
57th minute. Burke was involved again. This time he crossed from the
right and he picked out Green who headed into the net from six yards out.
Both sides made a number of substitutions as the half
progressed. The changes appeared to disrupt the flow of the game which was also
held up for about 5 minutes as Green received treatment for what looked like a
serious injury, which led to him being stretchered off.
Substitute Colin Doyle would have taped the ball into an
empty net late on if Ken Oman had not got in the way to intercept. Doyle also
struck a late free kick which beat the wall but was straight at Randolph.
Birmingham held out for a comfortable victory. However both
Trevor Crolly and Lee Clark may well be more concerned by the fact that both
Richard Brush and Matt Green went off injured for their respective sides.
Shamrock Rovers: Barry Murphy (Richard Brush 16): Pat
Sullivan (c) (Stephen Rice 60), Jason McGuinness, Derek Foran (Ken Oman 46),
Danny Ledwith: Conor McCormack, Shane Robinson (James Chambers 68): Mark
Quigley (Ronan Finn 68): Karl Sheppard, Eamon Zayed, Billy Dennehy (Sean
O'Connor 46).
Subs not used: Gary McCabe, Thomas Stewart, Stephen Confey, Sean Heaney.
Birmingham City: Darren Randolph: Neil Eardley (Wade
Elliott 42), Johnatan Spector (Mitch Hancock (58), Hayden Mullins (Kyle Bartley
58), Paul Robinson(c) (Dan Burn 58): Chris Burke, Callum Reilly (Koby Arthur
58), Oliver Lee, Liam Davis (Darren Ambrose 58): Lee Novak (Matt Green 54)
(Colin Doyle 83), Nicola Zigic (Andrew Shinnie 58).
Referee: Neil Doyle
© Seamus Egan 2013
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