Joe Hart, prevented from playing against his parent club by the terms of his season-long loan, watched on as the Irishman topped off a superb display with a second-half penalty save from James McFadden. Earlier on, Given had got enough onto a shot from Benitez to deflect the ball onto the post before pulling off another couple of good stops to help City down the road to their first shut-out in eight attempts.
City were grateful to their keeper for his efforts, with their own chances being few and far between. Injury kept Emmanuel Adebayor out of the squad, meaning that Roque Santa Cruz made his first start in the league for City. Other changes from the side that started the previous league game were Shaun Wright-Phillips for Martin Petrov, Pablo Zabaleta for Micah Richards and Vincent Kompany also starting a league game for the first time this term in place of the injured Kolo Toure.
The hosts were intent on harrying City from the off, the perfect example coming in the seventh minute when Gareth Barry was caught napping on the ball and robbed by Barry Ferguson, who pushed a shot across Given and wide of the post.
Within minutes Birmingham had had two better chances to score, and both times Shay Given denied them. Firstly, after referee Mike Dean had allowed advantage to be played, the Irish keeper superbly finger tipped a Benitez shot onto his post. Seconds later, Kompany was robbed by Jerome, who fed his Ecuadorean strike partner but this time Given showed a different face of a goalkeeper’s trade, racing towards the edge of the box and blocking Benitez’s effort. City tried to hit back through Craig Bellamy, but Roger Johnson did well to get a block in after the Welshman had lifted the ball towards the goal at the end of a run across the front edge of the box.
Given’s opposite number for the day was not the man he replaced as City’s first-choice, but Northern Ireland international Maik Taylor. On 18 minutes he could only parry upwards a shot from SWP that had bounced just in front of him, but both Carr and Johnson combined to clear our best chance of the opening period.
McFadden made Given work again on 27 when the City keeper pushed a well-hit shot over his bar. Birmingham’s corner, like the several that City had had earlier on, came to nothing but a few minutes later they were chasing the men in black back down the pitch after giving the ball away. Tevez laid the ball off to his right towards SWP, who made it to the bye line before pulling it back. The ball rebounded off Ridgewell to Santa Cruz but the striker could not get any elevation into a close range effort that Taylor parried away.
City had the lion’s share of possession as the first half wore on, but once again were thanking their keeper with a couple of minutes to the break. After a touch of pinball around the edge of the box, Lee Bowyer swept a first-time shot goalwards that forced Given to dive away to his right and then bravely block the follow-up. A spirited first half finished with no goals but with two home players, Ferguson and Dann, on yellow cards for poor challenges on Bellamy and Tevez, although the home fans were angry that Mike Dean had been more lenient on Nigel de Jong.
The second half carried on in a similar manner to the first, plenty of effort but not a huge amount to talk about, until 10 minutes had elapsed. Mike Dean pointed to the spot after Nigel de Jong had handled in the area while challenging a high ball and although the stand-in skipper looked aggrieved, no-one else protested and eventually James McFadden stepped up. But Shay Given was equal to the task and showed once again why he is so highly rated, diving to his left to parry the Scotsman’s left-footed strike away from danger. The Irishman exchanged a high-five with a relieved de Jong and how must much Fabio Capello, watching from the stands, wish he could select him and solve the English number one shirt problem?
McFadden followed his horror moment with a foul on de Jong that earned him a yellow card. Bridge and Santa Cruz were also booked either side of this, but that was the City striker’s last contribution before being replaced by Martin Petrov. Stephen Ireland was also now on in place of his Dutch midfield team-mate, just like the last time City had travelled to the Midlands, at Villa Park a month ago.
The missed penalty did not take the wind out of Birmingham’s sails, with Jerome heading wide but City also had chances, Tevez stinging Taylor into action with a rasping shot on 68 minutes. Gareth Barry chipped the ball across the area not long afterwards, but SWP was unable to latch onto the chance.
It all got a bit frantic with seven minutes to go when City’s claims for a penalty after Tevez went down being ignored, and Birmingham defender Roger Johnson needing several minutes’ worth if treatment. At one stage he looked set to be carried off after the paramedics had rushed on, but it was a false alarm and soon he was back in action.
This long delay meant, of course, that stoppage time would be lengthy and we were in the first minute of the minimum of six when substitute Kevin Phillips was denied a proper shooting chance by some good defending from Kompany. Martin Petrov moved to the right flank and chanced his arm, but his fierce hit only threatened the corner flag on the opposite side, while Tevez sent the ball a long way over after cutting in from the left-hand side.
Most Premier League games on Saturday featured a sending off, and Barry Ferguson seemed intent that the only Sunday fixture would not miss out, brainlessly handling the ball after Zabaleta had taken a throw in during the dying seconds to earn a second yellow card. The Scottish midfielder barely had time to get into the dressing room ahead of his colleagues when Mike Dean called time on our fourth consecutive draw in the league.
Most people would have taken moving into fourth place at the start of November and given the lack of clear-cut chances for City today, they could thank arguably the best goalkeeper in the Premier League for a valuable point.
