Andy Munro watches as Blues go down to Cardiff City.
To be two-one to the good with under a quarter of an hour left and to lose is nothing short of criminal.
The main criminal has to be Marc Roberts, who despite a bizarre rave review in the Birmingham Mail was culpable for at least one of the goals. There’s no point in turning in an ‘excellent’ display if you let your side down at a vital time. His partner in crime was Clarke-Salter who admittedly was being played out of position but he looked distinctly vulnerable.
We can, of course, moan about injuries but so could Cardiff with their talisman, Keiffer Moore, amongst those injured. Etheridge was a star man again with an excellent penalty save and Sanchez’ goal, like his performance was sublime. Certainly I think Halovic is now worth a start and maybe Bela but to my mind it’s worth keeping Sunjic and Kleftenbeld together.
Perhaps the irony in this defeat is that Aitor Karanka’s defensive strategy is oft-criticised but generally effective yet you could have nine men in defence and still be undone by the errors which led to our downfall.
A Boro side in decent form now await us… it doesn’t get any easier!