CENTRAL AJAX 2-2 BIRMINGHAM UNITED: THE MOWDOG'S INDEPENDENT REPORT, PLUS SOME IMAGES...

 Blinders Overcome Difficulties To Earn Late Tie At Ajax…

Central Ajax 2-2 Birmingham United

The Mowdog’s thoughts…

Home striker Shaye Eden scored two early goals for his team, latching onto a pair of smart through-passes by Freddy Murphy and beating United ‘keeper Dan Rushe from just inside the penalty-box, the second shot clipping the inside of the right post.

1-0...

2-0...

Incredibly, Eden also drove wide from another similar scenario, then was denied by the advancing Rushe, before shooting wide again and then too high, as the Birmingham defence stuttered and struggled with passes played between their defenders for Eden to slip onto. Rushe even raced from his 18 yard box to stop Eden once again, managing to chest the ball away from the striker.

Changes were made to the Blinders’ back-line before the interval by their frustrated and peaky coaches, which served to settle things somewhat and as half-time approached, striker Rabab Ali, who had earlier seen a low shot stopped by home gloveman Rowberry but had stabbed the rebound wide, headed replacement Jordan Kondo’s cross straight at Rowberry, after bullying home defender Jared Randall. However, the striker was given time to recover and side-foot the rebound into the net. 

ALI HAS MADE IT 2-1...

The supply from Murphy was thereby cut off, whilst United fought unceasingly to regain parity and despite not causing Rowberry too much work in truth, finally gained their just reward maybe 90 seconds from the end of the encounter when the lively Jay Higgins-Pugsley received the ball short from a Kieran Fitzgerald free-kick, played a one-two with substitute Andy Matthews, turned inside onto his left foot at inside right and threaded a low 15 yard shot through a crowd which evaded the plunge of Rowberry and nestled in the left corner of the net…

2-2 & A GENTLEMANLY HANDSHAKE...

By that time, all of the home forwards had been replaced except Che O’Connor, who had seen a shot from downtown deflected off target before the recess and then after the break had managed a low shot at the advancing Rushe, who had saved with his legs but Murphy’s guile was sorely missed, as was Ryan Palmer’s neat skills on the ball, never mind Eden’s dangerous runs.

The Birmingham changes…

Certainly, Kondo’s speed on the right side of defence, allowing Kyle Stenson to switch to the left, offered the calm Callum Cook some respite from the dangerous Eden runs and skipper Reece Mills had dropped in the middle of the back-line, which seemed to bolster things well enough.

Matthews was workmanlike in his attitude as a forward and the use of all five United replacements, contributed to a strong, if not always creative second period.

Fitzgerald ran the midfield with stubborn resilience, whilst Higgins-Pugsley often found space, especially when Ajax tired visibly and began to drop even deeper but the likes of Dennis Sesay, Ben Sanogo and Lucas Edwards all played their parts in the gaining of a point.

The Ajax demise…

The hosts were shaken from their calm possession game by the harrying of their guests and when there was no real outlet for them (aka Eden) errors began to be made and indeed, two desperate free-kick concessions right at the end of the match caused the eventual loss of two points.

Oddly though, Dan Holt’s long throws gave them one offensive weapon and late on, Jordan Lewis nodded wide from a left-flank delivery which would have seen his team go 3-1 ahead, albeit undeservedly…    

Jack Keeling never stopped working in midfield but the hosts were not helped by the caution earned by Aiden Foley within moments of entering the game. He then must have displayed some dissent and was immediately sin-binned, leaving his team to drop further back and allow more space for the visitors to exploit.

The comeback… 

The flank runs of Amechi Kingsley Eze-Sunday became more worrying for Ajax as the game wore on but Oli Parsons might have secured two goals for his team earlier in the second period but had shot into the side-netting on one occasion, then he struck the angle of crossbar and upright when Ali miscued Matthews’ low assist from the right byeline.

Higgins-Pugsley had been denied by a low Rowberry save in the opening period and had shot wide from distance after half-time but subsequently he became his team’s hero by turning in that last-gasp goal to achieve the parity they had fought so hard for…

The final words…

Ajax were well served defensively by skipper Tom Dyke and Holt, who kept the Blinders at bay for so long, usually being well supported by Randall and Harry Edgington-Furlong but it was poignant that when the equaliser went in, ‘keeper Rowberry bemoaned the concession of cheap free-kicks as the game had risen to a crescendo.

He was right… 

There were several cautions dished out too, apart from Foley’s, for Brum’s Cook, Fitzgerald and Alex O’Keefey were yellow carded, I think, plus Ajax’s Edgington-Furlong, Randall (for booting a ball away), Murphy and Dyke, for time-wasting… 

No wonder the match finished late…

Images...

PALMER & EZE-SUNDAY...

FOLEY, RIGHT HAS BEEN BINNED FOR SINNING, OR HAS SOMEONE THROWN A FLAG AT HIM?

WARWICK CHURCH ENJOYS THE APPEARANCE OF THE SUN, AT LAST...

MURPHY WATCHES O'KEEFEY BEING WARNED...

DYKE, SECOND FROM RIGHT, HAS JUST BEEN CAUTIONED...

MURPHY HAS ALSO BEEN BOOKED, AS HE WATCHES HIS SKIPPER APPROACH...

FITZGERALD HOPES IT'S A YELLOW...

FOLEY IS IMMEDIATELY IN TROUBLE...

O'KEEFEY DOES GET A CAUTION, FOLLOWING HIS EARLIER WARNING...