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Premier League

Saturday 22 August 2009 15.00
Score line
Final score Birmingham City 0 – 0 (HT 0 – 0) Stoke City
Bookings

1. Whelan 67
2. Fuller 74
3. Whitehead 86

Birmingham City’s Percentage Stoke City’s Percentage
Corners 3 50% 3 50%
Goal attempts 8 38% 13 62%
On target 6 66% 3 34%
Fouls 8 38% 13 62%
Offside 4 66% 2 34%
Birmingham City

* Joe Hart,
* Roger Johnson,
* Stephen Carr,
* Stuart Parnaby,
* Franck Queudrue,
* Keith Fahey,
* Lee Bowyer (Sebastian Larsson, 61),
* Barry Ferguson,
* Kevin Phillips (Christian Benitez, 53),
* Garry O’Connor,
* James McFadden

Stoke City

* Thomas Sorensen,
* Abdoulaye Diagne-Faye,
* Danny Higginbotham,
* Andy Wilkinson,
* Ryan Shawcross,
* Matthew Etherington (Dean Whitehead, 76),
* Liam Lawrence,
* Rory Delap,
* Glenn Whelan,
* James Beattie (Dave Kitson, 11),
* Ricardo Fuller

Referee Foy, C
Venue St Andrews Stadium
Attendance 21,694

Meanwhile, McLeish is sweating on the fitness of left-back Gregory Vignal and striker Cameron Jerome for the home game with Stoke at the weekend.

Vignal suffered a hip injury during Wednesday night’s win over Portsmouth while Jerome had to be substituted with an ankle problem.

“Gregory got a knock on his hip and it was restricting him. He was obviously struggling,” added McLeish.

“It was a change we didn’t want to make last night, but you can’t legislate for injuries.

“Gregory has made a difference to the team on the left side and I would be hoping he is going to be OK for the weekend

“Jerome has a knock on his ankle. We’ll have scans and we will wait and see.”

Final score Birmingham City 1 – 0 (HT 0 – 0) Portsmouth

1. McFadden (pen) 90

Bookings

1. Basinas 51
2. Piquionne 78
3. Kaboul 90
4. James 90
5. Mullins 90

Birmingham City’s Percentage Portsmouth’s Percentage
Corners 4 44% 5 56%
Goal attempts 10 50% 10 50%
On target 6 60% 4 40%
Fouls 11 35% 20 65%
Offside 0 0% 5 100%
Birmingham City

* Joe Hart,
* Roger Johnson,
* Stephen Carr,
* Gregory Vignal (Stuart Parnaby, 49),
* Franck Queudrue,
* Keith Fahey,
* Sebastian Larsson,
* James McFadden,
* Barry Ferguson,
* Garry O’Connor (Christian Benitez, 81),
* Cameron Jerome (Kevin Phillips, 54)

Portsmouth

* David James,
* Anthony Vanden Borre (John Utaka, 46),
* Younes Kaboul,
* Sylvain Distin,
* Nadir Belhadj,
* Niko Kranjcar,
* Hayden Mullins,
* Marc Wilson,
* Papa Bouba Diop (Angelos Basinas, 42),
* Aaron Mokoena,
* Frederic Piquionne (Nwankwo Kanu, 79)

Referee Probert, L
Venue St Andrews Stadium
Attendance 19,922

Premier League

Sunday 16 August 2009 13.30
Score line
Final score Manchester United 1 – 0 (HT 1 – 0) Birmingham City

1. Rooney 34

Bookings

1. Fletcher 76

1. Vignal 60

Manchester United’s Percentage Birmingham City’s Percentage
Corners 13 86% 2 14%
Goal attempts 26 81% 6 19%
On target 17 80% 4 20%
Fouls 13 65% 7 35%
Offside 2 100% 0 0%
Manchester United

* Ben Foster,
* John O’Shea,
* Da Silva Fabio,
* Patrice Evra,
* Jonny Evans, J (Wes Brown, 75),
* Luis Antonio Valencia,
* Darren Fletcher,
* Paul Scholes,
* Luis Carlos Nani (Ryan Giggs, 46),
* Wayne Rooney,
* Dimitar Berbatov (Michael Owen, 74)

Birmingham City

* Joe Hart,
* Roger Johnson,
* Stephen Carr,
* Gregory Vignal,
* Franck Queudrue,
* Keith Fahey,
* Sebastian Larsson (James O’Shea, 81),
* Barry Ferguson,
* Lee Carsley (Christian Benitez, 74),
* Cameron Jerome (Garry O’Connor, 65),
* James McFadden

Referee Mason, L
Venue Old Trafford
Attendance 75,062

Birmingham have completed the signing of James O’Shea after the Republic of Ireland Under 21 international signed a two-year deal.

The former Galway United winger becomes the latest arrival at St Andrews as Alex McLeish bids to build a deep squad to compete in the Premier League.

O’Shea has moved for an undisclosed fee and could see his deal extended by a further two years if he impresses in the Midlands.

Squad analysis

Goalkeepers Colin Doyle, Joe Hart, Artur Krysiak, Dean Lyness, Maik Taylor

Defenders Stephen Carr, Scott Dann, Giovanny Espinoza, Roger Johnson, David Murphy, Stuart Parnaby, Franck Queudrue, Liam Ridgewell, Martin Taylor

Midfielders Lee Bowyer, Lee Carsley, Keith Fahey, Barry Ferguson, Damien Johnson, Sebastian Larsson, Mitchell McPike, Gary McSheffrey, Jordan Mutch, Ashley Sammons

Forwards Christian Benitez, Marcus Bent, Cameron Jerome, James McFadden, Garry O’Connor, Kevin Phillips (Numbers to be confirmed)

Players in Christian Benitez (Santos Laguna, £9.2m), Roger Johnson (Cardiff) £5m, Scott Dann (Coventry) £3.5m, Barry Ferguson (Rangers) £1.3m, Giovanny Espinoza (Barcelona Sporting Club) undisclosed, Lee Bowyer (West Ham) free, Joe Hart (Man City) loan

Players out Stephen Kelly (Fulham) undisclosed, Krystian Pearce (Peterborough) loan, Robin Shroot (Burton) loan

Birmingham have signed Barry Ferguson from Rangers for an undisclosed fee in the region of £1.2m.

The 31-year-old completed the move this afternoon, signing a three-year contract to return to England for the first time since an injury-plagued spell at Blackburn.

Birmingham have completed their club record capture of Christian Benitez from Mexican side Santos Laguna.

A fee rising to £9m for the Ecuadorian striker was agreed early in June, but the deal was held up after the medical indicated a problem with his knee.

However, the 23-year-old has now signed for around £8m and he said: “It is the right time for me to make this move.”

Shaun Timmins has won a pro contract at Birmingham City.

The 18-year-old, from Sheldon, has agreed a 12-month deal. The left-back, who has Ireland youth caps, said: “Just like all of my family I’m a huge Blues fan, so this is a dream come true for me.

“I’m happy that all my hard work during my Academy years has paid off but I also know there’s plenty more hard work to come.

“I’ve always wanted to be a professional footballer and now that I’ve signed my first contract I’ve got to keep putting in the dedication and commitment to take it to the next level.”

Birmingham City have completed the £5m signing of Roger Johnson from Cardiff City to further bolster the squad following promotion to the Premier League. The defender has signed a three-year deal which will keep him at St Andrew’s until 2012.

Johnson impressed in the Championship for Cardiff and was an integral member of the side which lost to Portsmouth in the 2008 FA Cup final. He becomes the third centre-back to join Blues this summer following the arrivals of Scott Dann and Giovanny Espinoza.

Another defender who could be joining them is Bobo Balde. The manager, Alex McLeish, has invited the former Celtic defender to join the squad for pre-season training on 8 July. The club are believed to be willing to offer him a two-year deal.