Chelsea vs Birmingham City
Match pulse
CHEAttacking pressure by 5 minutes
Final score
Chelsea and Birmingham City drew 0-0 on Sunday, January 18, 2004 at Stamford Bridge.
Play by play
- 90'
Chelsea huffed and puffed but were not able to break down some stubborn resistance from the visitors. They had the better of the play, possession and chances but were not able to find the killer touch. Maik Taylor was in charge of his penalty area and his authority, cross handling and a great save from Hasselbaink near the end, makes him the man of the match
- 90'
Birmingham relieve pressure through Kirovski and the game is over. Full-time score 0-0 as a battling Birmingham side manage to thwart Chelsea
- 90'
Bridge plays a one-two off Duff's chest and then on to Gudjohnson down the left wing. Appeals for a foul are waved away as Tebily muscles the Irishman off the ball
- 90'
Three minutes of added time to be played
- 89'
Final substitution for Birmingham as Stern John goes off to be replaced by Darren Carter
- 88'
Just as Chelsea need a decent delivery Bridge plays a ball in from deep on the left that is far too close to Taylor
- 87'
Birmingham looking tired for the first time in the match
- 85'
Another chance for Chelsea as Gudjohnsen powers into the box. Goes past Cunningham who clips his feet. Gudjohnsen keeps playing and, off balance, fires wide of the target
- 83'
Mutu, just inside the Birmingham half, sees the run of Hasselbaink and plays a perfectly weighted ball over the top of the back man. Hasselbaink is clean through on goal but Taylor comes flying out to block the shot from no distance. Fantastic goalkeeping
- 82'
Mutu effort from inside the D sees Purse throw himself in front of it to block
- 80'
Substitution for Birmingham. Jovan Kirovski on for Bryan Hughes
- 79'
Relentless pressure from Chelsea through Mutu, Duff and Bridge but Birmingham are defending deeply and in numbers to cancel out the danger
- 78'
Another Chelsea substitution as Mario Melchiot comes on for Glen Johnson
- 77'
Taylor collects a high ball in his box again. The big number one has commanded his area all afternoon
- 76'
Chelsea string together plenty of passes going from right to left and back again without creating a shooting opportunity. Credit should be given to the Birmingham defence who are now all fighting for every scrap
- 75'
From the left-hand corner of the box, Savage whips in a curling ball forcing Cudicini to punch clear
- 74'
Glen Johnson fouls Lazaridis as he goes past him. A bit of lip to the referee sees a yellow card given and the kick moved 10 yard sforward.
- 73'
Hughes takes a difficult ball down well on the edge of the box, neat turn followed by a quick shot. gets a savage deflection which forces Cudicini into action as the ball threatens to loop in
- 72'
Makelele catches John in the face with an arm. The Birmingham man is furious but the referee sees no need to take action against Makelele
- 71'
In what is becoming a feature of this game, Lampard has a pop from around 30 yards. It is rising all the time and the keeper watches it sail over
- 70'
Not a good throw and, as Chelsea look to break at pace, Tebily pulls back Lampard and receives a yellow card for his troubles
- 69'
Attack down the left from Damien Johnson gives Birmingham a throw right by the corner flag on the right
- 67'
As with the first-half, a lull in the game has followed a blistering first twenty minutes from the home side. Slight tension can be sensed from the crowd as the game continues at 0-0
- 66'
Desailly, Lampard and Makelele play nice triangles at the back to calmly get out of trouble
- 65'
First substitution from Birmingham as Lazaridis replaces Morrison perhaps signalling that Birmingham would be happy to take a point from this game
Leaders
CHEBIR 
