Birmingham 2-2 Everton
Cameron Jerome: scorer of Birmingham's equaliser
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Saturday, 13, Mar 2010 05:06
By James Christie
Birmingham came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Everton at St Andrews Park.
Everton opened the scoring after 20 minutes when Victor Anichebe cut inside and let fly with an unstoppable shot which powered into the top corner of the net. A second Everton goal followed four minutes later courtesy of a Yakubu header.
Another headed goal put Birmingham back in the game, Cameron Jerome applying a scoring touch to a Keith Fahey cross.
Birmingham goalkeeper Joe Hart made a trio of fine saves before half-time to keep his side in contention and his colleagues showed their gratitude by equalising early in the second half through a Craig Gardner's snap-shot from the edge of the area.
Bolton ran riot at the Reebok Stadium, thrashing Wigan 4-0. Johan Elmander opened the scoring in the tenth minute with a close-range shot and when Kevin Davies coolly despatched a penalty in the 48th minute it was 2-0.
Fabrice Muamba and Matty Taylor will both have grounds to claim they scored the goal of the day. Muamba's dribbling skills helped him score in the 53rd minute and Matty Taylor again showed off his shooting power when killing the game off in the 69th minute.
At Turf Moor, Burnley were slightly unlucky to lose 2-1 against Wolves. Early on, Burnley goalkeeper Brian Jensen escaped with a yellow card after racing out of his penalty area and head-butting Kevin Doyle as the Wolves man was bearing down on goal.
So perhaps some justice was done when Wolves scored in the 27th minute after Matt Jarvis intercepted a weak headed back-pass from Tyrone Mears and shot past Jensen.
Burnley suffered another blow before half-time when their set-piece specialist Danny Fox had to be substituted following a back injury. Fox later received oxygen on the subs' bench before being carried into the changing room on a stretcher.
Despite this, Burnley nearly equalised, David Nugent hitting the crossbar before the half-time whistle.
Wolves reasserted their dominance in the second half, doubling their lead when Burnley's Clarke Carlisle, a player who has suffered a wretched spell of form since his stint as Countdown champion, deflected a shot past his own goalkeeper.
Burnley pulled one back when Stephen Thompson poached a goal and showed an admirable admiration to get back on level terms but it was not to be their day.
At the Brittania Stadium there was little to write home about during Stoke's 1-1 draw with Aston Villa.
Villa nearly drew first blood in the 34th minute when Stiliyan Petrov's fierce long-range strike had to be tipped around the post by Stoke keeper Thomas Sorenson.
Even half-chances were thin on the ground in the second half; Ricardo Fuller had one for Stoke, Downing another for Villa.
Stoke failed to take advantage of the circus-style excitement generated by 20 of Rory Delap's long throw-ins and some fine last-ditch tackling from the Villa defence helped the away side earn a hard-earned point.
They might even have nicked it in the final minute when James Milner went close from a free-kick.