At Craven Cottage

27th January 2001

Att: 17,077

Birmingham City snuck down to London on First Division business and emphatically reasserted themselves in the promotion race.

Blues climbed back into the top five after Martin Grainger's 48th-minute goal, protected by a display of enormous defensive resolve, handed Fulham only their third league defeat of the season.

Before kick-off, Fulham chairman Mohamed Al Fayed treated himself to a lap of the Craven Cottage pitch to celebrate his birthday.

The home fans responded with an ovation rooted, it seemed, more in obligation than affection and Blues soon proved even less keen to indulge the lugubrious Al Fayed.

During his bizarre circuit of the grass, the Harrods owner was shadowed by a towering security officer.

Burly and glowering, the bodyguard looked acceptably vigilant, but the afternoon's top security operation was then unveiled by Darren Purse and Michael Johnson as they, with eight sturdy accomplices, erected a mighty shield around Ian Bennett's goal.

Fulham have been scoring for fun this season but Blues pressed, harried and snapped so effectively that Bennett did not have a difficult save to make.

Certainly, this was the right time to play the Premiership-bound London club, deprived of strikers Louis Saha, Luis Boa-Morte and Barry Hayles.

Plenty of class, though, remained in their team and Blues, four days ahead of their Worthington Cup showdown with Ipswich Town, had to be fully fired up, tuned in and switched on. They were.

Their bullish resistance propelled the many Blue Noses present towards Wednesday full of belief. Naturally, it also delighted manager Trevor Francis.

"When you play the best team in the league and come away with a victory, you are obviously very satisfied," he said.

"It wasn't a poor performance by Fulham, but we came with a gameplan and showed a really determined approach. Throughout the team, we were very organised and worked tremendously hard.

"The absence of Saha and Boa-Morte, who have unbelievable pace, meant we could defend fairly high up the pitch and although Fulham passed the ball extremely well, they created few scoring chances.

"The players are very satisfied with their performance. It is a good tonic, going into the semi-final on Wednesday."

With the bonus of no injuries collected, this was perfect preparation for the Ipswich showdown. Conceding nil would be a huge help on Wednesday and all the evidence from Craven Cottage was of a defence confident and happy with each other.

Purse and Jerry Gill set the tone in the opening minutes by hurling themselves at shots from Peter Moller and Fabrice Fernandes. Purse and Michael Johnson patrolled their central patch with authority while Gill and Grainger, with diligent support from Nicky Eaden and Stan Lazaridis, subdued the considerable threat posed by Fulham's flanks.

Martin O'Connor was a constant irritation to opposing midfielders. One of those, Bjarne Goldbaek, curled a free-kick on to the top of Blues' crossbar but Fulham failed to create a clear scoring chance.

When they were reduced, in the closing minutes, to hoofing the ball high and long, Blues knew the hard bit had been done.

Grainger's sixth goal of the season proved the decisive moment. Kit Symons' foul on Dele Adebola had appeared to be inside the box but given Blues' recent form from the penalty spot, they probably preferred it out than in.

The left-back duly netted a fizzing free-kick from 18 yards and one inch.

That was much to the angst of those home supporters who had been baiting Grainger. The fullback is still associated in this corner of west London with his tackle, as a Brentford player, which left the former Fulham favourite Terry Hurlock with a broken leg.

While the score remained 0-0, the baiting was good-natured. It became steadily less so as the likelihood increased that the Cottage dwellers would be denied their customary victory.

Five years ago, Fulham, languishing near the bottom of the Third Division, were fighting desperately against relegation to the Conference.

In a few months' time, without doubt, they will be in the Premiership. On Saturday some of their supporters went home grumpy. Funny old game, isn't it?