Report v Gillingham 25/10/00

A desperate, last-gasp Marcelo goal proved just enough to hoist Birmingham back up to third spot and rob brave Gillingham of another hard-fought point.

Substitute Marcelo stooped to head home the decider from close range with seconds on the clock to break Gills hearts after the worst of a Blues second half siege seemed to have passed.

A Stan Lazaridis corner proved the visitors’ undoing as Brazilian Marcelo crept in at the back post to thieve the points and Birmingham’s seventh successive home win.

The goal prevented Gillingham equalling a dubious club record. Their fifth straight draw would have matched the feat of the class of 1993, but this time their resilience was to go unrewarded.

It was an echo of the Gills' fine performance at Watford, where they held the runaway leaders to a goalless draw.

On the defensive from the off, Gillingham stifled any attacking move that came their way despite the best efforts of the purposeful Stan Lazaridis.

On 36 minutes the Australian international picked the ball up just inside the Gills half, ran 20 yards, then tried an extravagant chip, but it dropped just marginally over.

Andy Hessenthaler introduced himself to the defensive effort at half-time alongisde fellow warrior Nicky Southall, as the Kent side looked to harry the hassled Blues midfield, which was groaning under the expectatins of the highest attendance at St Andrews this term, and 11,000 up on the win over Stockport a week ago.

Unsettled skipper Martin O’Connor almost broke the deadlock in spectacular style two minutes after the break, but his stunning chest-high volley crashed back off the bar with Vince Bartram well beaten.

Blues boss Trevor Francis again admitted that his strike force was not up to scratch. Without record buy Geoff Horsfield, Peter Ndlovu won a starting place and he caused problems, but not in dangerous areas.

Francis tried to force his hand by replacing the again-disappointing Dele Adebola and Ndlovu with Mark Burchill, Andy Johnson and later Marcelo.

Francis’ invention was to pay off at the death, though not before Gillingham had almost stolen the points.

The visitors had the ball in the net in the 74th minute when Mark Saunders' free-kick was brilliantly parried by Ian Bennett.

Former Millwall and Arsenal hitman Paul Shaw put the rebound into the net but was unluckily ruled offside.