Birmingham v Aston Villa half-time update

The West Midland derby between Birmingham and Aston Villa remains 0-0 at half-time, though both teams missed great chances to go ahead.

The game started at a great pace with neither side having time to take breath and Villa were unlucky not to be ahead within the opening minutes. With barely 60 seconds on the clock Ben Foster dallied with a back pass and gave the ball straight to Gabriel Agbonlahor. The Villa man ran into the area and fired over when he should have put his side 1-0 up.

Downing also fired a great shot wide as the game went quickly from end to end and then on eight minutes Agbonlahor hit a header against the bar. Birmingham soon came back into the game as the game continued at a frenetic pace and chances arrived for both teams.

On 22 minutes Matt Derbyshire should have given Birmingham the lead when he completely missed the ball when only five yards out, and Villa then rocketed down the other end of the pitch and Ciaran Clark hit the bar as the home goal continued to live a charmed life against a wave of claret and blue attacks.

Both teams look dangerous going forward, with David Bentley looking particularly strong on his Birmingham debut despite the fact he has played very little football so far this season.  He could be a key player if Birmingham are to keep their record of having only lost two games at St Andrews all season – however the home attack need to rectify the fact Brad Friedel has not had to make a save in the first half.

Villa, looking to improve on a poor record on the road, have seen most of their attacking threat come through the right-sided combination of Kyle Walker and Marc Albrighton, with the duo looking to have the beating of David Murphy on the majority of occasions.

Birmingham felt aggrieved on 37 minutes when Murphy went dow in the penalty area following a challenge from Albrighton, and replays showed the home fans felt a reason to be angry as it seemed referee Mark Clattenburg was in a poor position to truly see the incident. Alexander Hleb then also had a shot cleared from off the line by Clark as the home side looked to have the upper hand in the closing portion of the half.

The game sits delicately poised at 0-0 after the referee blew his half-time whistle, however both teams will go into the break knowing they missed great opportunities to go ahead. You just cannot see this game remaining goalless until the final whistle.