(Click here to return to fixtures)

Birmingham Citadel 1 (Ian Law) ; MG Star 1

Birmingham Citadel came into this game needing to respond to their poor performance in the previous game. And that's exactly what Citadel did. Citadel looked a completely different side from the previous week and from the off were passing the ball round well. MG Star were being stretched as Citadel kept using the width of the pitch, and defensively Citadel were solid. The best chance of the half fell to Ramoth Gudza who turned neatly on the edge of the box, but dragged his shot wide with his right foot. HT 0-0

MG Star came out for the second half at a much quicker tempo and bossed it for about 10 minutes without really creating any chances. However as soon as Citadel got to grips with MG Star's new tempo they began to control the game again. Shane Hopkins produced a good save from the keeper off a corner. Ian Law had a goal dissallowed when he met a free kick curled in to the box. His first effort was well saved, but he put the rebound in the net. Unfortunately the linesman decided Ian was offside from the free kick (not even close by the way) but Citadel had to accept it and carry on. Ramoth again wasted a good chance, when he cleverly turned the MG Star defence but again dragged his shot wide, this time with his left foot. At the end of 90 minutes there was no score so the game went into extra time. FT 0-0

The first half of extra time was largely dominated by Citadel but with not many chances going either sides way. HT(Extra Time) 0-0

In the second half though Citdel got the breakthrough they deserved. A shot from the edge of the box by Marc Richardson, with his left foot (I know, I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it), was only parried by the goalkeeper. Ian Law was the quickest to react and from quite a tight angle put the rebound in the net. 1-0 Citadel. MG Star almost equalised immediately though when a shot from the edge of the box was brilliantly tipped over by Gareth Murphy in goal. Simon Black then almost doubled Citadel's lead when he tried to lob the keeper from 25 yards only for the keeper to make a very good save. MG Star then got an equaliser with a brilliant finish by their striker. He brought the ball down with his back to goal, held off the defender, turned and half volleyed the ball into the top corner. Citadel still created chances after this but the keeper was equal to all of them and the full time whistle went to signify a replay needed to be played. However Citadel were more than a match for the division 4 team and probably deserved more than a draw. FT(Extra Time) 1-1

Team:
Gareth Murphy
Chris Black
David Maybury
Richard Mays
Mark Sharman
Craig Mack
Ramoth Gudza
Marc Richardson
Simon Black
Ian Law
Shane Hopkins

Subs:
Steve Buchan for Craig Mack
Richard Black for Ramoth Gudza
Scott Richardson for Mark Sharman