Birmingham City 2 Bolton Wanderers 0

Last updated : 06 March 2004 By Footymad Previewer

Steve Bruce celebrated his 100th game in charge of the Blues by guiding the Midlands club to fifth place in the table as they continued their bid to win a place in Europe next season.

Birmingham extended their unbeaten league run to eight games with their success over Bolton owing much to their two strikers, Mikael Forssell and Clinton Morrison.

Forssell grabbed his 14th goal of the season to spearhead Birmingham's latest win which was sealed by Bryan Hughes' 67th minute goal.

Bruce is hoping to sign on-loan Forssell during the summer but admits that the striker's current form might well persuade Chelsea to eventually recall him to Stamford Bridge.

There is, however, little doubt that Forssell's goalscoring ability has played a major role in Birmingham's success this season and they would willingly pay £5million to acquire his services.

Forssell himself is unsure of his future. He has admitted that he is happy to play for Birmingham but is currently on a four-year deal with the Londoners.

Afterwards Bruce admitted that he was delighted to secure back-to-back wins over Middlesbrough and Bolton.

He said: "We were worthy winners and I suppose it was a good time to get Bolton after the disappointment of their Carling Cup defeat.

"After the huge disappointment of not beating Sunderland I thought the players have responded in a very positive manner and should have won by more goals.

"It is staggering that we have had such a good run. Europe has been mentioned but there is still a lot of games to be played.

"But at the start of the season our sole intention was to remain in the Premier League and we have now achieved the 40 points target and can go on to even better things.

"To be honest we are enjoying the experience and that is down to the players.

"I thought Robbie Savage had another magnificent game and he deserves a great deal of credit for this win.

"Savage was my first signing and what we have achieved stems from his arrival." Bolton boss, Sam Allardyce, was not so happy. He admitted: "Overall Birmingham deserved their win and now we have to get back to the nitty-gritty of Premiership survival.

"We did not close down Birmingham and it was a scrappy goal which gave them the lead.

"They didn't look dangerous in front of goal despite going ahead. In the second period we closed them down and their second goal was their first effort of the half.

"Then we switched off and could not raise our game to be a real challenge although it might have been different if Simon Charlton had scored.

"Jay-Jay Okocha was disappointing and he has not performed to his ability ever since coming back from the African Cup of Nations. I think it has taken a great deal out of him.

"That is why I took him out of the game in the second half. As a professional he appreciates that if you are not playing well changes have to be made." Birmingham were well worth their latest success although it was not as impressive as their midweek win over Middlesbrough.

Bolton, defeated in the Carling Cup final by Boro last weekend were often off the pace and at no time appeared capable of preventing Birmingham completing the double.

Birmingham were slow to pick up from where they left off against Boro but the determination of Savage and the front running of Forssell, Morrison and Damien Johnson enabled them to eventually gain the upper-hand.

Savage was not as positive as against the North-East club and this was often reflected in Birmingham's indifferent play in the early stages but he later made amends despite collecting his ninth booking of the season.

Bolton, however, posed little trouble to Birmingham's defence. They lacked penetration and skipper Okocha was way below form as he struggled to make an impact.

This was confirmed by manager Allardyce as he substituted his skipper on the hour much to the annoyance of Okocha who snubbed the Bolton bench and stormed off to the dressing room.

It was only the form of goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen, who twice made good saves to keep out efforts from Morrison and Bryan Hughes, which enabled Bolton to stay in contention.

As a result Birmingham were generally the more attack-minded with Morrison a persistent danger to the Bolton defence in which Bruno N'Gotty was a solid defender.

It was hardly a surprise that Morrison's determination eventually broke the stalemate when he set up the opening goal.

A throughball from Savage found Morrison near the by-line. He was challenged by Simon Charlton but was successful in pushing a bouncing pass into the middle where it was met by Forssell.

The Birmingham striker knocked the ball over the head of Ivan Campo and then jabbed his shot into the ground. This produced a high bouncing ball which completely deceived Jaaskelainen despite his desperate bid to make a save.

Bolton struggled to make an impression as they appeared to be suffering from the Carling Cup blues.

Savage began to make a bigger impact for Birmingham and this also put Bolton out of their stride as the Midlanders dominated long spells.

Their superiority paid off again in the 67th minute when Johnson produced a high cross from the right which was headed home at the far post by Hughes.

The best save of the game came in the 77th minute following a right-wing corner from Per Frandsen. The ball found its way to Charlton who immediately whipped in a left-footed shot which was brilliantly saved by Maik Taylor.

Man of the match - Clinton Morrison: The former Palace star was always a live-wire. His partnership with Mikael Forssell is now beginning to pay rich dividends after replacing Frenchman Christophe Dugarry.