A goal in either half was enough to sink City's Academy side when they visited Birmingham on Saturday. A second minute penalty was not the start Sammy Morgan was hoping for and his side never recovered from that early set back although it was not until 70 minutes that the home side rapped the game up with their second goal, although it could have been over much earlier had it not been for a string of outstanding saves from Joe Lewis. It was Matthew Watts who gave away the penalty for a late tackle on Peter Till. Chad Sheppard made no mistake with the spot kick. City were unlucky not to reply from the restart when they were awarded an indirect free kick. The ball was rolled to Danny Crow who let fly with a powerful shot that cannoned back off the upright and away to safety. Lewis then had to alert to palm away a dangerous cross from Till before he made an outstanding one handed save from Neil Kilkenny, with Watts on hand to clear away the loose ball.	Joe Lewis was unable to prevent Birmingham opening the scoring from the penalty spot
Matthew Halliday gets his head on this cross	After the break Morgan introduced Andrew Cave-Brown, in turn switching Olly Willis to left back in an attempt to halt the lively Till. Lewis was again quickly called into action to save from Dean Curtis after a wayward back header from Jake Osborne. City were not able to get their game going as Lewis did his best to keep them in with a shout after two more saves to deny Asa Hall and Carl Motteram. In an attempt to fight their way back into the game Morgan threw Lee Blackburn into attack and it almost paid dividends when he saw a rising shot go just over the crossbar.
On 70 minutes Birmingham doubled their advantage when Till forced Lewis into another good save, unfortunately for the City keeper the ball still had enough momentum to gently roll over the line. To their credit City never let their heads drop and they might have pulled a goal back again through Blackburn whose shot glanced the crossbar, this coming after some superb build up play from substitute Andrew Fisk. Deep into injury time and it was the turn of the home keeper to pull a save out of the top drawer, this time it was Danny Crow who saw his shot saved by Colin Doyle. City Line-Up: Lewis, Willis, Watts [Cave-Brown 45], Osborne, Halliday, Smith, Howlett, Blackburn, Baidoo [Haynes 55], Crow, Eagle [Fisk 58]. Subs Not Used: Herbert, Howell. Top Canary: Joe Lewis.	Matthew Watts up against Peter Till who got Birmingham's second goal

Further Action From The Match
Trialist Danny Haynes	Jake Osborne
Danny Crow looking for the through ball	Lee Blackburn climbs above his marker
Shabazz Baidoo made a second appearance for the Academy side	Andrew Fisk came on as a second half substitute
Lee Blackburn	Andrew Cave-Brown, who looks likely to join the academy next year
Report and Pictures courtesy of John Landamore