'Best team lost,' says Bruce
Birmingham boss Steve Bruce was left to bitterly claim that “the better team lost” following a relegation sickener at the Riverside Stadium.
The Blues must loathe the sight of Middlesbrough striker Mark Viduka as the Australian ended his three-month goal drought in the Premiership to give Boro all three points.
Viduka has now scored five goals in his last four matches against the Blues, with his 45th-minute winner today to add to the double he scored in a 2-1 home win last season and another brace in a 3-0 victory at St Andrews last August.
Bruce, though, felt his side had the better chances over the course of the 90 minutes and were the only team looking to win the game.
Emile Heskey cushioned a header wide while returning midfielder David Dunn was twice thwarted by goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer either side of the break.
Dunn, in his first match back for a month, was taken off on the hour and Bruce looked to keep him fresh for next Saturday’s crunch showdown at home to West Brom.
City eventually ended the game with three strikers on the pitch, yet their failure to score again returned to haunt them.
“Sometimes away from home you hold your hands up when you have been beaten by a better team,” said Bruce.
“But today, for me, the best team lost – but then it’s the same old story.
“In the Premiership you only get three or four chances to score a goal and the cold fact is we didn’t take ours, whereas they had two opportunities and scored with one.
“I thought we were the more positive, we had the better chances, but not scoring has been our biggest Achilles heel all season.
“It’s not just about the strikers because as a team we simply haven’t scored enough overall.”
Following West Brom’s 2-1 defeat at home to Chelsea earlier in the day, City faced Boro knowing a victory would see them move out of the bottom three for the first time since mid-October.
They failed to achieve that but, with the Baggies looming in a week’s time, so much is now riding on that fixture.
“There was a period over Christmas, with all our injuries and the results, that I thought we were going to be cut adrift,” reflected Bruce.
“But we stuck in there, while our home form has picked up dramatically and that was important for us.
“This game with Albion is now going to be a huge one. It means a lot, but it’s not going to determine the season.”
Steve McClaren’s side are now 11 points clear of the bottom three, and with 34 points overall have amassed the same total that was good enough to keep Albion up last season.
“I said before this game that people’s seasons would start this weekend because games and results become more important with time running out,” said McClaren.
“That’s the case no matter whether you are going for the title, a place in Europe or trying to avoid relegation.
“Our season has begun today with a win which eases the prospect of relegation.
“This is our seventh win out of nine in all competitions, whilst we’ve taken 12 points out of the last 15 in the Premier League.
“You saw today why we have been on that run because we have shown we have strikers who can score goals, while the defence kept another clean sheet.
“So for me this was a day when the result was the most important even though we didn’t play well.”
McClaren was delighted Viduka took his opportunity with the 30-year old starting his first game for a month during which Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Aiyegbeni Yakubu have been banging in the goals.
But, with Hasselbaink sidelined by a virus, Viduka came back into the fray, ultimately grabbing his ninth goal of the season.
“It was a great goal, but that’s Mark Viduka and that was the difference between the two sides,” added McClaren.
“Mark has had to be patient and wait his turn and I just said to him to be ready when the chance came along and he was.”
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