Birmingham City: How Chelsea star taught me a valuable lesson - Scott Dann

Jul 5 2009 by Andy Walker, Sunday Mercury

Birmingham City new-boy Scott Dann admits that he first learnt about the dog-eat-dog world of the Premier League when he was bitten by the Drog!

The highly-rated centre-back checked in for pre-season training on Monday, ten days earlier than Blues’ scheduled comeback date, in a bid to get himself fighting fit for the top flight.

Having made a rapid climb through the English divisions with Walsall and Coventry, Dann is ready to prove himself at football’s top table.

After being handed Coventry’s captain’s armband at the tender age of just 21, the Liverpudlian blossomed into one of the Championship’s star defenders.

However, there was one moment last season when Dann discovered the harsh reality of Premier League.

It was during Coventry’s 2-0 FA Cup defeat to Chelsea back in March when Dann was given the runaround by star striker Didier Drogba on live television.

Having already let the Ivorian through for a missed effort in only the second minute, Dann failed to heed the warning and in the 15th minute Drogba comfortably muscled his inexperienced opponent off the ball to go on and fire Chelsea in front.

Dann, 22, admits that it’s an incident he struggles to forget but it turned out to be a valuable lesson for the ex-England Under-21 man.

And as he prepares to face the likes of Drogba on a weekly basis, starting with a certain Wayne Rooney at Old Trafford on the opening day, he’s determined to not let himself get mauled again.

“It was my fault for the first goal, I thought I had more time, it’s just one of those things,” said Dann, reflecting on that horror show at the Ricoh. “Obviously it’s quicker in the Premier League and if I was in that situation again I’d do something different. I didn’t think he was close to me, I got caught out and you can’t really argue, I had to hold my hands up.

“But I’ll try my hardest to make sure nothing like that happens again.

“I definitely learnt a lot from that one match. It was just one of those things, in the Championship somebody might not have closed you down as quickly. I thought I had more time but I had my back to him and didn’t see where he was coming from, he took the ball off me and went on and scored. I thought I had got back on the line to stop it but he smashed it in the top corner.