NK Maribor 1 Birmingham 2: Colin Tattum's 'On The Whistle' match report and player ratings

Sep 29 2011 by Colin Tattum

AN historic evening for Blues that was all set to be nothing but an horrific one.

Not least for Colin Doyle, who did an Enckelman as Blues Europa League dreams appeared completely shattered.

Doyle’s airshot at a poor, short back pass by Jonathan Spector handed the Slovenian league leaders the initiative.

But as Blues laboured as the Group H match wore on, they suddenly struck through Chris Burke in the 64th minute and forced their will on their hosts to devastating effect.

Wade Elliott plundered the winner with an opportunist 25-yarder with 11 minutes to go and Blues recovery from being so down at hell was quite remarkable.

Blues made five changes to their side, with Doyle coming into goal for his first taste of European action and Liam Ridgewell taking the captain’s armband.

Elliott was given a new role, playing just behind Marlon King, and it eventually paid dividends.

Their initial start to the match was solid and steady but Maribor began to move Blues about and got their eye in on Doyle’s goal.

First Marcos Tavares fired wide from a good position after bumping Steven Caldwell away to a long diagonal ball.

And Doyle palmed away a free header for Goran Cvijanovic at full stretch before Blues regained a foothold.

King could have been played clean through but Elliott’s return pass was much too heavy, and minutes before Doyle’s embarrassment Fahey squandered an opportunity to open the scoring.

Jasmin Handanovic did well to get a punch on a cross that King was about to nod in and Fahey lashed the follow-up high and wide from outside the box after it bounced back his way.

Then the Enckelman moment turned the game upside down, and left Blues in a state of shock.