Substitute Sebastian Larsson held his nerve to score from Dunn’s pin-point cross in the second minute of added time, leaving Steve Bruce and Birmingham in debt to Arsène Wenger. Larsson and Nicklas Bendtner, who scored Blues’ opening goal, are on loan from Arsenal and both are precociously talented players.
But the impact of a powerful display was overshadowed for the Blues when skipper Damien Johnson, who was subjected to ironic cheers by the home supporters while being substituted in the final minutes, reacted with disdain. He tore off his captain’s armband and tossed it to the ground to widespread jeers then took off his shirt and threw it angrily on the pitch as he made his way into the tunnel.
Incredibly, St Andrews metamorphosed into a cauldron of hate as fans turned with vitriol on one of their most committed and accomplished players. “Damien was disappointed by the ironic cheers from the fans but he’s a professional and he has to deal with stick. I had 15,000 or 20,000 giving me stick when I took off Nicklas Bendtner,” said Bruce, who will reflect and deal with Johnson tomorrow before making a statement.
“We need to take the sting out of this and get a bit of perspective, although the sting will never totally go away. But it should be remembered that he’s been a magnificent servant for this club, which is why I rewarded him with the armband. The sadness is that it’s overshadowed a fantastic game of football and a great performance, which Damien contributed no small part to.”
This was the real shame, for the match was a tremendous advert for the Championship, contested by two teams with aspirations of a quick return to the Premiership. With Jobi McAnuff and Tom Soares attacking with pace on the flanks for Crystal Palace, the Birmingham defence found itself quickly exposed. Slow to break up neat interplay between Danny Granville and Mark Kennedy, the Birmingham defence neglected to close down McAnuff, who took one touch from Kennedy’s pass before cutting inside and unleashing a low shot from outside the box which appeared to take a deflection into the net.
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But Birmingham soon found a working formula. Anchored by Johnson in midfield and energised by Dunn on the right and new signing Gary McSheffrey on the opposite flank, Blues found their tempo and passing game. A miscued shot from a corner by DJ Campbell fell to Radhi Jaidi around the penalty spot and Gabor Kiraly had to make a sharp, one-handed save.
Kennedy continued to drive the Palace counter-attacks, crossing dangerously from the left for Soares whose header had to be tipped away by Maik Taylor for a corner, but Bendtner induced panic at the other end. The 18-year-old scored on his international debut for Denmark in a 2-0 victory over Poland in midweek and when Mehdi Nafti played a perfect diagonal pass into his path he demonstrated a cool deadliness again, Kiraly unable to stop his shot.
Kennedy might have won it for Palace with a 20-yard drive that just missed before Dunn chased the ball to the byline and crossed for Larsson whose half-volley beat Kiraly, until then a rock of resilience.
“Dunn didn’t just make the cross, he picked out a man in the box, a great piece of individual play,” said Peter Taylor, the Palace manager. “But I’m really pleased with how we played.”
Match stats
Birmingham 2 Crystal Palace 1
Star Man: David Dunn (Birmingham)
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Scorers: Birmingham: Bendtner 23, Larsson 90
Crystal Palace: McAnuff 11
Referee: M Jones
Attendance: 20,233
Player Ratings: Birmingham: Taylor 6, Kelly 6, Jaidi 5, N’Gotty 6, Sadler 6, Dunn 8, Johnson 8 (Forssell 80min, 5), Nafti 6 (Larsson 65min, 7), McSheffrey 7, Bendtner 8 (Danns 73min, 5), Campbell 7 Crystal
Palace: Kiraly 8, Butterfield 6 (Lawrence 65min, 6), Cort 6, Hudson 6, Granville 6 , Soares 6, Watson 6 (Freedman 65min, 5), Fletcher 6, Kennedy 7, McAnuff 7, Scowcroft 6 (Morrison 86min, 5)