Today I'm going back 11 years to 2011 and the FA Cup 6th Round (Quarter-Final) tie between the Blues of Birmingham City and the Trotters of Bolton. The tie was played at St Andrews, Birmingham in front of 23,699.
The programme cover star is Birmingham's Nikola Zigic. Zigic was born in what is now Serbia to sporting parents: his father was a footballer and his mother was a basketball player. At 6 foot 7.5 inches, Zigic would probably be a more than useful basketball player himself but he elected to concentrate on football and spent his early professional career in Serbia before moving to Spain in 2006 and playing for Racing Santander and Valencia in La Liga. In 2010 Zigic joined Birmingham City and enjoyed one season in the Premier League before the Blues were relegated and his next four seasons were spent in the Championship. Zigic did secure one trophy whilst at Birmingham, scoring in the Blues League Cup Final victory over Arsenal in 2011. Zigic played international football too, initially for Serbia & Montenegro including an appearance at the 2006 World Cup and then for Serbia alone. In total he earned 57 caps scoring 20 goals.
An FA Cup Quarter-Final was a big deal for both clubs with the game representing a very winnable opportunity for a passage into the Semi-Finals and a guaranteed game at Wembley. Birmingham had beaten Millwall, Coventry City and Sheffield Wednesday to get this far whilst Bolton had eliminated York (argh!), Wigan Athletic and Fulham. First blood went to the Trotters in the 21st minute as Owen Coyle's side took the lead through Johan Elmander, scoring for the first time since his goal against York in the 3rd Round. The lead didn't last long however. In the 38th minute Cameron Jerome smashed home an equaliser and the two sides went in level at the break. Alec McLeish's Blues were lucky to survive a clear penalty appeal for handball early in the second half before Bolton secured a spot kick for another foul, this time on Kevin Davies. Davies himself stepped up to restore Bolton's lead. It was another Kevin, Birmingham's Kevin Phillips, who scored the next goal with just 10 minutes to go to make the score two apiece with an astonishing shot over Bolton's Jussi Jaaskelainen from the edge of "the D". Magnificent and no more than he deserved after being unlucky to hit the post a few minutes earlier. The stage was set for a dramatic finale and we got it in the final minute of the game when Kevin Davies headed a teasing cross to Chung-Yong Lee to nod home for Bolton's winner. What a classic this game was!
Bolton advanced to the Semi-Final where they would play Stoke City at Wembley. I went to that game too and have covered it previously in one of these articles. You can find it on my searchable blog if you want to know the story of that game. The FA Cup that season was won by Manchester City.
CRB Match No. 1800
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