A second poor refereeing display in a week led to Town losing 1-0 at home to Birmingham in a tight and bad tempered affair. The mood of the game was set within fifteeen seconds when Paul Furlong was booked for a horrible foul on Manu Thetis. After ten minutes these two were again to the fore when referee Barry Knights gave Birmingham a penalty after Thetis had obstructed Stan Lazaridis. Fierce protests from Town players fell on deaf ears and Furlong stepped up and sent Wright the wrong way. Town players and fans felt that an indirect free-kick should have been the correct decision at worst. A few minutes later Johnson was impeded in the Birmingham box, but this time Mr Knights thought there was no contact. By now the Town crowd were suggesting that Mr Knights was Paul Alcock in disguise. Some similarities yes, but Knights wasn't quite that bad.

The game continued on a similar vein with the Thetis and Furlong show getting increasingly fractious. Thetis was booked before being substituted at half-time for the again excellent Wayne Brown. Furlong was lucky to stay on the pitch after another bad foul on Thetis and constant pushing and shirt-pulling.

Birmingham had clearly come to Portman Road to try and frustrate Town. The second half folowed a pattern of almost constant Town pressure with the odd Birmingham break for good measure. From one of these Furlong hit the bar after another good run from the excellent Lazaridis. Town themselves came as close as they could to gwetting an equaliser with David Johnson having a goal disallowed for offside, having the ball cleared off the line and James Scowcroft hitting a post.

By no means Town's best performance of the season, although at the same time by no means a complete mess. A bad result, but with Crewe visiting on Tuesday there is an early chance to get back on track.

R Wright 7 Poor kicking in the first half

Wilnis 5 Lazaridis took him apart (Stockwell 86)

Thetis 5 Looked uncomfortable all half (Brown 46, 8 Really looks the part)

McGreal 7 Another solid performance

Venus 7 Usual solid performance

Clapham 6 Still not at his best

Holland 7 One woeful miss in the second half

J Wright 7 Some good passing (Magilton 74)

Scowcroft 8 Pick of the day

Johnson 7 Deserved a goal

Naylor 7 Not at his best

Photo: Action Images

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