More Misery For Birmingham
Ryan Giggs inflicted more misery on struggling Birmingham as Manchester United coasted to a comfortable victory at Old Trafford.
Birmingham keeper Mark Taylor was only able to help the Welsman’s free kick over the line as United broke the deadlock in the third minute.
Giggs then latched onto a through ball from Wayne Rooney to tuck in a second after 15 minutes.
Rooney sealed the win, racing through to score with eight minutes left.
The game was watched by a Premiership record attendence of 69,070.
Birmingham City boss Steve Bruce admitted they were in a three-way battle with West Brom and Portsmouth to avoid relegation.
But he said he is more determined than ever to pull his side clear of the drop zone.
“I’ve a great affinity with the club,” said Bruce, reffering to the 10 years he had at Old Trafford as a player.
“But I’m the Birmingham manager now and this performance has made me more resilient than ever to have a right good go at it.”
“We rode our luck at times, but in the second half we gave it a go.”
“Fair to the players, they’ve been criticised from pillar to post since that defeat to Liverpool and we needed to respond.”
“We were beaton fair and square against United, but the players showed plenty of passion for their shirts.”
United’s boss Sir Alex Ferguson had every sympathy for his former player.
“It’s is agony. Steve and Bryan were great captains of our club in the early years when we were still striving to get there and I really feel for them,” he said.
“Their quality does not deserve them to be in the position they are in. But they will fight on because they are battlers.”
Weekend Results:
Charlton 3-1 Newcastle
Middlesbrough 4-3 Bolton
Aston Villa 0-0 Fulham
Chelsea 2-0 Man City
Liverpool 3-1 Everton
Sunderland 0-1 Blackburn
Wigan 1-2 West Ham
