Birmingham 0-1 Chelsea

Jan 20 2008 John Cairns Reports

JAMES McFADDEN failed to hit the high notes as Chelsea hijacked his big day at St Andrews.

Faddy revealed it was the Eck factor that persuaded him to move to Birmingham but the £5million man was left singing the Blues as Claudio Pizarro netted a late winner.

Scotland hero McFadden had to settle for a cameo role off the bench as gaffer Alex McLeish's side again made it tough for one of the big four.

But the boss was left to rue poor defending that denied his relegation-threatened team a share of the spoils.

The ex-Scotland gaffer said: "We feel hard done by but just have to get on with things.

It was a great performance and the reaction of the fans at the end said it all.

"There is no doubt we have rattled Chelsea but at the end of the day we've nothing to show for our efforts.

"We haven't done our job when it comes to man-marking in the box for the goal.

"We got punished again. We've worked on set-pieces at both ends of the pitch since I came here and will have another look.

"Again we saw the importance of what can happen if you put in the right delivery."

Having signed Faddy and Hibs' David Murphy, McLeish refused to elaborate on reports he was about to buy Manchester City striker Georgios Samaras.

He said: "We are looking at people and hope to try to bring in a couple in the next few weeks. My policy is to say nothing until a deal is done."

Chelsea boss Avram Grant was relieved to escape with three points that keep alive his side's title dream.

He said: "Although the goal came late we had most of the possession except for 10 minutes at the end of the first half.

"We didn't create so many chances but still had two or three opportunities before we broke through.

"Birmingham played with a lot of spirit and determination and fought well but we deserved the win. We were aware they had picked up points against Liverpool and Arsenal this season and it was important to win here.

"It is difficult to play against them. They know how to defend and make good counter-attacks so you need to be patient."

McLeish kept faith with the side that earned a 1-1 draw at Arsenal last week while Chelsea started £15m signing Nicolas Anelka at the expense of Pizarro.

The first chance fell to the home side after Olivier Kapo was put clear by Cameron Jerome.

His low cross was cut out and Garry O'Connor's follow-up shot was blocked by Michael Ballack.

O'Connor went close again from Sebastian Larsson's corner before Michael Ballack almost bulleted home a free-kick.

Injured Shaun Wright-Phillips was replaced by Pizarro after 29 minutes before the best chance of the half fell to Jerome.

Petr Cech made a mess of his clearance and it flew at pace towards Jerome whose header from 18 yards hit the post.

After the break Anelka went close twice before McLeish made a double substitution - replacing Jerome and O'Connor with McFadden and Mikael Forssell.

And McFadden was soon in the thick of the action forcing Cech to beat away his low drive.

Pizarro was booked after going down too easily in the box but broke the deadlock with 11 minutes left when he headed in Juliano Belletti's corner.