Kevin Phillips struck twice late on in the game to prove to be the main difference between the two sides at the Liberty

There is probably no doubt that Swansea City will wonder how they lost the game but they look no further than the substitute Phillips who took his two chances with the accuracy that has been expected over much of his career.   Look back to the first half and two chances that went the way of Pintado neither he was able to convert and you have the reason why the points are going back up the M4/M5 towards Birmingham instead of propelling Swansea into the division's top 4.

And to couple a disappointing night at the Liberty you can factor in the yellow card that will keep Jordi Gomez out of the Welsh derby next week whilst Ferrie Bodde's evening was cut short as he became the third Swans player in the last month to be stretchered from the Liberty pitch.

All of those three things make for a disappointing evening for the Swans - an evening that promised so much when Jordi Gomez scored yet again inside two minutes to give the Swans the lead in the first half.

The Swans lined up pretty much as expected with Pintado coming in for Scotland who was dropped to the bench following his midweek international duty leaving the Swans to start as follows

Dimi

Rangel     Monk     Williams     Bessone

Gomez     Britton     Bodde     Pratley     Gower

Pintado

The tone for the early play was set straight from the kick off when Pintado charged down the first Birmingham pass and the Swans were on the attack already.   And it didn't take long for the scoreboard to show the first goal of the night - although it showed for a temporary period 99-0 to Swansea, the record books were out?

They broke down the left hand side and Gower's cross was missed by Pintado but thankfully Gomez was backing up to slot the ball past Maik Taylor to give the Swans the lead.   90 seconds ish on the clock.

At this point it looked as if the Swans may bury Birmingham, Pintado was twice played clear - the first time his shot was saved by Taylor the second time his first touch let him down and the ball worked away from him.  Couple that with a devastating header that somehow came back off the post and out and you just started to wonder whether it was going to be our night.

The referee decided to let several Birmingham fouls pass - someone ask Lee Carsley how many fouls you have to achieve before it can be classed as persistent - and then he showed the yellow card to Gomez for his first foul much to the bemusement of players and fans alike.   Looks like we may need a different hero next week.

The night got worse for Swansea as Bodde saw the ball out for a free kick but went down under a challenge and immediately signalled his own distress to the bench.   Four minutes of treatment later and his leg in a splint he was stretchered off and if it wasn't for the fact that Bauza was stripped and coming on you almost half expected him to jump up and carry on playing....

The change spoiled the Swans pattern not just a little but alot as Bauza was never going to fill the shoes of Ferrie and Birmingham were sensing their chance.  It wasn't long before they were level either.   Bessone was drawn out of position and allowing for a free cross to the right it went over all the Swans defence and left Bent a free header into the net to bring the Blues level.

The momentum had been taken out of the Swans, well for five minutes anyway.   Rangel was played in on the right hand side and as he tried to square the ball across the area it deflected off Jaidi and into the goal area.  The man on the line desperately tried to clear it but the linesman's flag signalled a goal and the Swans were into the break with their lead restored.

Birmingham came out and pushed the Swans in the second half and seemed to chase down more loose balls than they had in the first 45 minutes.   The Swans - a very rarity these days - were struggling to stamp any authority on the game and you began to wish that we had gone into the game with a midfielder on the bench.

With 25 minutes left Phillips was introduced into the action and the mark of a class striker was there straight away.   He was immediately in the action and within ten minutes had headed the equaliser from a cross from the Birmingham left.   If that was disappointing five minutes later he had sealed the points for the visitors with a shot from outside the area that beat Dimi and hit the back of the net.  Brum's pretty pathetic away support of just over 700 celebrated and for the first time decided to make some noise. 

You just knew there was to be no come back for the Swans it was one of those nights and so it proved as yet again we failed to move above 7th spot - quite possibly the biggest frustration of the season so far

In perspective we are 7th and we - bar one clinical striker - matched one of the division's top teams and we haven't become a bad team overnight.

Now lets make sure we don't lost a 2nd league game in a row on Tuesday night - you wouldn't back against the Swans bouncing straight back

And fingers crossed on good news from the treatment room.

Photo: Action Images

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