A relative newcomer to English football, Tom Brady would admit he has much to learn. The Vertu Trophy final rolled out a not-yet lost tradition, a Ferguson Clan Wembley heist as Darren Ferguson, in his fourth spell with Peterborough, collected the lower league trophy for the third time.
If ambitions are set far higher at big-spending Birmingham, failure to collect the trophy to accompany promotion was a dark disappointment for their fans. League One’s champions were beaten by two superb Posh goals, and an opponent who appeared ready for a team previously far too good all season for the rest of the division.
If Brady had won at Wembley before, guiding the New England Patriots to regular season wins, fans of his soccer club are perhaps not yet ready to believe in the brighter future his presence is supposed to signal. This was 90 minutes of agony for Blues fans, pre-match fun long forgotten as soon as kick-off came. Brady’s pre-match duties had involved serenading fans from an open-top bus and, alongside majority owner Tom Wagner, a TV meeting of alpha-male minds with Troy Deeney. In the words of the club’s minority owner, chairman of an advisory board and cheerleader for the day: “Winning a trophy, it’s more than just a prize. It’s the culmination of a journey.”
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The national stadium was dominated by the second city. Peterborough, despite the wide-boy charisma of octogenarian director of football Barry Fry, despite their manager being the son of football royalty, very much in the minority. They were, though, defending the trophy at a stadium where they had never lost.
As the game begun amid an April shower only Brady, in reassuringly expensive raincoat, seemed to have planned for, Chris Davies’ team went straight for the throat, their fans urging on a quick kill of opposition beaten 2-1 on Tuesday to confirm promotion. The shock in Davies’ team selection had come in the total absence of Krystian Bielik after he completed the 90 minutes in midweek.
Jay Stansfield, the £15m man recalled to the starting line-up, fired wide when sent through on the right, and captain Cristoph Klarer had a volley blocked as Birmingham sought an early breakthrough. Peterborough, despite being sixteenth in League One, possess speed in attack, with Malik Mothersille’s early dart remaining of that danger. Another factor to fear: the dead-ball ability of Harley Mills. After 15 minutes, the one-time Aston Villa trainee’s left-foot clattered beyond Ryan Allsop from 25 yards and a difficult angle to billow the net: Declan Rice, take note.
When Abraham Odoh was sent through seconds later, only for Ethan Laird’s last-ditch tackle to deny the Peterborough forward, the West Midlands contingent’s previous confidence appeared to shatter. A set of fans who have lived out all sorts of disappointment through many decades began to seethe at their team and Ben Speedie, the referee. There was anguish when Keshi Anderson’s run through midfield was not followed up a final ball, annoyance when Mills’ brave tackle denied Kieran Dowell.
Dowell was soon booked for a tackle of Hector Kyprianou, Birmingham’s players as tight with tension as their fans. Within moments, Kyprianou had completed a scything move by cracking a shot home after Mills’ surge down the left and Kwame Poku’s flick. A goal of true Wembley wizardry plunged the majority of the stadium into a deep depression.
The second half, Birmingham attacking their own fans, Alfie May introduced at half-time, did not bring much Blues cheer, either. May was booked for dissent within six minutes. Whether attacking a wall of mounting blue anguish was help or hindrance was a significant question. Ferguson’s team seemed comfortable enough playing a low-block and picking at their opponent’s growing raggedness. The closest anyone came to a third goal was Ricky Jade-Jones, bursting through, and tripped by Tomaki Iwata. No video assistant referee, no foul given when technology would surely have ruled in Posh’s favour.
With ten minutes to play, Birmingham pushed on, desperately looking for openings, Davies booked for barracking Speedie from the sidelines. Then came more agony as Stansfield poked in a rebound, only for offside to be correctly flagged. A lone, premature blue smoke bomb launched in premature celebration appeared symbolic of extinguished hopes only for 11 minutes of time to be added on.
There, the outstanding Steer denied Lukas Jutkiewicz, Anderson blazed over to jeers, and fans Birmingham end began to empty as a lonesome Davies stood shaking his head. A last seconds’ melee after another Steer save was the end of it, tempers frayed before disappointment – and joy for Posh – took full hold.
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