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divimg alt=”" src=”http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/4118?ns=guardianpageName=Football%3A+Wolves+content+to+keep+their+distance+amid+mutual+back-slappingch=Footballc3=guardian.co.ukc4=Championship+%28Football%29%2CWolverhampton+Wanderers+%28Football%29%2CBirmingham+City+%28Football+club%29%2CFootballc5=Not+commercially+usefulc6=Stuart+Jamesc7=2008_11_30c8=1126524c9=articlec10=GUc11=Footballc12=Championshipc13=c14=h2=GU%2FFootball%2FChampionship” width=”1″ height=”1″ //divpstrong/strongThis was a local derby where compliments rather than blows were traded. Wolverhampton Wanderers passed up the chance to pull clear at the Championship summit while Birmingham City tugged at the leaders’ reins before letting go, yet there were no bitter exchanges to accompany the missed opportunities. Instead the ­managers and players extolled the qualities of their rivals in a post-match love-in that would make their Premier League counterparts cringe./pp”You have got to give Wolves enormous credit for the start they have made and the points total that they have now,” said the Birmingham City manager, Alex McLeish, whose side remain six points behind Wolves. “It’s no shock that Birmingham are where they are,” offered Richard Stearman, Wolves’ England Under-21 international. “They’ve got goals from all over the pitch and on the bench as well.”/ppMuch to Stearman’s regret, Birmingham provided first-hand evidence of the latter, the substitute Cameron Jerome scoring after capitalising on a rare mistake by the Wolves defender. “We looked at the video of their defence and noticed they were playing with a high line,” said Jerome, breaking ranks and daring to criticise the opposition. “There was a lot of space behind them and with my pace I’m always going to run away from them. That was the plan and it worked.”/ppBirmingham might have done their homework in the lead up but Radhi Jaidi can expect a detention after his part in the equaliser. Having swapped passes with the industrious Michael Kightly, Stephen Ward skipped around Jaidi’s reckless lunge before cutting the ball back for ­Sylvan Ebanks-Blake to bring parity. McLeish could not hide his frustration with Jaidi and it would be safe to assume the Tunisian will be practising staying on his feet this week.In truth, there was little else to concern Birmingham’s manager on an afternoon when Mick McCarthy’s side appeared unnerved by the visitors’ bullish opening, during which James McFadden had a perfectly good goal ruled offside and Stearman later ended up in the net when he hacked clear after Marcus Bent lobbed Wayne Hennessey. At the other end Liam Ridgewell headed against his own upright. “We got at Wolves,” added Jerome. “Other teams might be a bit wary of doing that.”/ppSam Vokes came close to pilfering a winner but it was not to be and Wolves, for the second time this season, missed the chance to equal the club record of eight straight wins. Promotion is theirs to lose and a promise of transfer funds in January indicates the board’s intentions. In the meantime, Wolves and Birmingham will expect each other to keep collecting points. “I think they’ll know we’re a good side and I’m aware they’re a good side,” added McCarthy. That much was clear./ppstrongMan of the match/strong Richard Stearman/pp­(Wolverhampton Wanderers)/pdiv style=”float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;”ullia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/championship”Championship/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/wolves”Wolverhampton Wanderers/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/birminghamcityfc”Birmingham City/a/li/ul/diva href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk”guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href=”http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html”Terms Conditions/a | a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html”More Feeds/a
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Original post by Stuart James

divimg alt=”" src=”http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/87926?ns=guardianpageName=Football%3A+Campbell+pushes+his+way+into+Pearce%27s+planningch=Footballc3=The+Guardianc4=England+football+team%2CCzech+Republic+football+team%2CFootball%2CSportc5=Football+World+Cup%2CNot+commercially+usefulc6=Stuart+Jamesc7=2008_11_19c8=1120079c9=articlec10=GUc11=Footballc12=Englandc13=c14=h2=GU%2FFootball%2FEngland” width=”1″ height=”1″ //divpThe preparations for next summer’s European Championships started last night, according to Stuart Pearce, and this was a performance that suggested everything is going to plan. Having used the occasion as an opportunity to experiment, the England Under-21 manager had good reason to be satisfied with the result as an under-strength line-up overcame a combative Czech Republic side through goals from the in-form Fraizer Campbell and Aston Villa’s Craig Gardner./ppHow many of these players appear in Sweden in June remains to be seen but Pearce was able to take encouragement from the fact that he has such competition for places. No one was more impressive than Campbell, with the 21-year-old striker, who has scored three times in his last two games on loan at Tottenham Hotspur, registering his first international goal and generally making life as uncomfortable as possible for the Czech Republic./pp”I thought he played well,” said Pearce. “He’s quick, darts in behind and is a constant threat. If he carries on the way he is, Manchester United and Tottenham will have a player on their hands.” Pearce also singled out the contribution of the Wolverhampton Wanderers central defender Richard Stearman, the sole debutant in the England starting line-up on a night when an inexperienced side extended the manager’s run to one defeat in 22 matches./pp”It took us an hour to knock them off,” added Pearce, whose goalkeeper, Peterborough’s Joe Lewis, was taken off on a stretcher in the first half with his ankle heavily strapped. “We probably needed to show a touch more devilment and grab the game by the scruff of the neck early on. But we wanted to get a win, keep a clean sheet and for three or four players to come in and do well and I think I got that out of this performance.”/ppCampbell capitalised on Jan Halama’s weak header before lobbing Jakub Divis, Gardner’s 25-yard free-kick doubled England’s lead and a third should have followed two minutes later but Jamie O’Hara telegraphed his intentions with a weak penalty after Jakub Heidenreich bundled over Campbell. There should have been another England spot-kick within seconds after the same two players clashed but Campbell was harshly booked for diving./pdiv style=”float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;”ullia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/england”England/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/czechrepublic”Czech Republic/a/li/ul/divdiv class=”guRssAdvert”a href=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227057980222111901285839760″img src=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227057980222111901285839760″ border=”0″ //a/diva href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk”guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href=”http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html”Terms Conditions/a | a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html”More Feeds/a

Original post by Stuart James