Brum old boy dishes out pen pain for Bruce
From Bob Harris at Selhurst Park
ANDY JOHNSON haunted Birmingham once again as he hit two penalties to take Crystal Palace a step closer to safety.
Former Brum striker Johnson grabbed the only goal as the Eagles won at St Andrew's back in October.
Yesterday, he struck twice from the spot and could have had a hat-trick of penalties after seeing an earlier appeal turned down by referee Phil Dowd.
But Birmingham manager Steve Bruce was angry at the official, who also awarded a crucial penalty against his team in last month's clash with Fulham.
Bruce stormed: "They were both soft and they wouldn't have been given in normal circumstances. But the referee gives what he sees."
Bruce, who was roundly booed on his return to Selhurst, also had a dig at Johnson.
He added: "Ten of his 18 goals must have been penalties and he goes into the box and does remarkably well at falling over.
Hauled
"The one he didn't get looked to be more of a penalty than the other two."
In fact, Johnson has scored nine spot-kicks and missed two this season.
But he showed what a giveaway he was when Birmingham let him go as a makeweight in exchange for Clinton Morrison. Morrison missed two chances yesterday before being hauled off in the second half and replaced by Robbie Blake.
Bruce said: "It was disappointing. We have learned at this level in the last 2 years that, if you don't take your chances, you have no chance.
"We missed two early on and then didn't create much after that."
Birmingham were comfortably the better team in the first half and Morrison should have opened the scoring after just 12 minutes.
Another ex-Palace player, Julian Gray, put him one-on-one with keeper Gabor Kiraly but he drifted wide and sent his shot past the post.
Four minutes later, Morrison flicked another effort the wrong side of the upright after Walter Pandiani had headed on a corner.
But Palace took the lead in the 41st minute when Matthew Upson leant on Tom Soares in the area and Dowd pointed to the spot. Johnson drove the kick under Maik Taylor and then showed how cool he is by slotting it home again after Dowd ordered a retake because of encroachment.
Space
Palace were marginally better in the second half with Dougie Freedman forcing Taylor into a couple of saves. But it was Johnson who gave them breathing space after 68 minutes. The man who four years ago missed a penalty for Birmingham in their League Cup final defeat against Liverpool latched on to Michael Hughes' pass and tumbled over Upson's outstretched foot.
Upson escaped a booking but Johnson drove home his second penalty and 18th goal of the season.
Birmingham fought hard in the last 10 minutes and Jermaine Pennant forced a save from Kiraly — but Palace held firm.
Bruce was roundly booed by the unforgiving Palace fans throughout the game as were former players Morrison and Gray while Pennant was taunted about his upcoming trial for drink driving.
All told it was an unhappy afternoon for Birmingham probably made worse for Bruce by the fact that his two best players, Pandiani and Pennant, are both only on loan.
Clearly he needs to snap them up as soon as possible and to get some creativity into that stodgy midfield which lacks the drive and guile of Muzzy Izzet and David Dunn.
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