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Live Commentary: Birmingham City 0-0 Nottingham Forest - as it happened

Read how Birmingham City made it seven Championship games in a row unbeaten by drawing 0-0 with Nottingham Forest.
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Birmingham City hosted Nottingham Forest today looking to make it seven games in a row unbeaten in the Championship.

It's a feat that Lee Clark's men achieved as a fiery goalless draw was played out at St Andrew's.

Read how the action unfolded in our minute-by-minute updates below.


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Afternoon folks. The feature 3pm kickoff in the second tier in Gameweek 21 is at St Andrew's as Brum host Forest. The lineups are coming right up...

BIRMINGHAM XI: Randolph; Caddis, Burn, Bartley, Robinson; Adeyemi, Lee, Burke, Lingard, Shinnie; Zigic

BIRMINGHAM SUBS: Doyle, Mullins, Reilly, Brown, Gray, Mclean, Novak

FOREST XI: Darlow; Halford, Lascelles, Hobbs, Harding; Vaughan, Lansbury, Reid; Abdoun, Cox, Mackie

FOREST SUBS: De Vries, Lichaj, Jara, Chalobah, Paterson, Derbyshire, Henderson

Righty ho, that's an unchanged side from Birmingham boss Lee Clark, while opposite number Billy Davies makes one change with David Vaughan in for Nathaniel Chalobah in the heart of midfield.

REFEREE WATCH: The man with the whistle today is Robert Madley, who last week was the fourth official in the crazy 6-3 scoreline between Manchester City and Arsenal in the Premier League.

Last time these two met was in February. That day Birmingham won 2-1 thanks to a brace from Chris Burke, who starts on the right wing for the Blues today.

There's already been one Championship game today and that was between two of the top three. Click here to read our report of the action at Loftus Road. Make sure you come back though!

Check out how the table looks ahead of a full schedule in the Championship today by clicking here. Birmingham are 15th, Forest seventh. The duo could move up to 12th and fifth respectively.

PREDICTION TIME! Just five minutes until kickoff so I best make my prediction. A draw seems the most likely result and goals could be at a premium. 1-1 for me.

The two sides are out of the tunnel and kickoff is moments away. Birmingham in their traditional blue tops, white shorts and blues socks while Forest are all in red. Incidentally, Forest manager Billy Davies has a blue jumper on. Bit of a faux pas.

KICKOFF! Off we go in the West Midlands.

First chance falls Forest's way as Abdoun's cross is a deep one and Lansbury comes in at the back post but can't direct it goalwards when on the stretch.

Little else to speak of in the first five minutes as both sides struggle to maintain possession.

UPDATE: The first goal of the day in the second tier comes at Turf Moor as the prolific Danny Ings puts Burnley in front against Blackpool. That red live scores box to the right of this commentary will keep you updated.

First shot on target today comes from Abdoun but it's a weak one from outside the box that's easy for Randolph to save.

WHAT A SAVE! There's been rumours this week that there might be Premier League interest in Forest keeper Karl Darlow and he's just pulled off a fantastic save. It was a powerful low strike from Adeyemi that Darlow got a fingertip to. Madley awards a goal kick. Don't know how he hasn't seen the touch there.

Chance for Forest as Reid and Mackie work a lovely one-two that the former blazes over from a tight angle left of goal. If the former Sunderland man had got his head up he would have seen Mackie make a clever curling run to the back post.

Caddis floats a cross to the back post for Croatian giant Zigic. Instead of trying to head the ball, the striker looks to bring it down with his chest but loses control.

CLOSE! Birmingham threaten again as first Burke cuts a corner back for Caddis, whose goalbound shot causes confusion in the area before it is half-cleared. The ball is pumped back into the area and Darlow can only punch as far as Adeyemi, who looks to loop a header into the net from outside the box but gets too much on it and the ball lands on top of the net.

Forest have certainly been a bit stale of late and there's little to show that they're going to change that today.

SAVE! Another fantastic stop from Forest keeper Darlow as he spreads himself with a star-jump a la Peter Schmeichel to deny Bartley's downward header from Lingard's free kick.

SHOT! And another! Darlow with his third sublime stop of the half as he tips Burke's left-foot curler from 25 yards over the top. Top stuff from the 23-year-old stopper.

Adeyemi then looks like he has a free header from the resulting corner but he fails to make a clean connection as the ball flashes across the face of goal. Good stuff from confident Birmingham at the moment.

CHANCE! The Blues continue to look dangerous as Burke works a yard of space down the right before crossing for Zigic, who somehow doesn't make connection. Have he and Adeyemi got their contact lenses in?!

Burke lets fly from distance but this isn't such a good effort as the ball flies into the stand.

Considering they're talked about as one of the promotion contenders, Forest really are struggling to string together a decent amount of passes.

Soon after one minute of time is added on, Zigic rises highest to meet Burke's corner but can't keep it under the crossbar.

HALF-TIME: BIRMINGHAM 0-0 FOREST

No goals at the break then as Birmingham fail to take their chances against a lacklustre Forest outfit.

It's actually a little harsh to criticise Birmingham for not taking their chances. It's more been down to the brilliance of Forest keeper Karl Darlow, who has made three brilliant saves to keep the Blues at bay.

Forest's front three of Abdoun, Cox and Mackie have done very, very little. The best move of the match was a nice one-two between Mackie and Reid that the former blasted over. Billy Davies won't be a happy bunny in the visitors' changing room right now.

Davies might look to the bench early in the second half and he has the likes of Jamie Paterson, Darius Henderson and Matt Derbyshire available to invigorate the attack.

FOREST SUB: Davies does make a change at the break but it's a defensive one as Eric Lichaj replaces Harding at left-back.

OFF THE LINE! That's the closest Forest have come by a long way as the visitors start the second half much better. Reid drove towards the area from the left touchline before dinking to the back post where Halford powerfully headed back across goal. The ball was arrowing straight for the far corner where Zigic stooped to head out.

Davies really has given the men in red a kick up the backside here. They look 10 times more dangerous than in the first half and look threatening again as Lansbury breaks forward and plays in Abdoun whose cross is blocked.

Birmingham have eased the pressure in the last few minutes and the game is now very even.

BOOKING! Bartley goes into the book for a rash lunge on Mackie.

BIRMINGHAM SUB: Interesting change from Clark as he throws on 17-year-old local lad Demarai Gray for Shinnie, who had done nothing of note in the first hour.

Gray's first touch isn't an impressive one as he passes straight to a Forest shirt in the middle of the park.

Half-chance for Birmingham as Burke's deep cross finds Zigic but he again fails to find the target with his header as it loops over.

Again it's Burke and Zigic who look to link up but this time the Croat is eased out in the middle by Lascelles.

FOREST SUB: Vaughan got the nod ahead of Chalobah at the start of the game but the two have just been swapped as Davies looks for more energy in the middle.

Decent chance for Abdoun but his touch lets him down in the area. He's been very disappointing today.

FOREST SUB: Davies must be following this commentary as he agrees with me and takes off Abdoun for the big presence of Henderson.

We're into the final 15 at St Andrew's now. Clark is about to throw on Aaron McLean to try to spark the Blues' frontline.

DISALLOWED! Lansbury puts the ball in the net after nodding it out of Randolph's hand. The former Arsenal man says that it should stand but you can't do that.

BIRMINGHAM SUB: McLean comes on for Lingard.

OFF! HENDERSON IS SHOWN A RED CARD!

The Forest striker has only been on the pitch for a matter of minutes but has his afternoon cut short for squaring up to and giving Robinson a squeezing bear hug after a rash tackle.

Robinson was booked for his part in the clash while Reid was also shown yellow for dissent.

BOOKING! It's card crazy in the final 10 minutes at St Andrew's as Blues keeper Randolph is cautioned for coming out of his area to meet the ball on the right touchline but completely misses it and takes out Mackie.

Burke continues to look dangerous and his latest cross is headed clear by Hobbs with Zigic lurking just behind.

Burke swings over the resulting corner and again it finds Zigic who is unchallenged but steers his header wide. The Croat's heading has been very poor today.

BOOKING! Soon after FOUR minutes are indicated by the fourth official, Lee becomes the fourth player to be booked in the final 10 minutes for cynically bringing down Mackie, who was looking to start a Forest break. The visitors are fuming but it was a good foul.

CHANCE! Late opportunity for the hosts as Adeyemi charges in to meet a cross from the right but heads wide.

FULL-TIME: BIRMINGHAM 0-0 FOREST

It finishes goalless at St Andrew's, with Birmingham extending their unbeaten run to seven games.

There were chances for both sides but the game will more be remembered for a fiery last 10 minutes that saw four yellow and one red card dished out.

Despite the point, Birmingham drop a place to 16th in the table as the Championship reaches its HALFWAY POINT! Forest stay seventh, a point off the playoffs.

We're just about done here then. Thanks for joining Sports Mole. Click around to see what else happened up and down the country today!

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A general view of Dean Court, or the Goldsands Stadium, home to AFC Bournemouth on July 21, 2013
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