Rooney enters for early exit

Birmingham City - 1 Everton - 1:English Premiership: This was the sort of turgid poor-quality game that gives Christmas a bad name and made staying at home watching another re-run of Mary Poppins seem an attractive option.

Wayne Rooney is unlikely ever to be compared to the saintly nanny but at least he can always be relied upon to enliven things from the substitutes' bench, although his dismissal in the 81st minute for a lunging tackle on Steve Vickers will not feature on any tribute tapes at the end of his career.

Two goals in three minutes at the end of the first half had provided a crumb of entertainment but until Rooney's dismissal this would have been a candidate for the worst Premiership match of the season.

Tradition has it that each season one club who appear safe in mid-table at this stage of the season end up going into terminal decline. It was an issue Steve Bruce, who is expected to complete the signing of the French international Christophe Dugarry next week, had addressed in his programme notes.

The Birmingham manager is concerned to see a looming personnel crisis deepen with the injury to Vickers inflicted by Rooney's challenge and which was coupled with problems for Damien Johnson and Jovan Kirovski, which caused both to be substituted.

A tedious first half had been drawing to a close when Birmingham's Stan Lazaridis lost out in a tackle to Joseph Yobo. He fed the ball to Thomas Gravesen, who sprung Birmingham's offside trap to thread the ball through for Tomasz Radzinski to shoot under the body of Nico Vaesen.

Everton relaxed in the knowledge half-time was approaching and they immediately fell for the sucker-punch. Lazaridis was given time and space to deliver a cross which Kirovski met with a powerful header beyond Richard Wright.

It seemed impossible the second-half could turn out to be as poor as the first - but it was to be even worse.

Guardian Service

BIRMINGHAM: Vaesen, Kenna, Vickers, Cunningham, Devlin, Savage, Cisse, Damien Johnson (Lazaridis 43), Michael Johnson, Kirovski (Morrison 61), Horsfield (Hughes 76). Subs Not Used: Bennett, Powell. Booked: Morrison. Goals: Kirovski 45.

EVERTON: Wright, Weir, Stubbs, Yobo, Pistone, Pembridge (Rooney 66), Naysmith, Gravesen, Carsley, Campbell, Radzinski (Watson 66). Subs Not Used: Tie Li, Gemmill, Baardsen. Sent Off: Rooney (81). Booked: Carsley. Goals: Radzinski.

Referee: D Elleray (Middlesex).