By Alan Houghton

BACON butties and beer sustained us pre-match in the Fanzone for this ungodly early kick-off.

The excellent Inside View performed brilliantly while there seemed to be more Reebok Rebels than ever dancing enthusiastically.

Will they need a name change we wondered?

Birmingham came en masse for our Reebok finale and what could have been their Championship farewell.

Andy Lonergan replaced the injured Adam Bogdan in an otherwise unchanged team. This meant young Oscar Threlkeld got a home debut.

Birmingham were up for it and we seemed happy to play on the counter. Their poor quality up front and our lack of enthusiasm led to a dull first.

All the drama started after the break. Chung Yong Lee put us one up. Birmingham hearts sank.

News from Leicester lifted the Blues only for Lukas Jutkiewicz to dash their hopes again as he fired in the second.

But led by our old warhorse Paul Robinson, they pulled one back when Nikola Zigic had the right altitude to nod home.

Neil Danns and Lukas Jutkiewicz should have finished them off after good work by Andy Kellett but they found their saviour in Paul Caddis, as he gently headed the equaliser well into stoppage time.

Birmingham were safe for another year and they naturally celebrated like crazy. The Bolton fans gave Robbo and his team a generous round of applause. We’ve had enough last-match traumas of our own in the past, so we knew what they had gone through.

The end-of-season lap of applause, with the exception of “mini” Spearing and his Dad lacked enthusiasm, which reflected a disappointing season and a lot of players with uncertain futures.

As scarves and replica shirts head for the washing machine, all eyes are now fixed on the comings and goings as Dougie Freedman reshapes his squad.