Birmingham City 3 Preston North End 1
There are those who say that Nicklas Bendtner will one day become a great player and grace grounds a lot fuller than St Andrew's was on Saturday.
But, for now, he must take a respectful bow and doff his designer bobble hat to the Blues team-mate who has become the most exciting player in the Championship.
Whether Gary McSheffrey goes on one day to ply his trade in the Premiership, having so far been limited to the briefest taste of the top flight in his Coventry City days, remains to be seen. But, at the level he is at right now and when he has is as on song as he has been in recent weeks, McSheffrey has no equal.
In hitting his first Blues hat-trick to take his tally of goals to 11 for the season, he nosed above Bendtner as Blues' top scorer — perhaps part of the reason why they bickered so heatedly over who would take the match-clinching penalty. But what should not be forgotten is the contribution that McSheffrey makes in supplying goals for others.
He got three, he might have got six and, although Blues otherwise got away with a bit of an off-day to win this battle of the Championship's top two, it was an afternoon that ended happily for Steve Bruce's men. It could have been such a different story if Preston North End had taken their early chances.
North End came out of the traps looking like a team fiercely determined to make up for losing the league leadership so easily at Luton Town the week before. They could have been 3-0 up before Blues had barely had a touch and two of their best chances fell to star attraction David Nugent.
After his recalled strike partner, Brett Ormerod, had seen his shot saved, Nugent pounced on the rebound and calmly took the ball round the goalkeeper, only to see the ball come back off Maik Taylor's right post.
Simon Whaley then had a shot deflected wide of goal before, from Ormerod's neat flick-on, Nugent lobbed the ball just over his target. Ormerod himself then had a go when he turned and smacked a great left-foot half-volley on the turn straight at Taylor.
Blues finally started threatening when Matt Upson's header from Sebastian Larsson's corner deflected off Cameron Jerome and had to be cleared off the line by Chris Sedgwick.
There was also a penalty shout when McSheffrey latched on to a superb short clipped pass from stand-in skipper Stephen Clemence and raced past Liam Chilvers before taking aim just around the penalty spot. He looked on in disbelief when a spot-kick was not given, but, although there was contact, it did appear as if the Blues man had been rather looking for it. In any case, it was not long before he got his just deserts when his deflected shot put the home side ahead.
After having a dipping free-kick touched over by Carlo Nash, then firing over the corner from which Radhi Jaidi's header was bundled wide, McSheffrey finally got his reward. After Mat Sadler had fed Jerome, McSheffey's right-foot shot took a crucial deflection off Matt Hill to wrong-foot Nash on its way in.
Eight minutes later, Sadler was again involved, cutting in from the left before finding McSheffrey, who peeled off smoothly before this time slipping the ball under Nash.
But North End got themselves a lifeline when Ormerod lashed home a close-range volley to pull one back after Blues made a mess of defending corner. And although Nash had to save from Fabrice Muamba and Jerome's shot on the turn and McSheffrey shot over, the visitors had plenty of chances to level.
The closest they came was when Jaidi's horrendous sliced clearance caused panic stations in the home defence as it flew across the face of goal.
But Taylor made a great save from Hill's far-post header in another mad scramble and both Nugent and Paul McKenna were close with well-struck volleys which flew just over.
Blues finally wrapped up the points with that late spot of penalty drama. For the third time in the afternoon, McSheffrey went down in the box, this time fouled by Sean St Ledger after being cleverly played in by Bendtner. What happened next was simply embarrassing.
Bendtner said 'Give me the ball', or words to that effect. McSheffrey said "Shan't"! And they stood in the area arguing the toss over whose name was going to go on the scoresheet until captain Clemence wandered over and suggested that the younger man stand down on this occasion.
The outcome was two-fold. McSheffrey nervelessly slammed home the spot-kick for only his second career hat-trick — and his first in more than four years since bagging a treble for Coventry City in an early-season 8-0 League Cup thrashing of Rushden and Diamonds.
Making his own way back to the halfway line, Bendtner studiously avoided McSheffrey's gaze even when his team-mate ran over in an attempt to make peace.
And his teenage rage was still quite clearly simmering nicely when the final whistle blew just minutes later — at which point Bendtner traipsed off the pitch with all the enthusiasm of some young shaver who's just been caught smoking behind the bike sheds and been told to report to the headmaster's study.
But there will be no need for six of the best. The only six of the best of any importance is the six goals scored at St Andrew's in eight days to take them top of the table.
BIRMINGHAM CITY (4-4-2): Maik Taylor; Kelly, Jaidi, Upson, Sadler; Larsson, Muamba, Clemence, McSheffrey (Campbell, 90); Bendtner, Jerome (Nafti 86). Subs: Doyle (gk), Martin Taylor, Danns.
PRESTON NORTH END (4-4-2): Nash; Alexander, St Ledger, Chilvers, Hill; Whaley, Sedgwick, McKenna, Pugh; Nugent (Dichio, 81), Ormerod. Subs: Lonergan (gk), Miller, Neal, Wilson.
Referee: Mike Riley (Leeds).
Bookings: Blues — Jerome, Muamba, Nafti; North End — St Ledger, Alexander, Sedgwick, Pugh (all fouls).
Attendance: 23,159.
