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A highly eventful encounter between midland rivals Birmingham City and Wolverhampton Wanderers at St. Andrews resulted in the hosts claiming all three points. Kevin Doyle put Wolves ahead in the first half, but two late goals by 36-year old substitute Kevin Phillips put paid to Mick McCarthy's hopes of a win.

Birmingham dominated the early exchanges with Stephen Ward getting in the way of a James McFadden drive, and Cameron Jerome having a header cleared off the line by Michael Mancienne. Birmingham were to have another couple of pot shots at goal before Wolves came alive in the offensive third. Some speculative efforts was all Wolves were able to conjure up, with Cameron Jerome once again going close at the other end.

The game finally got a goal it so badly needed, but it was Wolves and not Birmingham who got on the scoresheet In the 42nd minute, a poor attempted clearance by Roger Johnson ended up hitting his own post, and Kevin Doyle was the quickest to react, sending the rebounding ball into the net. Wolves took a shock lead with them into half-time, and the score was to remain in their favour for some time to come.

Wolves were spurred on by their first half strike, and went forward with aplomb in search of a second. Doyle caused havoc in the Birmingham defence with his pace and industry, as Wolves continued to threaten the Blues goal. Ronald Zubar was guilty of a poor miss from a Wolves corner, and moments later Matt Jarvis had an effort blocked. Doyle expertly dribbled past two Birmingham players in the 57th minute, only to shoot into the side netting. Then, after being on the field for only a few seconds, Wolves substitute Adlene Guedioura, had a shot on goal saved by a diving Hart. He had another chance about ten minutes later, when he controlled the ball wonderfully and sent an excellent curling shot just over the crossbar.

The game by now was end to end, and Birmingham showed their trademark determination and resilience to try and make something happen. It paid off in the 80th minute when winter signing Craig Gardner headed the ball to fellow substitute Kevin Phillips, who scored with a close-range volley. The nail in the coffin came five minutes later, when a marauding run by another veteran Steven Carr culminated in a pin-point cross to Phillips. The targetman chested it down and finished clinically across the keeper to put his team ahead.

It was game over for the visitors. The result keeps them in the thick of the relegation battle, while the Blues remain in the top-ten.

Teams:

Wolverhampton Wanderers: Hahnemann, Ward, Berra, Craddock, Zubar, Jones (Guedioura 67'), Mancienne, Henry, Jarvis (Surman 88'), Doyle, Foley (Ebanks-Blake 88').
Birmingham City: Hart, Ridgewell, Dann, Johnson, Carr, McFadden (Fahey 74'), Ferguson, Larsson (Gardner 68'), Bowyer, Benitez (Phillips 63'), Jerome.

Final Score: Birmingham City 2-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers