Birmingham City have trimmed Wolves' advantage at the top of the Championship following a gutsy 2-0 win over their Midlands rivals.
Jerome and O'Connor net in Birmingham triumph
Birmingham City have trimmed Championship leaders Wolves' advantage to just two points following a gutsy 2-0 win over their Midlands rivals.
Mick McCarthy's side could have eased one foot in the Premier League door with success but failed to capitalise on Lee Carsley's sending off late in the first half.
Carsley saw red for a shocking high challenge on Chris Iwelumo, but it was the home side who opened the scoring through Cameron Jerome on the stroke of half-time.
Wolves failed to genuinely threaten in the second half and Birmingham substitute Garry O'Connor secured the points with a fine clinching goal on 69 minutes.
As expected, there was a high-tempo start to the promotion encounter, yet neither side managed to fashion a clear-cut opening inside the first 20 minutes.
Gifted a chance
But the Blues were gifted a great chance to break the deadlock after 22 minutes as Stephen Ward picked up the ball halfway inside the home half, only to be hustled all the way back to midway.
His attempted back-pass evaded Christophe Berra and Jerome was free to bear down on goal. But he hesitated far too long and Wayne Hennessey was able to smother his effort before the striker fired the loose ball wide.
Iwelumo then forced a solid save from Maik Taylor before Sebastian Larsson blasted a 25-yard free-kick inches wide.
The Scotland forward headed a good chance over from close range in the 34th minute but the striker was on the end of the crude challenge from Carsley shortly after.
A minimum of four minutes were added due to the injury and Jerome capitalised just before the whistle sounded, somehow smuggling the ball over the line as he wrestled for control of it with Hennessey.
The second half started in much the same manner as the first, with plenty more hesitancy in the Wolves defence.
Long-ball tactics
The visitors were resorting to long-ball tactics in an attempt to try and create something, with on-loan Aston Villa striker Marlon Harewood - who was making his debut - at the centre of most things.
But they were not creating much and Lee Bowyer forced a good stop from Hennessey at the other end.
And more confusion in the visiting defence made the game safe for Birmingham in the 69th minute.
David Murphy pumped a long ball over the Wolves defence but Berra's header back to Hennessey fell short and O'Connor nipped in to round the goalkeeper before slotting home, with Berra unable to recover as he desperately chased back.
Matt Jarvis forced a good save from Taylor in the closing stages but it was Blues' night in front of a season-best crowd of 25,935.
