Birmingham City cruised to a first win in six games by beating fellow strugglers Rotherham United 2-0 thanks to goals from Reda Khadra and Kevin Long.

John Eustace's side always like good value for their victory and deservedly took the lead in the fifth minute when on-loan Brighton winger Khadra he bagged his third goal for the Blues.

The home side continued to dominate and deservedly doubled their lead on the 35-minute mark when Long smashed home from close range.

The Millers never truly threatened John Ruddy's goal, but Connor Washington called him into action in the second half when his long-range strike was pushed away.

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Despite only winning two games on the road all season it was highly anticipated the Millers could cause Birmingham some problems after they had picked up seven points from their previous three games.

However, football is never that straightforward and Blues rushed into the lead when Tahith Chong produced a great switch of play to Lukas Jutkiewicz, he brought the ball down beautifully before setting it out wide to Khadra who cut onto his right and smashed it into the top corner.

Chong squandered a great chance only minutes later when George Hall dinked a cross into the back post where the former Manchester United forward was allowed to bring it down before firing his volley off target.

Blues continued to dominate and doubled their lead when Chong's low corner met Alfie Chang at the near post and he flicked the ball onto Long, who hammered it into the back of the net from close range.

Tariqe Fosu was gifted a great opportunity to test Ruddy when he won a free-kick on the edge of the area on the brink of half-time. However, the Brentford loanee blazed his effort well over the bar.

The hosts opted for a more defensive approach in the second period but were unlucky not to add to their lead in the 51st minute when Khadra broke quickly following a Rotherham corner. The German skinned Fosu for pace before threading a ball through to Hall who could not quite lift it over Viktor Johansson.

Ruddy was finally called into action in the 58th minute when substitute Washington picked up a loose ball on the edge of the area and fired a powerful half-volley towards goal which was comfortably pushed away.

This result means Birmingham leapfrog the Millers into 18th place in the Championship with Rotherham dropping to 20th after QPR picked up a 1-0 victory against Chris Wilder's Watford.

The managers

Birmingham's John Eustace:

"It was an outstanding performance. First half we were really good, very exciting, created a number of chances and second half we showed a different side to us, we defended fantastically. The last two games have been very good performances. In the games we've lost we've still had some really good performances in them without having deserved to lose.

"To have three academy graduates (Alfie Chang, Jordan James and George Hall) in that midfield against a very difficult and aggressive team was very pleasing and the three boys all did very, very good. It's all about developing younger players and I thought the young lads were magnificent and they've been magnificent throughout the season. You have to see them grow and mature, there are going to be tough times and that's why it's important people don't get carried away with the high and the lows."

Rotherham's Matt Taylor:

"We were much improved second half after a change of shape and a change of personnel, but we needed a goal to give us extra belief as the half went on and I'm a little bit disappointed with the way it petered out. We had better intent about us second half but you've got to give the opposition credit as we know how well they start games, certainly here. We didn't quite hold onto their approach, their physicality, they came out on top and kept the ball going in their direction rather than our direction and we had no control whatsoever in that first half.

"It's not a corner (for Long's goal), he's (the referee's) missed that one, he's missed a clear penalty, but it wasn't the official's fault for the whole of that first-half performance. He had a poor afternoon like we did. Jordan Hugill has got goal side of his marking man and there's so much going on in the 18-yard box and I know it's difficult for referees but there's four of them looking at it, he's wresting and pulling him."

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