Garry O'Connor bagged an 88th-minute winner for Birmingham as they saw off a Hong Kong XI 3-2 on Sunday.
Blues off to a winning start on Far East tour
Garry O'Connor bagged an 88th-minute winner for Birmingham as they saw off a Hong Kong XI 3-2 on Sunday.
The Blues had to battle back from 2-1 down before ensuring that their Far East tour got off to the best possible start.
Nikola Zigic and Ben Foster were both handed their first appearances for the Midlands club as Alex McLeish took the opportunity to run an eye over his new recruits.
Birmingham, though, got off to a slow start and Hong Kong wasted a couple of early chances as Jean Kilama nodded over from a corner and Christian Annan lashed woefully off target after springing the offside trap.
It was, however, the Blues who broke the deadlock after 20 minutes after Stephen Carr won a free-kick on the right, Sebastian Larsson delivered and Scott Dann outjumped his marker to steer a header into the far corner.
Hong Kong hauled themselves level inside four minutes as a poor clearance fell to Leonardo and he made no mistake as he rifled past Foster.
Changes
Annan than made up for his earlier miss when he put the hosts in front on the stroke of half-time.
Having dragged a long diagonal ball out of the air, and with Birmingham backing off, he curled a shot into the far corner from the edge of the box.
Birmingham made a raft of changes at the break, in an effort to freshen things up, and Cameron Jerome poked narrowly over the bar within seconds of the restart.
Chu Siu Kei then tested substitute Maik Taylor's reflexes and Kilama almost sliced into his own goal as the game swung from end to end.
Birmingham finally drew level with 17 minutes remaining when Jordan Mutch floated over a delightful cross and Craig Gardner headed home from close range.
The winner arrived two minutes from time when Zigic laid a pass into the path of his strike partner O'Connor and he stroked the ball calmly into the back of the net.
