Aston Villa have done the double over local rivals Birmingham to keep themselves in the Champions League hunt.
Villa claim bragging rights in thunderous West Midlands derby
Aston Villa have done the double over Birmingham City, albeit in controversial fashion, with a 1-0 success at Villa Park to keep themselves in the UEFA Champions League hunt.
Villa, who claimed refereeing decisions cost them dear in their exploits in the cups this season, benefited from a dubious penalty decision by Martin Atkinson to allow James Milner to etch his name into Second City folklore after City defender Roger Johnson had been adjudged to have brought down Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor.
Blues, who were desperately unlucky to end up on the losing team in Sunday's entertaining derby, remain ninth after falling victim to another late smash-and-grab raid by their local rivals to compound the corresponding fixture at St Andrews.
Villa are now level on points with fourth-placed Tottenham after their sixth successive win over their bitter West Midlands foes and remain in touch with the likes of Tottenham and Manchester City for the coveted European slot.
Faith
Martin O'Neill named an unchanged side for the encounter, keeping faith with the side which triumphed at Hull City in midweek.
Blues suffered a setback with central defender Scott Dann ruled out by a pulled calf, meaning former Villa player Liam Ridgewell switched from left-back back into the middle and Gregory Vignal earned a rare start.
Birmingham manager Alex McLeish also recalled midfielder Sebastian Larsson in place of Keith Fahey as the visitors operated with a 4-5-1 formation, with Cameron Jerome employed as the only out-and-out striker.
Lee Bowyer conceded an early free-kick against Milner but the centre from Villa skipper Stiliyan Petrov was headed by James Collins straight into the arms of Joe Hart.
The first half-chance fell to Birmingham after nine minutes when Bowyer picked out the run of Larsson.
The Sweden international flicked the ball wide of Brad Friedel but his shot from a narrow angle failed to hit the target.
Richard Dunne went off for treatment to a head injury and returned with it bandaged up.
Blues players were quick to put the challenges in on their opponents and appeared upset with some of referee Atkinson's decisions. Skipper Stephen Carr, Johnson and Barry Ferguson all made their feelings known to the official.
Pole-axed
Petrov then needed treatment after being pole-axed when defending a powerful free-kick from Larsson.
Hart was called into meaningful action for the first time when he turned aside a 20-yard effort from Petrov.
The England keeper also reacted well to keep out a powerful 25-yard shot from Stewart Downing.
But a mistake by Dunne almost presented City with the opener. The central defender allowed a throw out from Friedel to slip under his foot straight into the path of Larsson.
But the Swede chose to try to side-foot the ball into the net and Friedel was able to recover.
Friedel then parried away a 25-yard effort from Craig Gardner before Hart made a magnificent save to keep his side on level terms.
Collins connected perfectly with his volley from 12 yards but Hart somehow managed to fingertip the ball over.
Birmingham, who lost their last five meetings with Villa, began the second half in confident fashion and came close on three occasions to breaking the deadlock.
Fantastic Friedel
Ferguson's through-ball was perfect for Jerome to run on to and Friedel made a
