Heskey heads Blues to victory

Emile Heskey scored his first Birmingham goal to earn a 1-0 victory over Manchester City.

Paying £6.25 million for Emile Heskey invited sceptism but Birmingham's record buy repaid Steve Bruce's faith with his first Blues goal to earn his new side their opening win of the season.

Heskey's eighth-minute header decided a battle of two Cities and his confident finish provided a contrast both with his increasingly erratic efforts at Anfield and the wayward attempts of Kevin Keegan's winless side.

That a solitary goal decided the match scarcely reflected Birmingham's superiority for an hour; that they ended the game with a clean sheet was no surprise as the visitors fluffed their lines in front of goal from the start.

Stan Lazaridis was unsettled by Shaun Wright-Phillips' raw pace and England's newest cap crossed invitingly for Nicolas Anelka, 10 yards out. But the Frenchman miskicked to Robbie Fowler, and his tame shot was straight at Maik Taylor.

Lazaridis' revenge was swift. He turned away from both Wright-Phillips and Paul Bosvelt, swung in a cross and Heskey opened his Birmingham account with a thumping header.

Former Liverpool strikers abounded but whereas Heskey's finish was emphatic, the Manchester City duo's were merely embarrassing. Fowler eclipsed Anelka's miss when Sun Jihai's cross found him unmarked, heading back towards the right back rather than at the gaping goal.

But Birmingham posed the greater threat as the Chelsea connection of Mario Melchiot and Jesper Gronkjaer troubled Ben Thatcher. First the Dane outpaced Thatcher, picked out Julian Gray at the back post and only the eyesight of the assistant referee denied Birmingham a corner as his shot was deflected wide.

Then Muzzy Izzet found Melchiot in space. Gray was again the recipient of the cross, but his header was marginally wide.

City's pedestrian midfield had no answer to Izzet and his set-piece expertise almost brought a a second goal as Mikael Forssell was unable to direct his header on target.

The Finn then tried a speculative overhead kick before substitute Stern John wasted a glorious opportunity to seal victory. Had he been able to beat James, the assist would have gone to Sylvain Distin, whose inability to deal with a regulation long ball was both a little predictable and almost fatal for his side's chances.

In control, Birmingham went on the defensive and invited City forward. Trevor Sinclair came on for Antoine Sibierski, who only had a passing acquatinance with the left wing, while a patently unfit Fowler made way for Jon Macken.

Manchester City had possession and positions but were unable to fashion a chance. Rare overlaps were snuffed out by the covering of Gronkjaer and Damien Johnson and, while their rearguard action apppeared needless, Birmingham left Keegan singing the blues.

 	Birmingham City	Manchester City
Possession %	50%	50%
Goals	1	0
Shots on target	2	1
Shots off target	4	3
Blocked shots	0	0
Corners	2	5
Fouls	21	14
Offsides	0	4
Yellow cards	1	1
Red cards	0	0