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  • Kick-off: 12:45
  • Venue: St Andrews Stadium
  • Attendance: 18498
  • Referee: D'Urso, A

Live Commentary

90mins

The ref has blown his whistle for full time.

87mins

QPR are replacing Peter Ramage with Matthew Connolly.

80mins

Kevin Phillips is being taken off, Cameron Jerome has come on in his place.

80mins

Martin Rowlands is being taken off, Emmanuel Jorge Ledesma has come on in his place.

75mins

Birmingham are replacing Quincy Owusu-Abeyie with James McFadden.

71mins

Mikele Leigertwood is booked for unsporting behaviour.

68mins

Gavin Mahon is replaced by Akos Buzsaky.

50mins

Lee Carsley is replaced by Mehdi Nafti.

46mins

The second half is under way with the score currently at 1 v 0.

45mins

Half time whistle is blown by A D'Urso

45mins

Goal!! Birmingham have scored with Kevin Phillips putting it in the back of the net.

2mins

Liam Ridgewell goes into the referee's book for unsporting behaviour.

0mins

It's 12:45am on Saturday, October 4th, the match has kicked off.

Match Report

Ace goalscorer Kevin Phillips spearheaded West Bromwich Albion to promotion from the Championship last season and he is doing the same for Birmingham City.

The veteran striker lifted a dour game with his fourth goal of the season to break the stalemate which was hardly riveting television viewing.

Phillips' vital goal came just 21 seconds before the end of the first half and it was the launch pad to give Birmingham a win which took them to the top of table as a result of the early kick-off.

But if Birmingham are to consolidate their promotion aspirations they will need to discover a more lethal attack than that which was on show against a spirited QPR side.

With a midfield which is struggling to get to grips with the current situation they struggled to carve out any clear-cut openings.

There is a distinct lack of creativity about the Birmingham midfield which has sadly been reflected in their recent matches.

They went into the game against QPR with only six goals from six games and it was not until 21 seconds before the end of the first period that they broke the stalemate with Phillips' close-range goal.

The goal came out of the blue with David Murphy pumping a long ball down the left.

Garry O'Connor, who was dropped from the Scotland squad in mid-week, latched on to the ball and put in a low cross which Phillips converted from close range.

Rangers, coming off the back of only one point from their previous three games, slightly had the edge but they too found it difficult to penetrate the opposition defence in which Radhi Jaidi was rock solid.

It had been expected that Rangers would adopt a more attacking style in the second half but it did not materialise as Birmingham shut down the opposition as they defended their slender advantage.

Phillips eventually made way for James McFadden, but the Scotland international had little chance to lift the game.

Birmingham's best two attempts to increase their lead came from defenders Murphy and Jaidi. Murphy shot over the bar, while Jaidi watched his downward header saved by Radek Cerny.

Birmingham City

Queens Park Rangers

Corners

74

Fouls

1014

Goal attempts

107

Shots off target

34

Offsides

32

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