Birmingham 1 Fulham 0: Lee Bowyer clouts Cottagers with magic moment

For the neutral, a season ticket at St Andrew's would not be the most coveted of Christmas presents, with Birmingham City having scored only five goals in seven home games.While they keep ekeing out results like this, however, the majority of Bluenoses might happily settle for a seat as a gift.City are making a little go a long way. Those five goals have brought them 11 points and if they maintain such a return, relegation would be unlikely. Lee glee: Lee Bowyer hands Birmingham City all three pointsIf new owner Carson Yeung really does have £40million to invest in players, then a topstriker to go with a solid defence must head the New Year shopping list.Leading scorer thus far is Lee Bowyer, whose fourth goal of theseason gave them victory from a poor game over a Fulham side whosefinishing was as wet as the driving rain.The return from injury of Andy Johnson, who trained for the first time in five weeks, cannot come soon enough. Eyes on the prize: Birmingham City's Cameron Jerome (left) beats Fulham's Stephen Kelly to the ballBowyer, once the enfant terrible of the English game, also collectedhis first booking of the season, for a marginally mistimed tackle onthe slick surface.Could it be that at 32 he is finally maturing and that he might, forthe first time, have more goals than cards come the end of the season?'Good performance, bad result,' was manager Roy Hodgson's verdict. 'I can'tbe too disappointed because we created chances and they gave me everything.' Getting shirty: Fulham's Bobby Zamora (centre) is hauled back by Barry FergusonThe tone was set for them in only the second minute. Bobby Zamoraturned Liam Ridgewell neatly and ran on but sidefooted a shot wide. Ittold of the striker's careerat the top level: much good work but without the finish to match.City quickly got a grip, though, and what proved to be the decisivegoal came when James McFadden, cutting inside from the left, found therun of Bowyer with a clever chip that beat the offside trap.The midfielder did the rest, clipping neatly over Mark Schwarzer for a well-worked goal. BIRMINGHAM CITY FC

Source: Daily_Mail