Pompey too strong for Blues

Portsmouth saw off struggling Birmingham with goals from Sulley Muntari and Niko Kranjcar.

Birmingham suffer their sixth defeat in last seven games

Portsmouth set a new club record of nine Premier League games in a row unbeaten after their victory over Birmingham at St Andrews on Saturday. The deadlock was broken on 33 minutes when a goalkeeping blunder from Richard Kingson, making his Premier League debut, handed Portsmouth the lead. Sulley Muntari was played in by Benjani and his right-footed shot handed him his second goal of the season. Birmingham looked like they could grab an equaliser midway into the second half. A goalmouth scramble led to Liam Ridgewell being challenged by Noe Pamarot before Sol Campbell and Glen Johnson led a joint effort to prevent Mikael Forssell getting a shot away. The Blues then had a goal disallowed after 77 minutes when Ridgewell's perfectly weighted chip over David James was ruled out for offside. Portsmouth sealed their victory with a superb free-kick from Niko Kranjcar after Fabrice Muamba had fouled Pamarot 25 yards out. Kranjcar powered his shot into the top right corner and Kingson had little chance of stopping it. Pompey's victory means they have now won five league games in a row away from home while Birmingham suffered their sixth defeat in their last seven games.

Superb

Caretaker manager Eric Black gambled on dropping the experienced Maik Taylor but the move backfired as Kingson - on his Barclays Premier League debut - allowed a shot from Sulley Muntari to slip under his body. Then Kranjcar, scorer of Croatia's first goal against England via Scott Carson's blunder in midweek, drilled home a superb free-kick with eight minutes remaining. It clinched a fifth successive away win for Pompey and extended their unbeaten league run to nine games to keep them in the top six. But Birmingham, who had beaten Pompey 5-0 when they last met at St. Andrews two seasons ago, have now lost six of their last seven league games and are sliding rapidly towards the relegation zone. Portsmouth always looked as if they possessed more fire-power than the home side and have now scored 14 goals in eight matches away from Fratton Park. But there was a lack of quality and cutting edge in the final third of the field where Sol Campbell and Sylvain Distin dominated for Portsmouth. Only 22,089 witnessed the first match since Bruce's departure and Blues could be in for a bleak winter unless prospective new owner Carson Yeung invests heavily in January - if and when he finally takes control. The home side, who gave striker Mikael Forssell a first start for nearly three months, made a bright start without really threatening to break the deadlock. James produced a superb low save after 20 minutes to keep out a shot on the turn from Forssell after he had brought down a first time cross from Schmitz. Then after 33 minutes a terrible error by Kingson allowed Muntari to give Pompey the lead - his second goal of the campaign.

Retaliate

Pompey's leading scorer Benjani Mwaruwari picked out the run of the midfielder and, although he got his shot on target, it should have been comfortably dealt with by Kingson. But the former FC Hammarby player allowed the ball to slip through his arms and squirm under his body into the net. Birmingham tried to retaliate and it needed a good tackle by Sylvain Distin to halt Kapo just inside the box. The home side appealed in vain for a penalty after a challenge on Forssell by Sol Campbell and, as the ball broke to Mehdi Nafti, he fired in a low shot which James saved at the second attempt. Sean Davis became the first player to be yellow carded after 38 minutes for a challenge on Forssell. Kingson looked shaky after his blunder and he sliced a back pass from Johan Djourou out of play under no pressure. Black saw a positive response from his side at the start of the second period and McSheffrey picked out the run of Forssell but Distin was alert to the situation with a sharp tackle. McSheffrey then broke forward with Birmingham having a four versus three advantage on the counter-attack but his low cross was gathered by James. The England 'keeper raced out of his area to head clear from Forssell but City had a let-off when Pamarot shot over from 12 yards out after Utaka had made the break into the box. Muntari had a first time shot deflected wide by Stephen Kelly from a low pass from Utaka. James was again alert to save at the feet of Kapo from a fine pass from Muamba. But Pompey always threatened on the break and Kingson was well positioned to hold onto a low drive from Benjani. With eight minutes left Kranjcar wrapped up the points for Portsmouth with a stunning free-kick.

Birmingham City	Team Statistics	Portsmouth
0	Goals	2
0	1st Half Goals	1
2	Shots on Target	6
2	Shots off Target	7
1	Blocked Shots	5
4	Corners	3
18	Fouls	21
3	Offsides	1
3	Yellow Cards	2
0	Red Cards	0
64.7	Passing Success	72.9
22	Tackles	20
86.4	Tackles Success	95
44.1	Possession	55.9
50.1	Territorial Advantage	49.9