Birmingham exacted revenge for their weekend FA Cup exit as Cameron Jerome's brace downed Portsmouth.
Birmingham exact revenge for their weekend FA Cup exit
Birmingham City exacted revenge for their weekend FA Cup exit as Cameron Jerome scored a first-half brace to defeat bottom-of-the-table Portsmouth 2-1 at Fratton Park.
Pompey beat the Blues 2-0 on Saturday, thanks to a double from Frederic Piquionne, to book their place in the last four of the FA Cup, but on Tuesday night Jerome grabbed his own double.
The visitors went ahead in the 16th minute when Christian Benitez threaded through Jerome, who made no mistake as he slotted past the exposed James with a low shot into the far corner.
And, as Pompey aimed to restore parity before the interval, their opponents grabbed a second of the game on 42 minutes, again through Jerome, as he dispatched following a cheeky back-heeled assist from his strike partner Benitez.
Substitute Nwankwo Kanu did pull a late goal back for the home side, but it proved nothing more than a consolation as Birmingham climbed to eighth in the table while Portsmouth remain five points adrift of safety, with a nine-point penalty seemingly on the horizon.
Attack
Portsmouth went into the game with a very attack-minded side, as manager Avram Grant fielded Piquionne, Aruna Dindane and Danny Webber from the off.
Dindane's pace and movement caused the Blues a few problems on the left early on, while Jamie O'Hara thrived in his free role in midfield.
The Tottenham loanee cut inside from the right beautifully after seven minutes, but his low shot from the edge of the box was comfortably saved by Joe Hart.
Despite looking settled in the opening stages, Pompey's defence began to look nervy and this allowed Jerome to fire the visitors ahead after 16 minutes.
He latched on to Benitez's pass through the home rearguard before slotting the ball coolly to David James' right.
Birmingham had a penalty appeal rightly turned down three minutes later, when Benitez fell under pressure from Hermann Hreidarsson. Referee Mike Jones booked the Blues striker for diving.
Alex McLeish's side nearly doubled their advantage after 26 minutes. Benitez was found by Michel's ball forward and squared for Craig Gardner, whose shot whistled just wide of the target.
Pompey looked far from the assured side which knocked Birmingham out of the FA Cup and Benitez nearly made it two six minutes before the break.
A through ball from Jerome helped the Ecuadorian beat the Pompey offside trap. He rounded James, but his run was halted by a stunning, last-ditch tackle from Hreidarsson.
Class
Birmingham put daylight between themselves and Pompey three minutes later, though, when Benitez back-heeled the ball to Jerome who shot under the diving James.
With things clearly not working for Pompey, Grant brought on Quincy Owusu-Abeyie and Angelos Basinas for the ineffective Marc Wilson and Danny at the interval.
Quincy proved much better at holding up the ball as his pace, power and skill helped Pompey take control of possession at the start of the half.
Piquionne had a golden opportunity to get the home side back into the match just before the hour mark, but failed to connect with a Nadir Belhadj cross from the left.
With Pompey still struggling to find the breakthrough, Grant made another attacking move as Kanu was brought on for Michael Brown.
Scott Dann had a half chance to make it three for Birmingham after 71 minutes, but his strike from Keith Fahey's corner looped high over the bar.
Substitute James McFadden nearly made the points safe after 81 minutes when he turned Pompey defender Tal Ben-Haim, but James was equal to his low effort.
Dindane came agonisingly close to pulling one back when he had a stunning attempt from the left side of the box tipped over by Hart.
But Kanu made no mistake and headed home O'Hara's cross from the right after 90 minutes to set up a nervy finale for the visitors.
But defeat sent Portsmouth a step closer to the Championship.
