Football Focus Highlight

Cameron Jerome struck twice to send Birmingham to a fifth straight win and into the top six of the Premier League as they edged out Blackburn 2-1 at St Andrews.

The hosts took the lead on 12 minutes when Jerome flicked past Paul Robinson and he doubled the Blues' money from Stephen Carr's incisive pass three minutes after the restart.

Ryan Nelsen stabbed home midway through the second period to give Rovers hope, but Birmingham held on as the game finished in a frantic fashion.

Sam Allardyce was watching from the stands on doctor's orders after his recent heart scare, but probably wished he was elsewhere as his team conceded a soft goal early on.

James McFadden and Sebastian Larsson constructed a clever short corner routine and as the Rovers defence dithered, Larsson's delivery was headed on by Christian Benitez and Jerome pounced to open the scoring.




Jason Roberts almost conjured a reply out of nothing when he found himself in space, but shot well wide of Joe Hart's goal and Benitez then thought he'd doubled the hosts' advantage when he converted Carr's pass, only to be denied by the offside flag.

Carr was then in the thick of the action at the other end as he flung himself to block Steven N'Zonzi's thumping effort following Hart's poor punch and maintain City's lead at the break.

The home fans had to wait just three minutes after the restart for the cushion of a second goal.

Larsson sent Carr away down the right and as the Irishman raced into the Rovers box, he had the presence of mind to cut the ball back to Jerome who clinically beat Robinson.

Blackburn pulled one back when Pascal Chimbonda pulled out a superb save from Joe Hart following Morten Gamst Pedersen's free kick, but the keeper could do nothing as the ball fell kindly to Nelsen who scored from a matter of yards.

As Rovers continued to look for an equaliser, Birmingham should have made the game safe with two minutes remaining.

Robinson did well to push out Jerome's shot after Benitez put him through, but when the striker returned the compliment from the rebound, the Ecuadorian inexplicably hit the bar when it was easier to score.

He was almost made to pay in the second of four added minutes when Nikola Kalinic's goalbound effort hit Larsson in the face at the near post from a corner, but the final word went to high-flying City as Larsson was denied in the closing seconds by Robinson's fine close-range stop.
Ian Hare / Eurosport

Source: http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/15122009/58/premier-league-birmingham-top-six-win.html