Coventry 1 Birmingham 0: Match Report

Feb 21 2009

 former club and headed narrowly over the crossbar after three minutes before seeing a goal-bound effort blocked by Liam Ridgewell 10 minutes later.

A neat Birmingham move was not given the finish it deserved by Sebastian Larsson when he shot tamely at Keiren Westwood after 15 minutes.

Jerome dragged a shot wide and Marcus Bent missed the target with a header either side of the half-hour mark in the only other efforts of note in the first half.

The Blues lost midfielder Lee Carsley to injury before the break. He was replaced by Hameur Bouazza.

Eight minutes into the second half it was Coventry's turn to make an enforced change as Henderson came on for the injured McKenzie.

And the Sunderland youngster almost made a telling impact midway through the second half with a superb left-foot shot from 25-yards that was brilliantly saved away by Taylor.

Birmingham improved marginally after the restart and Jerome, Keith Fahey and Lee Bowyer all had efforts on goal, but none of them forced Westwood into a save.

At the other end, Taylor kept his side in the game when he kept out Best's low shot with his feet.

Scott Sinclair thought he had rescued a late point for Birmingham when he smashed the ball home from close range but the on loan Chelsea midfielder's celebrations were cut short by an offside flag.

Best missed a late chance to seal it as Coventry suffered through five minutes of injury time, but they held on for the win.