Birmingham City 1 Southampton 0

Mar 7 2009

Keith Fahey's strike in first-half stoppage time proved to be the decisive goal as Birmingham made it successive 1-0 wins in the league.

After edging their Coca-Cola Championship fixture against Bristol City in midweek, Fahey crashed home the only goal of the game on the stroke of half time just as it looked as though the Saints might head in to the interval on level terms.

Saints boss Mark Wotte named an unchanged starting XI after Jan-Paul Saeijs was passed fit, while Morgan Schneiderlin continued to deputise for the injured Adam Lallana.

Alex McLeish also opted to stick with the same side that beat City in midweek. Radhi Jaidi recovered from a knock, while Ulises De la Cruz was named among the substitutes.

Striker Marek Saganowski had an early chance but his effort from the edge of the box flew wide of the right-hand post and never looked like troubling Maik Taylor in the Birmingham goal.

The Blues pinned the visitors back in their own half with Franck Queudrue trying his luck from distance - but to no avail.

The visitors almost took the lead in the 12th minute when Jason Euell, who kept his place in the side following his brace in the 3-0 win at Ipswich, lobbed a header over Taylor from a Simon Gillett corner but defender Carr was on hand to clear off the line.